Even in the midst of unprecedented chaos, design continues to go above and beyond. This became abundantly clear after fielding almost a thousand entries to select 60 winners for this year’s PRINT Awards. Our 2022 lineup presents designers from 45 countries around the world who provided high-quality work, both as hard-working individuals or with remarkably collaborative teams.
Several themes popped up repeatedly throughout the winning entries. Many searched for levity within the difficulties of 2020, while others celebrated the return of live events. Plenty of entries provided somber, thoughtful reflections on what was lost, or provided helpful strategies to their local communities. Some winners extended their hand through spreading awareness of harm reduction, or studying the effects of shifting economies or climates. Several entries paved the way for more diverse representation, and the desire for sexual liberation rang throughout a handful of categories. Expert designers backed up groundbreaking studies with gorgeous visuals, and created bold, colorful campaigns that tapped into trendy, maximalist sensibilities. While many motifs were consistent, each winning entry shines brightly on its own.
For two years in a row, our Best in Show award is bolstered by bonus categories that include Agency of the Year (the studio that scores the highest across several categories), Editor’s Choice (hand-picked by PRINT staff), and the Citizen Design Award (a free category honoring the best in socially conscious design). Our panel judged entries based on four criteria: Originality, Innovation, Permanence, and Execution. Each winning submission reflects a designer who managed to cover all four bases, which is no small feat. It takes great care and thought to present a new idea that can also stand the test of time, or an approach that’s simultaneously exciting and carefully considered.
This year’s awards boasted an especially illustrious jury that included Sean Adams, Lyanne Dubon Aguilar, Marian Bantjes, Shazeeda Bhola, Santiago Carrasquilla, Alex Center, Maurice Cherry, Joey Cofone, Timothy Goodman, Jon Key, Wael Morcos, Aries Moross, Edel Rodriguez, Edwin Schlossberg, James Taylor, Tea Uglow, Chantel Valentene, James Victore, and Ping Zhu.
You’re likely to find an abundance of inspiration in our stunning roundup of international design stars. We’re thrilled to honor their talent, innovation, and thoughtful approach to all things visual. We hope the groundbreaking creativity on display will inspire you as much as it’s inspired us.
BEST OF SHOW
Smithsonian 2020 Annual Report
By: Polygraph
USA
How do you tell the story of an institution of this scale through such a transformational year? How do you factor incredible reach, unwavering ambition, and generous spirit through all of the uncertainty of 2020? In this oversized annual report, we sought to create layered, poetic connections in the cross-pollination of research and exhibition, art and science, and the past and present, all while staying true to the realities of 2020. We wanted to create a piece that was energetic, hopeful, and engaging, while staying fundamentally true to the heartbeat of a tireless organization. The resulting book provides a bright, optimistic breath of fresh air in the face of an uncertain time.
AGENCY OF THE YEAR
Sunday Afternoon
USA
Sunday Afternoon is an independent award-winning creative studio and an artist representation agency where a time of day is a state of mind. The studio creates impactful brand identities and all-encompassing communications that service companies big and small. They believe in a fundamentally diverse, progressive, and forward-thinking approach to problem solving through design and make work that feels good and effortless by putting freedom and curiosity at the core of our company.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Type Directors Club 67 Call for Entries Campaign
By: Sunday Afternoon
USA
The Type Directors Club is a leading typographic organization that holds an annual design competition to celebrate the world’s best typography. The international judging panel consists of some of the most revered names in the world of graphic design and typography. The 2020 Type Directors Club 67 brand campaign is rooted in the simple idea of connecting: the way we connect with our work, and work of others we admire; the connections we have with typography, and most importantly, the connections we have to each other.
To that end, we’ve developed a design system with a custom geometric sans serif with letter-forms that embrace each other in all sorts of interesting, quirky ways. Some of the connections are natural and obvious, while others are a little bit odd and uncomfortable— just like our relationships in real life.
CITIZEN DESIGN AWARD
First Place: Gender Spectrum
By: VICE Media Group
USA
In 2019, after noticing a scarcity of stock imagery that realistically depicted transgender and non-binary people, VICE created the Gender Spectrum Collection to help media outlets better reflect the community in ways that go beyond clichés. Two years later, we expanded the collection to further diversify our library of free images.
Limited representations of trans and non-binary people in media restricts the range of stories in which we imagine those subjects. With this collection, we hope to encourage richer portrayals of trans and non-binary personhood. These images do not define members of these communities only by their gender identities, but as people with careers, relationships, talents, passions, and home lives.
The Gender Spectrum Collection is a step toward a more nuanced portrayal of one of the world’s most diverse and historically misrepresented communities, but one photo collection for one outlet is not enough. These images have been made available to other media organizations through a Creative Commons license. We encourage media outlets to use them widely and responsibly, and to commission their own nuanced depictions of trans and non-binary people whenever possible.
