The winning design by Nguyễn Ngọc Thư. Photo coutersy of RMIT University

HÀ NỘI — College student Nguyễn Ngọc Thư has won first prize at a graphic design contest held to design a poster that promotes Việt Nam’s identity and culture.

The contest is a part of the Việt Nam Festival of Creativity & Design 2021 (VFCD) which is organised by RMIT University in Việt Nam, in collaboration with UNESCO, the Việt Nam National Institute of Culture & Arts Studies and COLAB Việt Nam.

With the concept "Balancing the Intersections", Thư’s design was made with lines and cubes. She was inspired by images of daily life across the country such as street vendors carrying poles across their shoulders on hot summer days or flower vendors riding their bicycles through Hà Nội's quiet Old Quarter streets in the afternoon.

Images of ferry boats lying next to one another in the Mekong Delta impressed her a lot.  

“I also remember a childhood toy – the wooden dragonfly swaying at the tips of our fingers,” said Thư, 21, a third-year student at the Graphic Design Department in FPT College, Hà Nội.

“All evoke in me a sense of balance – balancing between the old and the new, between the calm and the chaotic.”

Thư’s design will be developed further and become the key visual used throughout the festival. She will be featured and mentioned as a Creative Partner of VFCD 2021 and will take home a prize worth VNĐ25 million (more than US$1,000).

Three awards for inspiring ideas were also granted to Nguyễn Hoàng Mạnh Khang, 26, and Ngô Quang Trung, 22, from HCM City, and Ngô Nguyễn Thụy Anh, 22, from Helsinki (Finland).

Nguyễn Hoàng Mạnh Khang won the inspiring ideas challenge with the concept of 'The Harmony of the Symbolic Elements". Photo coutersy of RMIT Universtiy

They will receive an honorary gift of VNĐ5 million each. All four winners will be featured in a public talk about the graphic design idea for VFCD 2021.

“I am impressed with the contestants and professionalism,” said Professor Julia Gaimster, RMIT dean of the School of Communication & Design.

“They showed us very clear, professional, forward thinking and well researched presentations. They are talented in the use of technology, with many innovative ideas that would appeal to a variety of audiences.”

The VFCD Graphic Design Contest attracted 37 individuals and groups of Vietnamese contestants aged 18-30 from all over Việt Nam and abroad.

The judges selected the winners based on five criteria including creativity, innovation, symbolic thinking, branding orientation, and inspiration.

The contest was beneficial to not only the contestants but also to hundreds of young designers and audiences who directly participated in the two workshops organised by VFCD 2021.

These included Designing Key Visuals & Creative Merchandise: The Dos and Don’ts  led by reputable design company Hands Collective; and From VFMD to VFCD and beyond: What we’ve learnt led by Behalf Studio -- the prominent designers behind the impressive key visuals of the previous two editions of VFCD.  VNS