Altgroup Is Australasian Design Agency Of The Year

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7 APRIL, 2010

Altgroup Named Australasian Design Agency Of The Year

Ponsonby based multidisciplinary design firm, Alt Group, has taken out two of the top spots in Australia’s prestigious CREATIVE Hotshop Awards, with the company crowned Design Agency of the Year and In-House Agency of the Year.

Alt Group beat off some of the most respected names in the design industry, including Sydneybased Naughtyfish and last year’s Hotshop Design Agency of the Year winner, Toko Design, to take home the coveted 2009 Design Agency of the Year title, surpassing Droga5 and Naughtyfish to win the inaugural In-House Agency of the Year Award.

Now in their sixth year, the CREATIVE Hotshop Awards, which are judged by a panel of industry leaders, are recognised as one of Australiaand New Zealand's most distinguished platforms for uncovering and celebrating the region's best professional creative work.

The awards reward agencies, designers, and production and photography studios that are producing clever, unique and effective solutions for their clients by pioneering fresh styles, techniques and strategies.

This year’s Hotshop judges, who described Alt Group as “seriously playful but not without smarts”, said it was a unanimous decision to award the company the coveted Design Agency of the Year title.

They praised Alt Group’s “courageous personality, attention to detail and quality of diverse creative work,” with one judge commenting that Alt’s designs were “delightful, smart, thoughtful, plus exceptionally crafted – I couldn’t take my eyes off it.”

“I wanted to absorb every little detail and no detail was overlooked,” said the judge of Alt’s collection of work, which included pieces such as the Vigneron book and packaging project, Selecon branding and Formway Design’s Thinking outside the chair.
“I sat there with a smile and wanted more.”

Alt Group, whose projects have been showcased in some of the world’s leading international publications, was declared the winner of the newly created In-House Agency of the Year Award for “A Lean Year,” a cheeky gift the firm designed for its clients to celebrate the end of 2009 – one of worst year’s in economic history - that took the form of a leaning wine bottle.
To create the gift, Alt Group produced 160 bottles that were slumped in moulds in a glass kiln, with each leaning bottle then handfilled with the modest grape, Merlot.

“Alt Group’s droopy bottle quickly communicates the bruising the creative process has taken,” said the judges of “A Lean Year”.
“It was elegant, simple and enigmatically black.”
Another judge described the award-winning piece as a “lovely simple idea that say’s we survived the year together; quite charming and personal.”
Alt Group’s Hotshop wins follow what has been a hugely successful 12 months for the company, in which they have won a total of 60 international and national awards. Last month Alt Group won two awards for excellence in font design in the Tokyo Type Directors Club annual awards.
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