Second Place: Lubeznik Center for the Arts
By: Firebelly Design
USA
The Lubeznik Center for the Arts offers world-class art in the small lakeside town of Michigan City, Indiana. This hidden gem outside of Chicago offers lively programs and creative experiences that foster meaningful, lasting community.
Lubeznik’s new primary logo comes in two flavors: Formal and Playful. The formal lockup is designed to represent the range of vibrant activity present within the center, from playful programming and classes to more professional events and world-class art exhibits.
The logo’s bespoke Lubeznik typeface is a monospaced, reverse-contrast, variable sans-serif that allows for flexible animations between the formal and playful states. Each letter is built within a square that highlights geometry as a core visual component of the Lubeznik brand.
Lubeznik’s brand guide is more than a set of rules— it’s a flexible kit of parts that enables their team to confidently make the new system truly their own. The website expresses the variety of the system by providing an interactive platform that allows visitors to learn more about the LCA.
The process of branding a physical space over the pandemic stirred a change in mindset within ourselves and the Lubeznik team. The partnership with our Grant for Good client provided a sense of community in a time of separation as we look toward an evolving future of in-person galleries.
Third Place: Maryland Youth Sports
By: Briteweb and Rally Rally
Canada
This project is a campaign and brand to support inclusion, representation, and social equity in youth sports programs in the state of Maryland.
As the hometown of some of America’s top athletes, Prince George’s County, Maryland has a proud legacy of youth sports. The Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission sought to offer even more opportunities to aspiring athletes by creating a new division dedicated to youth sports. We worked with the county’s Parks & Recreation management and a team of consultants from BerryDunn to establish a unique look for youth sports that promotes community participation in the Youth Sports Strategic Plan process.
We designed a youthful campaign identity inspired by the visuals of sports in the county: vibrant colors, geometric shapes, dynamic stripe patterns, and chiseled typography. Abstract representations of 18 fields, courts, and other sports facilities form the foundation of the visual system. We used graphic elements and photos of diverse young athletes from Prince George’s County to reflect the division’s values of social equity and accessibility.
We named the strategic plan process GAME ON and paired it with action-oriented copywriting to drive participation in the planning process. We rolled out the campaign using social media, a promotional video, transit ads, print collateral, and community activations. After we created the strategic plan, the final piece of the puzzle was equipping the Youth Sports division with a website design, visual guidelines, and marketing strategy.
The design system has earned an enthusiastic response from local youth and government staff alike that’s helped the new Youth Sports division grow a healthy community through sport
SAPPI BEST USE OF PAPER AWARD
Open Kitchen
By: Trekk
USA
Canon Solutions America was looking for an application sample to show off the capabilities of its new varioPRINT iX-series press. The varioPRINT iX inkjet color digital press combines stunning image quality and a wide media range with the high productivity and cost-efficiency of inkjet printing, and CSA wanted to showcase these benefits through a high-end sample campaign that demonstrated a combination of vibrant colors and variable data printing. To create this application sample, we developed the Open Kitchen brand and an associated launch campaign.
Open Kitchen is a fictitious food delivery service centered around a mission to connect customers to their kitchens, their food, and one another. Included in the application sample kit are print pieces that demonstrate a customer’s journey from awareness through postpurchase, with variability in both text and images. The samples begin with a variable Launch Announcement Bifold Brochure, followed by a Recipe Booklet, printed on Sappi EuroArt Gloss 100, shipped in each customer’s first order. The Recipe Booklet comes complete with detachable Recipe Cards based on their chosen menu. A Post-Purchase Postcard with referral coupon follows up on their first box, and a Quarterly Newsletter Trifold also printed on Sappi EuroArt Gloss 100 keeps them engaged.
ADVERTISING
First Place: Come & Glow
By: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Canada
Consonant Skin+Care is all about pairing skincare with self-care, because when your mind is at peace, your skin responds well. Our goal was to bring this unique philosophy to life through a campaign that appealed to a sophisticated female audience, who has grown skeptical of the skincare industry.
We discovered that masturbation (a type of self-care) can reduce blemishes and boost collagen. A study of 3,500 people showed that those who masturbated at least 3x per week looked 10 years younger than those who didn’t. However, less than half of women masturbate regularly.
Our strategy was to design a product-led program that celebrated solo sex as skincare and reframed female masturbation as a regular and essential act. The Come&Glow Set is the first tool kit to give women a hand in connecting self-pleasure and skincare.
Designed as a sensorial experience from top to bottom, as you open the Come&Glow package, illustrations of a masturbating female figure are revealed. Inside, consumers discovered curated items, which included Consonant Charcoal Sheet Masks, a mood-setting LOHN candle, and a LELO vibrator. Come&Glow also featured a QR code linking to Consonant’s original podcast series The More You O. Developed in partnership with renowned sexologist Taylor Nolan, The More You O tackles touchy taboos and guides women through solo sex techniques and skincare practices across six episodes.
