The winners were announced on Friday 8 September at the 2023 Australian Good Design Awards in Sydney in front of more than 1000 guests from the design and architecture community.
The Cinderella projection received the prestigious Good Design Award Winner Accolade in the Communication Design category in recognition of outstanding design and innovation.
The bespoke animations lit up the facade of the then newly opened St James for two weeks in August bringing sparkle, fun and entertainment to Courtenay Place.
“To be recognised with an Australian Good Design Award tells the world this project not only represents design excellence, but it also surpasses the criteria for design innovation and design impact. The Good Design Award is an independent endorsement of professional design quality,” says Dr. Brandon Gien, CEO of Good Design Australia and Chair of the Australian Good Design Awards.
“The use of projection to advertise the Cinderella Ballet leverages available technology, while also realising a unique vision. Congratulations on your ambitious approach. You achieved your objectives and heightened anticipation for the return of live performance.”
The animations were a partnership between the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Wellington City Council and two local creative companies, demonstrating great collaboration under Council’s Aho Tini 2030 Arts, Culture, and Creativity Strategy, and the innovative and creative strengths within the city, says Council CEO Barbara McKerrow.
“Last July, under our new Aho Tini 2030 Arts & Culture strategy, the Council collaborated with leading Wellington digital company ClickSuite, the Royal New Zealand Ballet and projection company Streamliner to bring the city’s newly opened St James Theatre to life with a spectacular video animation showcasing the Cinderella ballet.
“Not only did the projection delight Wellingtonians, by bringing the ballet to the street, it also resulted in increased ticket sales for the ballet taking sales 25 percent over their targeted budget in that week alone. “
Mayor Tory Whanau says this exciting outdoor spectacle was designed to pique interest around the ballet Cinderella, and its modern rainbow twist.
“The team successfully succeeded in their brief to grab attention, talk to non-traditional ballet audiences and sell tickets – and this amazing collaboration was successful on all those levels.
“Not only was there a spike in ticket sales directly as a result of the projections, there were also positive impacts on the economy, and lots of engagement, so this award is wonderful recognition of that work, and absolutely positively the cherry on the top.”
ClickSuite Creative Director Emily Loughnan says we’re so lucky to live in a city that is known for its creativity and innovation and is prepared to showcase that.
“The Good Awards are given out only where impact and results can be demonstrated; that makes it very special for us. I love the collaboration of the arts and technology; obviously it’s been good for the ballet, but this has also been good for the people of Pōneke too. That’s what matters.”
Six projectors were used for the 15m video animation – covering the entire facade of the St James – in which well-known Cinderella characters appeared to be in the building and responding to each other.
The Australian Good Design Awards is the country’s oldest and most prestigious international awards for design and innovation with a proud history dating back to 1958.
The 2023 Awards celebrated 65 Years of Good Design since the founding organisation behind the awards – the Industrial Design Council of Australia (IDCA) was first established.