Hyundai Motor Company, its Marketing unit and Hyundai Motor Group won a combined 19 prizes, including a ‘Gold’ honor, at the prestigious International Forum (iF) Design Award 2023 in the Product, Professional Concept, Interior Architecture, Communication, User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) categories.
Hyundai Motor’s acclaimed IONIQ 6 battery electric vehicle (BEV) topped the list with a ‘Gold’ award in the Product category. Its aerodynamic designreflects the brand’s customer-centric commitment to energy efficiency and environmental responsibility. The ‘electrified streamliner’ has won several other awards since its launch, including the prestigious World Car of the Year, World Electric Vehicle and World Car Design of the Year at the New York International Auto Show.
In a statement, the iF Design Award jury praised IONIQ 6 for “a fresh and unique exterior aesthetic with subtle motifs that are carried over into a serene and relaxing interior. Its overall design identity is based on deep commitments to comfort, style, efficiency and environmental responsibility.”
Also in the Product category, the jury honored Hyundai Grandeur (badged as Azera in markets outside Korea). The seventh-generation flagship sedan is noted for building on the brand’s design heritage while setting a course for the future of mobility with innovative styling cues and high-tech details, such as its Seamless Horizon Lamp and premium interior with sustainable material applications. Notably, Grandeur also collected a Red Dot Award this week.
The jury also recognized Hyundai Motor’s IONIQ lifestyle character items in the Product category for connecting the brand to the customer’s daily life. The company took IONIQ’s ‘Parametric Pixel’ design language beyond vehicle applications and applied them to character products, showing the possibility of user interaction inside and outside the vehicle.
In the Professional Concept category, Hyundai Motor’s N Vision 74 ‘rolling lab’ project earned an iF Design Award for its retro-futuristic design and innovative hydrogen-hybrid high-performance concept. Following its sensational digital debut last July, the 2022 TopGear.com Awards named the car an ‘Instant Icon’.
Hyundai Motor’s indoor/outdoor delivery service robot also made the winner’s list in the Professional Concept category. The service robot is equipped with Hyundai Motor’s innovative Plug & Drive (PnD) module that combines an in-wheel motor, steering, suspension, brake system and environmental sensors into one. The robot is already demonstrating its capabilities in pilot programs in Korea.
Also in the Professional Concept category, the jury recognized Hyundai Motor’s autonomous driving ‘Roun’ robo-mobility solution that is designed to provide a better mobility experience for a variety of passengers, especially those with special needs.
Several other Hyundai Motor robotics-based mobility solutions, including MobED, PnD L7 and PnD Mobility, were honored in the Professional Concept category. All of these devices reflect the company’s mission to expand human reach and to radically challenge prevalent ideas about mobility.
In the UI category, the jury tapped Hyundai Motor’s new connected car Navigation Cockpit (ccNC) ‘Seon’ infotainment system, which was first applied to the all-new Grandeur. The design of the next-generation system features a horizon line and simple, flat graphic components that harmonize with the vehicle’s overall user interface, creating a graphic design that is distinctive to Hyundai.
In the Interior Architecture category, the jury lauded Hyundai Marketing’s 2022 CES Exhibition Booth where the company’s robotics-based mobility devices were first displayed. The booth introduced its idea of meta-mobility, through an immersive experience showcasing how the real and virtual world can merge into one metaverse.
In the Communication category, Hyundai’s Marketing arm took home trophies for creative efforts related to the launch of IONIQ 6, including the 3D design unveil film that appeared on digital billboards anda narrative film for the world premiere. It also won for the IONIQ 5 Robotaxi video that is part of a global campaign to familiarize customers with Hyundai’s autonomous driving technology.
In the Communication and UX categories, iF Design Award honored Hyundai Marketing’s extended reality (XR) content for the online IONIQ 6 Digital Studio, wherein the brand realized a immersive user experience, promoting an EV that can be personalized to suit each customers’ taste.
Last but not least, the jury also lauded Hyundai Motor Group’s corporate website (hyundai.co.kr) in the Communication, UX and UI categories for its innovative design that breaks away from traditional corporate design to allow users to seek out content in a social media-like experience.
This is the ninth year in a row that iF Design Award has celebrated Hyundai Motor Company and Hyundai Motor Group in various disciplines.
“We are honored to be recognized as a lifestyle mobility brand that forges strong emotional connections between people and vehicles by bringing more value to our customer’s everyday life,” said SangYup Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai Global Design Center. “Our global design team has worked hand-in-hand with our engineers to inject passion and knowledge into every product, concept, venue and interface with the aim of sharing our brand’s values.”
iF Design Award is one of the three major international design awards, along with the Red Dot Award from Germany and International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) from the U.S. It celebrates winners in nine disciplines, including Product, Communication, Packaging, Service Design, Architecture, Interior Architecture, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI) and Professional Concepts, in 80 categories. All award-winners are shown on www.ifdesign.com and published in the iF Design App.
iF International Forum Design GmbH, one of the world’s leading independent design institutions, founded the competition in Hanover in 1954. iF Design Award Night 2023, the Awards ceremony, is scheduled to take place on May 15, at the Friedrichstadt-Palast, Berlin.