Second Place: THAT Festive Campaign
By: Exactly Agency
USA
How can a holiday campaign feel elevated, familiar, and fresh while bridging multiple lifestyle categories? THAT Concept Store approached Exactly to develop them a holiday campaign that would establish themselves as a step above the classic fashion-forward department store experience. Ideally, this project would solidify the brand as the creative, experiential go-to for customers in search of extraordinary wares.
The goal was to clearly differentiate THAT from competitors whose visual campaigns often center around models, so we opted to build a product-forward narrative. But how could we tell a warm, human story using inanimate objects? We constructed the image of a recently-vacated holiday dinner table where jubilant party guests had just gotten up to hit the dance floor. Our campaign photographs capture the morsels and memories they left at their seats, resulting in human, visual stories of unseen people that inspire pure imagination.
Third Place: Allo Extended Warranty
By: TS/D Agency
Ukraine
Our task was to create a promo-campaign that informed our audience about a great offer for extended warranty in ALLO, the second biggest electronics retailer network in Ukraine. We created a line of visuals based on a number of imagined disasters, including an alien invasion, hurricane, and tsunami. The resulting message is that the world may be a dangerous place to live, and anything could happen, but the warranty on the devices will still work in any case.
ANNUAL REPORTS
First Place: Smithsonian 2020 Annual Report
By: Polygraph
USA
How do you tell the story of an institution of this scale through such a transformational year? How do you factor incredible reach, unwavering ambition, and generous spirit through all of the uncertainty of 2020? In this oversized annual report, we sought to create layered, poetic connections in the cross-pollination of research and exhibition, art and science, and the past and present, all while staying true to the realities of 2020. We wanted to create a piece that was energetic, hopeful, and engaging, while staying fundamentally true to the heartbeat of a tireless organization. The resulting book provides a bright, optimistic breath of fresh air in the face of an uncertain time.
Second Place: Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo 2020 Year-End Report
USA
YDSP is the oldest community in Texas and the longest-running government in the state since the tribe’s establishment in 1683. The people are called Tigua, and their native language is Southern Tiwa.
The 2020 Year-End Report focuses on the community’s health and wellness during a turbulent period. The Pueblo dedicated the report to its frontline personnel who tirelessly worked to combat COVID-19 on the reservation and its surrounding community. Despite the strategic attempts to mitigate the impact of the emergency, the Pueblo sadly experienced a COVID-19 surge that resulted in the loss of seven tribal lives in 2020. This loss is significant, as the current YDSP population is approximately 4,200 members nationwide. The tribe honors those lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic with a special “In Memoriam” section of this report. The loss of these individuals will be felt for generations, and their contributions will not be forgotten. Their families and the Tigua community miss them dearly, and their memories will remain ingrained in the hearts of the tribe.
The cover features many of these frontline heroes against the backdrop of what will be the Pueblo’s new health clinic. While over one million Americans are now dead from COVID-19, deaths have been disproportionately high among the country’s Indigenous, Hispanic, Black, and rural communities, which highlights vast inequities in the healthcare system. Even under construction, the continued development of the clinic represents the inspiring promise that the Pueblo will have the resources to protect itself against future health threats.
The report features beautiful drone shots and photos by tribal member John Money of frontline workers at the health clinic’s construction site. The stab vegan leather cord binding is accented with a single turquoise bead to complement the cover image and the report’s overall palette as a reference to traditional tribal craft. El Paso’s Tovar Printing, Inc. expertly printed and assembled the report, while Helix Solutions was responsible for its project management and data visualizations. The result is not your average annual report, but one that informs its primary audience (i.e., YDSP members) of the Pueblo’s emergency response. The 2020 Year-End report also creates a sensitive record of an unprecedented year of loss and transition, which is represented with gradients that appear throughout the report. As a designer, it was a true honor to be entrusted to work with YDSP on this critical document.
Third Place: Loyola Academy Rowing
By: True Story
USA
The Loyola Academy Rowing Association gives students the opportunity to learn the techniques and traditions of rowing, with an emphasis on teamwork and perseverance.
After COVID-19 cut their 2019/20 season short, Loyola teammates, coaches, and parents sought alternative ways to stay connected and practice their shared values. To honor this spirit, they gave their 2019/20 Annual Report the theme “Tradition. Connection. Commitment.”
The book sought to give this year’s story a more aspirational appeal using a foundation of traditional styles. It takes visual cues from rowing and water, and typographic details such as pull-quotes were composed with fluid, horizontal movement. Photographs highlighted the dedication of the student-athletes with contrasting size, scale, and color.
