Tivoli Audio Global Design Challenge Winner

Tivoli Audio sponsored an international graphic design competition open to designers, illustrators, photographers, and students from around the world. Nearly 3,000 designers registered for the contest and design entries based on the Model 10 radio and the Tivoli audio logo were received from 95 countries worldwide. The winning design came from Huan Miao Khoo, age 24, a Malaysian citizen, who has completed his Master of Architecture degree at the University of Sydney in Australia. Mr. Khoo's design features the Tivoli Audio Model 10, its commemorative 10th anniversary radio, opening like a gift box, revealing meshed wires and a violinist inside.

Beginning December 1, the first place winning design will be posted on a 31' x 98' billboard over the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square (Broadway at 45th Street) in New York City, and will remain on display during the month of December 2010, until the ball drops on New Year's Eve.

 

Designer's Inspiration:

Architecture understanding has played a huge role in the design process.  A simple design requires complex refinement and perfection.  I think that this idea is parallel with Tivoli Audio, hence I look for a way to reflect the transformation of complexities into simplicity. There is a combination of ideas behind the design.  

Firstly is the idea of ‘what can be better than a live orchestra music’.  I think the ultimate aim for the audio technology is to push its limits, not only acoustically but capable of allowing the listeners to close their eyes and indulge, to imagine a visual field as if there is a group of performers performing right in front of them.  I think that Tivoli’s technology is up to a point that this could be reflected.
 
Secondly, I want to capture the essence of Tivoli Audio from its inner core, so I derived the idea of ‘inside Tivoli’.  I want the audience to understand the technology and complexities that are required for audio perfection.  The gesture of opening up the simple radio box reveals the side that users will never see: the intense mesh network of wires.  The appreciation value is then brought into context.
 
I wanted the overall design to be a special design that captures attention, and using the ‘10th Anniversary’, a dual-meaning is established with the radio box opening gesture: 1) the 10th Anniversary surprise from Tivoli (like opening a present), 2) revealing the complexities inside.