Category winners of Designs of the Year Awards

Graphic designer Shepard Fairey's Obama Poster is one of seven category winners of the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year Awards, announced by the Design Museum in London yesterday.

The Obama Poster won in the graphics category. The other winners were MYTO Chair for PLANK by Konstantin Grcic (above) in the furniture category, New Oslo Opera House by Snøhetta (below) for architecture, Vogue Italia: A Black Issue for fashion, Magno Wooden Radio, manufactured by locals in Java and designed by Singgih S. Kartono for product, Make Magazine by O’Reilly for interactive, and Medellin Metro Cable, Line J, Colombia for Transport.

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Chosen by a panel from 91 nominated designs, the seven category winners will now compete to be named Brit Insurance Design of the Year 2009, to be announced 18 March. See the full shortlist in our previous story.

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Above: Vogue Italia: A Black Issue. Below: Magno Wooden Radio, manufactured by locals in Java and designed by Singgih S. Kartono

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Brit Insurance Designs of the Year exhibition runs until 14 June at the Design Museum in London. Listen to our exhibition podcast here.

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Above: Make Magazine by O’Reilly

Here's some more information from the Design Museum:

Winners chosen by expert panel from 91 designs across Architecture, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics, Interactive, Product & Transport

The winning entries in each category of the Brit Insurance Design Awards 2009, awarded to the most progressive and forward thinking designs from the past 12 months, are: New Oslo Opera House for Architecture, Vogue Italia: A Black Issue for Fashion, MYTO chair for the Furniture category, and the Graphics category is awarded to the Barack Obama Poster. Interactive goes to Make Magazine, Magno Wooden Radio wins Product and the Transport winner is Colombia’s Line-J Medellin Metro Cable (below).

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The winning entries represent a snapshot of contemporary design and demonstrate the role that design plays at a global level. Ranging from Shepard Fairey’s iconic Obama poster, to the economically sustainable Magno Wooden Radio and the multi-functional landmark of the New Oslo Opera House, the international winners are spread across Indonesia, Colombia, USA, Norway and Italy.

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The seven winning designs will now contend for the prestigious accolade of Brit Insurance Design of the Year 2009, to be revealed at an awards dinner hosted by Channel 4 design presenter Naomi Cleaver, at the Design Museum on 18 March.

The panel of judges, chaired by Alan Yentob, had a difficult undertaking in selecting just one winner in each category from such a diverse collection of entries. Yentob was joined by MoMA’s senior design and architecture curator Paola Antonelli, designer, environmentalist and educator Karen Blincoe, architect Peter Cook, fashion author, stylist and critic Sarah Mower and last year’s winner, designer Yves Béhar. The panel commented, “We were captivated by the stories behind the winning projects and how they demonstrate the strength of design as a tool for cultural, political and social change.”

The winning designs, along with the rest of the shortlist, are currently on show at the Design Museum until 14 June.

Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum said: “The judges had an exceptionally challenging role in selecting seven category winners from such a comprehensive shortlist. This year’s winners are a true reflection of the exceptional calibre of design that has been conceived internationally in the past 12 months.”