Careful Assessment

London's Design Museum weighs in on design from around the globe in 2008 with the second annual Brit Insurance Design Awards.

Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 2/1/2009

What makes a designer like an insurance company? They’re both in the risky business of guessing what comes next. And London’s Design Museum accepts full liability for the second annual Brit Insurance Design Awards. Nearly 100 submissions in seven areas—architecture, furniture, product, graphics, fashion, transportation, and interactive—were deemed forward-looking enough to be short-listed. Following February’s verdict from a panel chaired by BBC creative director Alan Yentob, each category winner goes on to vie for 2009 Design of the Year, to be revealed at an awards dinner March 18; all are on display until June 14.

The contenders, as you can imagine, are a varied lot. Adjaye Associates made the cut in architecture for Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art, while Prada’s spring-summer 2009 collection put Miuccia Prada in the running for fashion. Shepard Fairey’s ubiquitous Barack Obama campaign poster takes on 15 other nominees in graphics, and Arik Levy’s WorKit workstation for Vitra faces a dozen furniture entrants. Want to weigh in? Cast your ballot in the People’s Choice Vote at designsoftheyear.com.

Check out more finalists from all seven categories in the slideshow above.

UPDATE

Winning entries in each category were announced February 23. The seven finalists below will now compete for the acclaimed Brit Insuarance Design of the Year Award 2009, which will be revealed on March 18 at the Design Museum in London.

Category: Architecture
Winner: New Oslo Opera House, Norway
Design: Snøhetta

Category: Fashion
Winner: Italian Vogue: A Black Issue, July 2008
Design: Condé Nast

Cateogry: Furniture
Winner: Myto Chair
Design: Konstantin Grcic for Plank

Category: Graphics
Winner: Barack Obama Poster, USA
Design: Shepard Fairey

Category: Interactive
Winner: Make Magazine, USA
Design: O'Reilly

Category: Product
Winner: Magno Wooden Radio, Indonesia
Design: Singgih S. Kartono

Category: Transport
Winner: Line-J Medellin Metro Cable, Colombia
Design: Poma, France

Images courtesy of Design Museum/Brit Insurance Design Awards. Line-J Medellin Metro Cable image courtesy of medellintraveler.com.