BOOKS — COVERS / JACKETS
First Place: Double Trio by Nathaniel Mackey
By: Boyang Xia
USA
Double Trio stretches Nathaniel Mackey’s explorations and improvisations of free jazz into the unprecedented poetic territory. It’s structured in part after the last three movements of John Coltrane’s Meditation: “Love,” “Consequence,” and “Serenity.”
Second Place: Photographic Occurrences Catalog
USA
“Photographic Occurrences” is a published collection of artifacts from the 2020–2021 photography exhibition of the same name. The catalog highlights the history of Fine Art photographic experimentation at Indiana University Bloomington and tracks the artistic legacy of Henry Holmes Smith. The artist founded the first American graduate program in photography and co-founded the Society of Photographic Education. Smith’s teaching legacy challenged the representational underpinnings of the medium, demanded that photography be taken seriously as an art form, resurrected “dead” processes, and used unconventional materials to expand the physicality of photographic prints. While he is well-known for his contributions to photography in higher education, his innovative personal approaches to the form don’t receive as much recognition. He broke new ground in photography with his experimental approach to the darkroom that involved the creation of camera-less images.
This cover illustration references both the breadth and impact of Smith’s photographic oeuvre and alludes to the expansive influence of his work. The illustration of celestial orbits, focusing rings, and aperture scales reference Smith’s enduring impact and signify the two essential elements central to the art of photography: time and light. Without both, photography would not exist.
In addition, the catalog showcases IU’s legacy of photographic experimentation. The spirit of Smith’s creative experimentation is felt throughout the accompanying group exhibition, which features the work of over 20 artists. Some of the artists use Smith’s favored antique processes to make lens-based images and prints, some craft nonobjective photographs without the use of cameras, and others combine mixed media to create photo-objects.
Third Place: ADC 99 Annual
By: Sunday Afternoon
USA
The Art Directors Club of New York is an organization that was founded in 1920. This growing industry group promotes art directors’ work through exhibitions and awards, including the annual DESI award for design excellence. In 2020, The Art Directors Club held its 99th annual awards ceremony, and they asked us to create an annual book to highlight the winners. In October, we presented the ADC 99 book with a bold, simple, celebratory cover. Opening the book reveals a large typographic ‘9’ on the front and a large ‘9’ on the back that combine to create the number ’99.’
BOOKS — ENTIRE PACKAGE
First Place: YouTube Standards
By: YouTube
USA
The internet is ever changing, so we wanted to look back at YouTube’s first 15 years and document a bit of our history and mark where we are today by publishing our first archive of design.
YouTube Standards is a visual catalog capturing the platform’s dynamic identity system across several brand elements and how we present ourselves to the world. The book is a four-color print that features 326 pages of smyth sewn binding and edge printing. It divides YouTube’s dynamic identity into nine chapters, including an introductory photo essay, the history of the brand, and a breakdown of its philosophy, logos, iconography, color, imagery, and visual system.
Designed in collaboration with Hybrid Design, the paper textures and colors change throughout the various chapters to reflect the diversity, dynamism, and fluidity of YouTube’s platform. Throughout the book, we’ve used Mohawk papers in gloss, eggshell, smooth, pastel pink, pastel blue, and light gray. We created a limited run of 1500 books and distributed them to both new and current team members throughout the company.
Second Place: The Art of Aperitivo
By: Stories Studio
United Kingdom
The Art of Aperitivo is an elegant cookbook that pulls readers into a lavish world of cobbled piazzas, grand cafés, and raised glasses in the afternoon. It was published by Seasons, a luxury lifestyle brand that celebrates culture and inspires their audience to live beautifully.
Aperitivo is a cultural custom born in the northern cities of Italy. It traditionally takes place in the hours before an evening meal and involves leisurely consumption of a bitter alcoholic drink— or two— accompanied by a small offering of food. This can range from a simple bowl of olives to a freshly baked pizzette. The ritual was originally designed to simply stimulate the appetite, but over time it has evolved to become an occasion unto itself, and even an art form. It is a celebration of culture, cuisine, and most importantly, bringing people together.
The book captures the spirit of aperitivo with playful design inspired by vintage menus, intimate photography of the places that have preserved and cultivated this tradition, and carefully curated recipes for the dishes and drinks that comprise it. The cover design marries the bold and the finely detailed with contemporary, playful typography and visual references to Italian renaissance fabrics.
The book is wrapped in WIBALIN® FINELINEN dark green by Winter & Company— a strong, durable paper covering material that is FSC™ certified. Rich, gold foil lining offsets the cool forest green of the fine linen cover to create a luxurious, deeply satisfying visual experience. The book’s back cover and introduction page feature a custom emblem to symbolize the craft of mixology and reference the design innovations of Renaissance and Baroque Europe. The inner pages are printed on uncoated 120gr Arena Natural Rough by Fedrigoni, full of rich, joyous illustrations and embellishments. The design was inspired by the architecture of 15th and 16th century Italy, which used decorative geometric elements to fuse classical Roman techniques with Renaissance aesthetics.
