Rotary gear award

Recognition of HKIS in the form of a rotary gear

When tasked with designing annual award for the Croatian Chamber of Mechanical Engineers, one had to take into consideration multiple sciences that converge in the field of mechanical engineering and find unifying elements that represent this field in the eye of the general public, as well as professional audiences.

Choosing a gear as a main design element came naturally, since most mechanical products, engines and machines have one or more gears as their main functioning element. Gears transmit rotational motion, convert different kinds of motions, change the speed and amount of energy transferred – perform complex mechanical tasks enabling the functioning of mechanical machines in various industries and settings.

Rotary gears work on a symbolic level as well, as we are awarding professional individuals for their cognitive, professional and intellectual achievements.

We’ve simply put the cog into cognitive, imagining an engineers mind as a thinking machine.

This solution has an element of humor as well, since in the country of it’s origin people often use mechanical metaphors to illustrate someone’s intelligence.

“You can see the gears starting to turn when he thinks”
“He has a screw loose”
“He is missing a cog”

The award consists of four fragmented gear segments, each with six evenly spaced teeth. Segments rotate around a vortex engraved with a Croatian Chamber of Mechanical Engineers emblem.

The first segment represents the type of recognition and the name of the winner.
The second segment presents length, time, mass, temperature, mass of matter, electric current and light intensity in their metric system expression denoted in millimeters.
The third segment represents length, area, volume, mass, pressure and temperature shown as a measure of length in the imperial system of measures denoted by inches. Engraving is one inch wide or 25.4mm and symbolizes the two thumbs holding the award per imperial system. You can convert these measure systems by overlapping the 2nd and third segment of the award gear.
The fourth segment shows the angles as a circular arc, as part of gear construction and circular construction in general.

All of the engravings are radial, to inspire rotating the gears, symbolizing transfer of knowledge and energy.

Through the rotation of the segments, awards change shape and their relationship of the segments.

The award can be completely assembled into a fan-shaped form that fits in one hand and symbolically represents a palette of scales as a palette of samples.

There are four ranks of recognition:
Honorary Member of the Chamber,
Charter,
Diploma,
Certificate of Appreciation.

We varied the materials, creating four distinct versions of the award, underlining specific characteristics for each level.

The first award category is brass, a mixture of zinc and copper, golden in colour and non-corrosive, antiviral and antibacterial. Often used to make pipes and various tools.
The second category is stainless steel, stainless steel, resistant to corrosion, a constructive material for large buildings.
The third and fourth ranks are made of low density aluminum known for its resistance to corrosion and malleability, yet vary in size of the engraving. The third award is made of brushed and the fourth of sandblasted aluminum.

EXHIBITION:
Zagreb Design Week, Academy of Fine Arts, 2022, Zagreb, Croatia
2021/2022 HDD (Croatian Designers Association), Lauba, 2022, Zagreb, Croatia

Client: Croatian Chamber of Mechanical Engineers
Project: Acknowledgments of the Chamber
Year: 2021
Concept and design: Ana Banić Göttlicher
Photography: Marija Gašparović, Marija Ružić Vukmanić, Tony Junaković

https://www.behance.net/gallery/141984771/Rotary-gear-award
Photography: Marija Gašparović