An exhibition dedicated to the work of Dutch graphic designer Wim Crouwel opened today at the Design Museum in London. Spanning over 60 years of his career, A Graphic Odyssey showcases an extensive body of work encompassing iconic posters, original sketches, catalogues and archive photography by one of the most important and influential graphic designers of the twentieth century.

Crouwel’s work embraced a new modernity, producing typographic designs that captured the essence of the emerging computer and space age of the early 1960s; especially his 1967 New Alphabet font. According to the designer, New Alphabet was “over-the-top and never meant to be really used.” However, as unreadable as it was, the font made a comeback in 1988 when Ammunition partner Brett Wickens and Peter Saville reworked a version of the font on the sleeve of Substance by Joy Division. The font was later digitized and made available for use in 1997 by The Foundry.

For more information about the exhibition, read the Design Museum press release and events page. A Graphic Odyssey will run March 30 until July 3, 2011.

Ammunition is proud to announce the selection of Beats by Dr. Dre Beatbox as a recipient of the red dot award for outstanding product design. Earlier this month, an international jury of design experts examined 4,433 entries from over 60 countries to determine this year’s winners. Only one in five products received awards.

With its stark, minimalist aesthetic combined with superior audio performance, Beatbox truly sets the benchmark in portable audio design. The cabinet features a high-definition audio system and an ergonomically designed carrying handle for easy portability. The unique trapezoidal shape lets users place the audio system in a corner and still fill a room with party-inducing sound. It is the first non-headphone product from Beats by Dr. Dre, intended to expand the Beats experience from individual enjoyment to a social experience.

Beatbox, along with other winning products, will be honored in a special exhibition at the red dot design museum during July 2011. Afterwards, it will be put on display in the museum’s permanent collection for up to one year.

This is the fifth red dot award Ammunition has received in three years.

Learn more about the Beatbox here.

Ammunition is featured on the list of Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Design by Fast Company magazine for the third year in a row – this time coming in at number seven – “for cutting edge consumer electronics that still have soul.”

At the core of our business is the idea that the successful products, services and brands are designed around great stories that have meaning to the people who use them. Whether it is a product, an interface, a package or an identity, our approach is to design new, exciting experiences for customers that communicate the needs of our clients and create value in meaningful ways.

Fast Company’s editorial team evaluated information on thousands of businesses across the globe to identify the companies for the annual issue. The goal of the list is to represent the breadth of innovation across the economy, which emphasizes not just revenue growth and profit margins but also progressive business models and an ethos of creativity.

See the full list here.

CNN posted an excellent profile today on the cultural, artistic and political rise of Lady Gaga.

Contributing to her success is Ammunition founder Robert Brunner who spearheaded the development of her Heartbeats headphones and Polaroid Grey Label line. He says, "Artists like Gaga who have made the cross-over to product development do well because they do believe in the products and are sharp business people. Other celebrities fail when it's a 'name-play' or the products are ill-conceived."

Robert is a becoming somewhat an authority in the realm of working with celebrities, helping design and launch the highly popular Beats by Dr. Dre brand, and collaborating with P. Diddy as well.

Read the full article here.

The collaboration between Lady Gaga and Ammunition reached a new milestone last week with the announcement of the Polaroid Grey Label line at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. This is the second collaboration between Ammunition and the Grammy Award-winning artist, who previously collaborated to produce “HeartBeats by Lady Gaga” from the Beats by Dr. Dre line of headphones.

Led by Robert Brunner, our team of designers worked closely with Gaga in her role as creative director at Polaroid and her team to help conceive and design the products for the inaugural line. Each product was designed with the idea that creativity and sharing go hand in hand in both the digital and physical world. The goal, which Ammunition helped bring to life, was to encapsulate both the instant experience reminiscent of the classic Polaroid brand and the fashion-forward vision from the musician’s signature style.

Grey Label gives consumers a new and exciting way to embrace self-expression, originality and artistry and communicate it instantly through technology to the world around them. Three products were debuted on the tradeshow floor including the GL20 Camera Glasses, GL30 Instant Digital Camera and GL10 Instant Mobile Printer.

For product descriptions and release dates, read here.

For more on the design, read here.

Ammunition recently teamed with DreamWorks Studios to design a futuristic headset worn by Hugh Jackman in the upcoming sci-fi drama Real Steel. Inspired by the award-winning Beats by Dr. Dre line of headphones, the hypothetical product exists in a near-future world where robots replace humans in the boxing ring.

The design concept featured in the film represents an exciting milestone in the ongoing partnership between Ammunition and acclaimed hip-hop artist Dr. Dre and Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine. This special collaboration reflects a progression of the technology that we see today and demonstrates the important role that designers play in the forecasting of technology in entertainment.

For a glimpse of the headset, watch the official movie trailer here.