This book aims to inspire you to invite the spirit of aperitivo into your own home and to provide you with the knowledge and tools to do so. As such, we have lovingly designed an accompanying premium cocktail set to turn an everyday book purchase into a lavish gesture. This concerted effort by Stories Studio and Seasons uses a unique and compelling visual language to authentically celebrate The Art of Aperitivo.
Third Place: Savage Love from A to Z
USA
Nationally syndicated advice columnist Dan Savage collaborates with longtime contributing illustrator Joe Newton to create an “adult” ABC book with 26 frank, sex-positive essays and over 50 illustrations. Savage Love from A to Z features advice on sex and relationships, dating and mating, exes and extras. Dan Savage started his groundbreaking advice column Savage Love 30 years ago, and his writing and podcast have helped millions of people around the world enjoy better sex and communication. Joe Newton is a Brooklyn-based designer, illustrator, and educator who teaches at the School of Visual Arts in NYC and also serves as chair of the Advisory Board of the Type Directors Club.
BROCHURES / CATALOGS
First Place: Lab’Bel Ten Years
Croatia
Group Bel is a multinational company from France that mainly focuses on the production of dairy products in more than 120 countries. In 2010, Group Bel created Lab’Bel, a laboratory that collects modern art with the goal of generating continued exhibitions and events. Lab’Bel’s catalog follows ten years of work from contributing artists, curators, and museum directors across various projects. The visual identity of each article was inspired by various international magazines in the fields of art, architecture, and cinema, which helps the reader to visually understand the category. The book resembles an oversized post-it pad that features different formats of various magazines placed on colored paper, like notes. This turns the tenth anniversary of the artistic laboratory into just another moment of success: a mere footnote in its long life. The colors represent different languages: yellow and green represent French, while purple and blue are reserved for English. Visitors choose their preferred color at the opening ceremony or during the exhibition and, piece by piece, use the exposed pads of oversized post-its.
Second Place: Ongoing Matter Catalog
USA
This 104-page hardcover image-wrap catalog showcases the work exhibited in “Ongoing Matter: Democracy, Design, and the Mueller Report,” a traveling, multi-platform collection of new poster designs that mobilizes political engagement. This publication includes expert interviews, artwork from contributing artists, exhibition photos, the contributor’s design process, and reflections from the “Ongoing Matter“ project. The book design references “hidden” information and meaning buried between the lines, like the snippets of the original government report tucked into the gutters of certain spreads. Another example is the motif of the “x,” a pattern that both signals dismissal or buried content.
The “Ongoing Matter” project is a multi-platform exhibition of contemporary design artifacts co-created by Sarah Edmands Martin and Anne H. Berry. It brings the words of the Mueller Report to life visually, which makes it more approachable by providing entry points to learn more about its contents. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s words can provide average citizens with the means to respond to what has become one of the most consequential political moments in modern history, when the integrity of American elections and democracy itself is at risk.
The goal of the Ongoing Matter project is to make The Mueller Report more accessible to a wider audience, and subsequently facilitate increased engagement with its findings. It features over 30 posters and design artifacts by designers, educators, and researchers including Sarah Edmands Martin, Anne H. Berry, Brian Edlefson, Sarah Rutherford, Jessica Barness, Jenn + Ken Visocky O’Grady, Andre Murnieks, Kelly Walters, Marie Bourgeois, Jordan Kauffman, Rafael Barahona, Meaghan Dee, and Paul Nini (as of December 2021). The collection seeks to illuminate the major threats to democracy as cited in The Mueller Report, and it is currently in the process of traveling through the United States. An additional digital platform showcases the artwork in an effort to prompt the wider general public to engage and participate with The Mueller Report.
Third Place: From Forest to Forest — Spectro: A Paperboard Story
USA
How do you explain the sustainable, circular process of making paperboard products in a clear, relatable, and fun way? Sappi challenged 10 Thousand Design to tell this story, make it memorable, and highlight paper as the primary storytelling tool. They created a dynamic pop-up book featuring the key stages and processes that take a tree from the forest to the finished product that arrives in a consumer’s hands.
This tactile, dimensional book highlights how Sappi’s forest-to-forest approach helps them produce the most premium paperboard and other renewable wood fiber products. With each touch, Spectro works to craft a powerful connection between the reader and the story. The pop-up book lends new meaning to “interaction design” by requiring readers to interact with the pages and haptic nature of paperboard.
