With confidence!

Italian architect wins 2011 competition for World Standards Day poster

Every year in October, the WSC (World Standards Cooperation), which consists of the three international standardization organizations, IEC, ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and ITU (International Telecommunication Union), celebrates World Standards Day. Early this year, the WSC launched a worldwide competition, open to all, to design a poster on the theme of "International Standards – Creating confidence globally".

Online voting proves highly popular

The WSC poster competition was promoted via the social media networks Twitter and Facebook. Out of the entries received, 45 were retained and the WSC selected the finalists and put them up for open vote on its Website. This approach proved to be highly popular, with over 2 000 votes being submitted online – so much so that the competition deadline had to be extended to the end of May.

What is World Standards Day?

Each year, on 14 October, the members of the WSC celebrate World Standards Day. WSC was set up in 2001 in order to strengthen and advance the voluntary consensus-based International Standards systems of the IEC, ISO and ITU.

It is a means of paying tribute to the collaborative efforts of the thousands of experts worldwide who develop the voluntary technical agreements that are published as International Standards.

 

To reinforce the visual message of the poster, the three partners produce a World Standards Day message.

First prize awarded to Caterina Fiorani of Italy

The winner of the competition, the young Italian architect Caterina Fiorani, is awarded 1 500 Swiss francs for her entry of open hands. An open hand, she explains, has universal recognition. It can be interpreted as a gesture of greeting or welcome; provide peaceful reassurance; or indicate deep confidence in human skills.

Hands wide open

Two open hands suggest honesty. They show willingness to help other human beings and a cooperative attitude in working together towards a common goal. Fiorani, who is an independent architect and planner in Italy's capital, Rome, says that the notion of hands inspired her to illustrate the quest of man and his search for quality in the work he produces. Backed by the helping power of International Standards, he is able to use the tools of his trade to reach a level of excellence.

Dots for equality

Fiorani has represented the world in dots. Dots, she says, are a standardized graphic sign that symbolizes the hope that dignity will be afforded in equal measure to human beings all around the globe.

She has used colours to emphasize local differences that she says are an added value that must never be forgotten.

 

The runners-up, who each receive 500 Swiss francs, are:

• A French/Germanic team consisting of Alexandra Schoenitz, Eurydice Avoine, Cornell Gorgas and Thibaud Cerdan
• Teguh Pribadi Adi Nugroho from Indonesia
• Eva Kohl from Germany.