a competition is a good opportunity to demonstrate the innovation power of a design team. especially if the competition is an international one. that is even more challenging.

so, when citroën invited the designers of the world to present their creativity it was down to GP to take part and shine within this highly competitive environment.

there were almost 400 entries from all over the world — a tough competition — but we succeeded and won 3 out of 5 awards. this proves once again that our core process and our philosophy of adapting it to the specific requirements of a design task works very well. with this project we would like to clearly show the considerable capabilities of GP.

10 solutions

we created ten solutions in our quest to find new functions for or make new products out of the 100 parts that form the mechanics and body of citroën cars. most of the ideas we created were within the brief, but we also tried to stretch the boundaries. we thought out of the box to widen mental horizons and to amaze the jury. and we did it: two of the awards were especially created due to the fact that they »attracted the juror's attention with their communication power.«

aim and process

our aim was to create a solution that was unexpected, that surprises. we did not want to create a new sofa or a new lamp — things that had been done before many times using elements from cars. to surprise people means avoiding the expectable, the obvious. this ignited a paradigm change; nobody thought before that this might also be a solution.

our second aim was to reflect the core values of citroën and france with the new product. the starting point of our design process was therefore to find out the core values of citroën.

brainstorms and discussions were on the agenda at the fuzzy front end of the project.

the core values of citroën are lightness, brightness, dynamism. a citroën is not a normal car — it is unusual and stands out of the crowd. on the other hand: france. baguettes, paris and romantic streets.

after we had found the core values and discussed possible objects that might fit and, above all, communicate those values, our next step was to find out the elements which fitted the core values directly. in order to create strong solutions we subtracted what we were able to until there was nothing left that could be subtracted; so we knew we had arrived. we did not modify the elements but we worked to just find a natural setting for the citroën elements apart from the car.

the outcome

all the products — and that was part of the game — are meant to provoke a smile on the face of the observer or an emotion. we created the objects with fun, with good humour, which is part of the GPstyle, and we tried to reminisce on something romantic.

la citroënette, the baguette, which won an honourable mention. with the baguette, we were focusing on two icons, thus creating a kind of super-icon: the baguette combines the famous symbol of french cuisine with the arrow bend of the citroën logo.

we also understood the competition as a way to find new ideas to market citroën, which led us to create the citroën kite. it applies the citroën language to a simple, fun toy that perfectly fits in with the values of citroën cars: light, dynamic and innovative. the logo blends naturally into the sky, communicating the flying-high feeling. the kite got the second honourable mention due to the fact that it conveys citroën's values and experiences in an extraordinary manner.

the 2nd prize of the awards went to the citroën drain, a manhole cover. to use the wheel rim of a citroën car for a manhole cover is an almost natural usage of the shape, even the context remains the same: the road. »the citroën drain represents a new dialogue between the wheel and the road, capable of emphasizing how important design is in our cities«, says the jury in their report. the shape was not forced into a new usage — the object slipped easily into its new function. the reinterpretation of the new functional manhole cover based on the graphic pattern of the citroën brand using the wheel rim of the c4 is a minimal solution, and that is precisely why it is one of the strongest designs. it represents a new dialogue between wheel and road and also opens the mind to new ways of advertising. watch out for such intelligent product placements in the near future. it is a way to emphasise how important design is in our cities.

so, if you want something really new, if you lust for out-of-the-box thinking, then you should ask rudolf to make a presentation of our GPservices — at your place or at the GPdesignloft.