This book also takes care to address questions consumers have about how the forest product industry affects the land, the community, and the environment. It all starts with Sappi’s active forest management, which keeps trees growing at a faster rate over a longer period and involves lean, minimal waste manufacturing that maximizes our resources and the quality of our paperboard.
BRANDING IDENTITIES & SYSTEMS
First Place: Short Waves Festival 2021
By: Uniforma s.c.
Poland
Short Waves is one of Poland’s biggest short film festivals, and presents a constellation of cinematic events scattered around Poznań’s urban landscape. Its core is a series of competitive screenings consisting of five categories: International Competition, Polish Competition, Dances with Camera, Urban View, and Polish Experimental Short Film Competition.
The Short Waves Festival additionally presents unconventional screening selections, such as Comedy, Horror, and Kinky Shorts, a geographic focus program on the cinematography of Austria, industry segments, audiovisual events, and music events. It also extends beyond the screening room into open air settings, clubs, art galleries, theaters, and the Random Garden Cinema series, which takes place in private gardens across Poznań. Thanks to the continuation of the new hybrid form that was introduced in 2020, that week of June will consist of local events and screenings taking place both off and online.
The main purpose of the new visual identification is to promote an ambitious program that challenges its recipients. Every year, festival organizers have asked how to attract a large audience of people who are used to daily content that’s undemanding, but maintains a distinctive character. It challenges organizers and designers to simultaneously balance the visual codes of popular culture with a brutal, uncompromising attitude that reflects the films showing in the Festival.
Studio Uniforma developed partially animated visual identification system that’s flexible beyond the 2021 Festival. They created an uncompromising, black and white, clunky newspaper-style composition that isn’t seen often in the promotion of film events.
The visual identification for 2021 was based on the festival’s theme for the year: MirrorMirror. The mirror shows the complexity of living in the present by not only reflecting reality, but creating it. To build off this concept, the visual system uses a mirror image in a box to spotlights contemporary people. The shifting nature of the reflections read like frames from a film, unreadable, ambiguous images of reality, deep journeys into our psyche, and much more, to honor how everyone perceives the same reality in a unique way.
For the first time in its 12-year history, the Festival team created a system to clearly guide participants through its complex program.
According to Ströer Media, the Visual Identification in Poznań could reach an audience of up to 20,000 people daily. The online platform and social media in pandemic times showed that 8,000 participants took part in virtual viewings, both in Poznań and beyond.
Visual ID responded to the Festival’s hybrid form and a mature style perfectly suited to the audience’s expectations and tastes. The flexible system made it possible to consistently adjust numerous elements to various festival activities, including shows, workshops, and offline and online events. It was important for the system to align with specifically to the year’s event, as well as feel consistent with past editions of the Festival. That way, it can be further used and developed on the basis of the created system for any given year after 2021.
The new visual identification has brought freshness and a new perspective to the global environment of short film festivals, and helped Short Waves distinguish itself from similar events. In turn, we’ve received words of appreciation from not just the local community, but all over the world.
Second Place: Type Directors Club 67 Call for Entries Campaign
By: Sunday Afternoon
USA
The Type Directors Club is a leading typographic organization that holds an annual design competition to celebrate the world’s best typography. The international judging panel consists of some of the most revered names in the world of graphic design and typography. The 2020 Type Directors Club 67 brand campaign is rooted in the simple idea of connecting: the way we connect with our work, and work of others we admire; the connections we have with typography, and most importantly, the connections we have to each other.
Third Place: Notes IPA
By: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Canada
Most people think they’re great guitarists after a few beers. If a particular brew could inspire people to pick up a guitar, it would become the purest fusion of craft beer and rock music.
Music-inspired NYC brewery SingleCut Beersmiths presents Notes IPA, the first beer crafted to teach you guitar. We went far beyond our client’s original ask and brought the beer to life in a fully integrated, 360-degree campaign that spanned product naming, branding, package and product design, posters, and digital extensions.
Every can of Notes IPA comes equipped with an injection-moulded guitar pick that fits right on the pull tab. These custom picks were designed to not only pop open the beer, but also pop off as an aid for playing guitar. Four-packs of the beer come with four distinct labels that center a foundational guitar chord: C, D, G, and E minor. By gripping the can like you would a guitar, you can learn the finger positions for each chord and get a feel for the strings through the label’s tactile finish.
You can also access an interactive demonstration by scanning the Snapchat code on the label that unlocks an augmented-reality (AR) guitar lesson. This mobile experience allows you to visualize finger positions for each chord right on the can, hear how the chords should sound, and create shareable music.
Custom shipping tubes were also designed in the form of a guitar neck, and each tube includes the beer with pull tab picks and a limited-edition campaign poster. We sent them to some of the greatest guitar players in the US and Canada, along with a handwritten thank-you note from SingleCut’s founder Rich Buceta.
