The Austrian designer Joseph Binder had a cru­cial impact on commercial art in Europe and the United States. His motto was: »Everything in design has a function. Design has a visual function. Design has a communicational func­tion. Design has a motivational function.«

Joseph Binder found answers to questions regarding the contemporary spirit and its philo­sophy, the sources of inspiration, and the role to be played by the modern designer in the reduced and impressive visual language of his graphic design and, later on, of his abstract art.

Today, in a new millennium, Joseph Binder’s principles have lost nothing of their relevance. Commercial art seems to ramify into countless special disciplines, and yet the rapid expansion of possibilities provokes once again an inter­ disciplinary approach to design. Joseph Binder, too, was simultaneously an all­rounder and a specialist. 

Joseph Binder Award is back and can’t wait to see all kinds of combinations of colour and form.

For taking part you are required to register online. For each entry, a sepa­rate registration form containing details on the project (short descrip­tion of max. 1800 characters, relevant images), information on the team and the client must be filled in online. This form will serve as an administra­tive aid and as the basis for a possible future publication of the project in the catalogue and exhibition. Students are asked to enclose a confirmation of studies.

For each successfully registered entry you will receive a confirmation via e­mail containing an entry number. Participants whose submission(s) has/have been nominated by the jury for the second round will be notified in early June 2018 and will receive further information and formal leads on the physical entry/entries.

After the deadline for entries has expired (mid­ April), entrants will receive an invoice according to the number of their entries by e­mail. 

Participation is open to graphic design­ers, illustrators, advertising agencies and to design students from all over the world. They may enter projects in the fields of graphic design and illustration published or realised in 2016 and after. The number of entries is not limited. 

In a first round, the jury will rate all of the projects entered online. Those pro­jects scoring highest will subsequently have to be sent in the form of printed examples (if available) and be assessed physically at designforum Wien in June 2018. 

In each category, a Joseph Binder Award in gold, silver, and bronze will be awarded in the form of trophies: the ball of crumpled paper encased in glass is a symbol for the creative process. 

In order to support independent, concep­tual, scientic, and non­commercial activities in the elds of graphic design and illustration, cash prizes will be awarded in the Design Fiction category in addition to the trophies.

Additionally, the jury may choose up to ve Merit Awards per category. Furthermore, the international ico-D Excellence Award will honour a project displaying outstanding design merits. All of the entries selected by the jury will be published in a catalogue and an exhibition. The jury may withhold or reallocate awards and money prizes. All entrants will be notified of the results after both jury processes (May and June 2018). 

The winners will be publicly disclosed in November 2018 within the framework of a festive presentation of the selec­ted and prize­winning entries to be held in Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier. On the occasion of the award ceremony, a cata­logue will appear containing all of the selected and prize­winning entries and introducing the members of the jury. Furthermore, the award­winning projects will be presented for a period of several weeks in an exhibition at designforum Wien and afterwards as a travelling exhi­bition in several European cities.