Photo of the award-presentation ceremony [Photo/jwb.com.cn]

Three Design works from Tianjin won 2019 iF Product Design Awards in Munich, Germany on March 15.

Among them, Design of Xijingyu Ancient Village Brand Vision Recognition System won the iF Communication Design award, which is the first time of this kind issued to Chinese design works.

The creative stone-made logo of Xi Jing Yu, a historical and cultural village Xi Jing Yu was hidden in the mountains of Jizhou district, and was selected by 67 professional judges among 6375 contributions from 50 countries.

The award-winning Tianjin design team is the village planning team responsible for the Xi Jing Yu three-year action plan: Li Qian, the chief planner of the Tianjin Tourism Planning Industry, and two well-known designers Wang Chengfu and Zhao Junjie.

Chengfu(R), Li Qian Wang(M) and Zhao Junjie(L) [Photo/jwb.com.cn]

Li said in an interview, "If the design awards are divided into three categories, they would be industrial design, communication design and packaging design. The industrial design award has witnessed Chinese winners. But for the past 65 years, iF Communication Design Award has not been awarded to a ancient Chinese village, and we are encouraged to present more Chinese original cultural elements to the rest of the world."

Li's team started living in the village to help develop the tourism industry after being invited by the local government. After three years of restoration, the stone village has become a must see spot with unique features in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei areas.

During the process, the team has been committed to the concept of "restore what it was". They want to present the genuine village of China by respecting its beauty natural look and original culture to the world.

 Xi Jing Yu village [Photo/jwb.com.cn]

To facilitate the understanding of international visitors of the historical village, the team has extensively drawn design techniques. It includes designers graduating from Netherlands, France and other countries.     

Li said that in the next step, they will create more chances for the village to connect with the world.

The iF Product Design Award has been held annually for 66 years since 1954, and is considered as one of the most prestigious award in design industry. It recognizes outstanding designs in seven categories, such as Product, Packaging, and Communication.