The Export World Champion 2006
This annual report investigates and portrays Germany's world champion export status and looks at these activities in the context of human rights violations. In doing so we analyse the correlation between export activities and the current situation of human rights in Germany's top ten non-european trading partners. The book offers an audio narration for each chapter that can be accessed using the enclosed barcode scanner.
The Raymond Loewy Foundation awarded us "honorable recognition". The "red dot" awarded us for exceptionally high design quality.
Research and analysis
The bulk of the workload came from researching and analyzing statistics. Our two main sources were the annual report of amnesty international (left hand side) and the accumulated information available from the German Bureau of Statistics (right hand side).
Visual concept
We developed a "box of bricks" concept, which consists of isometric icons, shapes and a color code to better distinguish between the particular goods. We began with simple sketches with drawings that were later digitalized and then assembled into a unifed code.
Layout
The main question was: "which goods were traded?" The eye is automatically drawn to the cute, multicoloured symbols for export trade: The human rights issues were in contrast placed as a footer, where the reader merely stumbles upon them.
The barcode scanner
Each of the top ten trading partners is assigned a barcode, which can be read using the enclosed USB-barcode scanner. We use the decoding of the barcode to look behind the scenes of the export trade. Instead of recieving trade figures from the corresponding country one recieves information about the human rights situation.
The Icons
Each trading good is visualized by means of an isometric icon. A table of contents at the beginning of the report explains in detail each particular good. Information about the trade balance is provided alongside the descriptions.