Notes IPA sold out twice as fast as an average SingleCut release. In addition to being the brand’s most successful social initiative, the AR lens also performed 500% above average engagement rates for Snapchat. The project was featured on The Dieline, major guitar blogs, global trade press and was honored as an Ad Age Editor’s Pick of the Day.
CONCEPT
First Place: BEAM
By: Qiushuo Li
USA
BEAM is a decorative font that uses complex linework and geometry to capture the bright, futuristic spirit of city nightlife. This precise, spacious font also explores the utility of typography by examining the role 2D letters serve in the 3D world. BEAM would look great on a product, printed on a package, or even transformed into the kind of neon sign that inspired it.
Second Place: Brewser Hard Soda Packaging
By: Signal Theory
USA
Young consumers, especially millennials, are searching for new flavors in their premium alcoholic beverages. This audience is tired of craft beers and uninspired by carb-free, gluten-free, and flavor-free hard seltzers. Brewser Hard Soda makes a bid for their taste buds with the promise of no wimpy flavors and a taste experience that really packs a punch.
Brewser breaks the mold (and a few other things) by delivering big flavor with a visual wallop. Our unique name nods to the brewing industry, and the bold graphic identity makes our distinctly fearless flavors pop. Brewser’s rowdy, nostalgic illustrations and genderfluid approach helps us stand out in a cluttered market.
Third Place: Hanzi Gong
Taiwan
Chinese characters are one of the four oldest written language systems in the world, and the only one of which that’s still used today. Hanzi Gong honors this unique means of expression by integrating modern aesthetics with technology and cultural heritage. The art comprises a total of 47,035 characters based on the 1716 Kangxi Dictionary of Traditional Chinese and is inspired by the 214 radical classifications. A computer selected thousands of glyphs from the 18,046 characters to create a series of 51 art works with 50 (1) radicals.
DATA VISUALIZATION / INFORMATION DESIGN
First Place: 203 X Infographics
Republic of Korea
Infographics Lab 203 is a graphic design studio in Seoul, Korea that produces client work. But apart from client projects, we have published a local magazine for 14 years with our own projects. This magazine talks about Hongdae, Seoul’s most interesting local area. In addition, we make one infographic poster every month as an appendix to this magazine. We are very interested in making useful information easy and attractive. Infographics have communication power beyond language and letters. Therefore, we will continue to enjoy visualizing all the information in the world.
Second Place: Women Unravelled
By: Sudeeksha Somani
India
Women Unravelled is a project that uses classic novels to understand more about the evolving identity of women. In this project, I analyze the portrayal of female protagonists in three 19th century novels: Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, and Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Through different colors of stitches, I give life to each character and draw her outside of the authors’ context. I attempt to rework the text by exploring its fact and fiction by reading against the grain and sorting through the messy, knotted identity of women. I examine the characters through tweaking themes to fit the disparate realities and styles of the authors’ writing. This data-driven approach to character dissection makes it a unique visualization project. I use stitching as a visual metaphor for the historical domestication of women, and the types of stitching reflect the control and suppression that is tangled up in their identities.
Third Place: FoodThink White Paper
By: Signal Theory
USA
FoodThink is a proprietary longitudinal study from Signal Theory that explores America’s attitudes and beliefs about food, from farm to table and everywhere in between.
Because Signal Theory works with clients across the foodways system, we are at the center of it all. We can see how branches of the system interact and analyze the impact of events from a holistic perspective. This study was designed to capture the thoughts and perceptions of U.S. consumers during the pandemic and preemptively measure impending shifts in their future food shopping behavior. We wanted this study’s audience to feel informed and enlightened by the insights, as well as how they’re presented. The accompanying data proved to be deep, and its authors wanted to share as much information as possible to support the conclusions they shared. Instead of relying on pie and bar charts, the design team demonstrated the data by using memorable and even entertaining images by applying subject-appropriate photography throughout the entire 30+ page piece.
EDITORIAL
First Place: FROCK Magazine
By: Kudos Design Collaboratory
USA
Visibility matters. The desire to see ourselves represented without censorship is what keeps our language and lineage clear, pure, and authentic. This un-self-conscious attitude is the unifying attribute of all the artists, personalities and performers represented in FROCK. Photographer and publisher Eli Schmidt launched this magazine in 2019 as a source for queer photo stories, interviews, performance, and erotic films.
Our publication design uses the language of artist journals, homoerotic photography, and independent zine culture to create a platform for celebrating authentic queer joy. We worked closely with Schmidt to experiment with typography and photography pairings that embody uninhibited messages and emotions— the kink in the straight line.
Second Place: Grow
By: Ginkgo Bioworks
USA
Grow is a long-form, illustrated biology magazine published by Ginkgo Bioworks and edited by Massive Science. Our magazine uses creative stories to break down boundaries that often exist between science, art, identity, politics, and design by asking: “what if we could grow everything?”
How has biology contributed to inequities in our society? How could our field contribute to a fairer world in the future? The past two years have shown us the high cost of structural imbalances within the bio-sciences, such as biomedical racism that results in vastly disparate health outcomes, as well as a widespread suspicion of biotechnological innovation. The stories in “The Equity Issue” trace the origin of these inequities, how they manifest today, and what we can do to overturn them. Our authors also explore the other side of equity— shares in a corporation— to examine how the companies we work for can perpetuate social inequality. This 140-page coptic-bound publication features a diverse cast of writers and illustrators who collectively offer a glimpse into a more equitable world that all of us have a stake in.
Third Place: Canal
By: Sunday Afternoon
USA
Canal Street has been the home of Sunday Afternoon for five years now, and it’s been a constant source of energy and inspiration. We pays homage to this wonderful New York oddity in a broadsheet newsprint with the simple name “CANAL.” Our inaugural issue is printed with an AR filter that allows readers to bring both the front and back cover to life.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
First Place: Scriptorium
By: Autobahn
Netherlands
2021 marked a thousand years of Monastic life in the Dutch province of Brabant. The creative agency Autobahn celebrated this occasion with an interactive installation that aimed to build a bridge between the area’s past, present, and future. In this project for Graphic Matters, the agency team traveled through the Brabant province for three months to collect a thousand handwritten manuscripts. It examines monastic life with a graphic design lens to re-contextualize its practices through a socially relevant, low-threshold manner.
Second Place: Kick Academy
By: Ruck Agency
Australia
Kick Academy is a community-focused soccer school that provides fun, accessible coaching to children between the ages of 7 and 12 in Australia’s Geelong and Surf Coast regions. This uncompetitive space upholds the importance of play by teaching from the perspective of street soccer.
With this in mind, they needed a brand identity and environmental design that would honor their playful street spirit. This required creating a brand system before rolling it out for indoor soccer games, merchandise, or their website. We accomplished this challenge by transforming an empty warehouse in a semi-industrial area into a branded experience that celebrates soccer culture and the power of play. Ultimately, it would become a space for birthday parties, events, and competitive street futsal leagues.
Third Place: Oracle Global Headquarters
By: Asterisk
USA
Oracle recently unveiled their new global headquarters along Lady Bird Lake outside of downtown Austin, Texas. This scenic waterfront campus makes the company stand out in one of the most competitive tech talent markets in the U.S.
In 2018, we completed an extensive signage and experiential installation package for the project’s first 540,000 SF of new construction. This second phase includes an eight-story, 420,000 SF tower of office and amenity space for 2,000+ additional employees. This includes a high percentage of recruited college graduates who move to Austin from across the US and beyond.
For both phases, we developed an eclectic collection of content-driven installations that aid in intuitive, landmark-based navigation across the 50,000 SF floor plates. These installations provide quick navigational assistance that signage can’t always provide, while also teaching recruits about the culture of their new home. Most importantly, many installations naturally encourage employees to take a break from their screens and engage with one another. By creating the space to build personal connections, we can increase employee retention in this very competitive market.
HANDLETTERING & TYPE DESIGN
First Place: HyperSpace Brand Identity
By: Sunday Afternoon
USA
HyperSpace is a modern developer that is merging both the physical and digital world. This idea of merging two hemispheres sat at the core of this identity system, so we took two different geometric shapes— a square and a circle— and merged them to create the ‘H’ for HyperSpace. This became the foundation for the logo, the custom typeface, and the entire system.
Second Place: Primary Residence
By: Evleen
USA
Primary Residence is an alphabet design that represents abstract architectural forms in typography by using the three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. The inspiration originally came from the Bauhaus movement, which was also inspired by the design of stairs and windows from different parts of the world. Each letter and number represents a small part of the buildings without any apparent entry or existence. The minimal stairs, windows, and geometric shapes honor the Bauhaus architectural style and minimalism by bringing the structure’s form and identities together.
Third Place: Type Directors Club 67 Call for Entries Campaign
By: Sunday Afternoon
USA
The Type Directors Club is a leading typographic organization that holds an annual design competition to celebrate the world’s best typography. The international judging panel consists of some of the most revered names in the world of graphic design and typography.
To that end, we’ve developed a design system with a custom geometric sans serif with letter-forms that embrace each other in all sorts of interesting, quirky ways. Some of the connections are natural and obvious, while others are a little bit odd and uncomfortable— just like our relationships in real life.
ILLUSTRATION
First Place: Grow
By: Ginkgo Bioworks
USA
Grow is a long-form illustrated biology magazine published by Ginkgo Bioworks and edited by Massive Science. Our 2021 issue explores equities and inequities in STEM by asking: how has biology contributed to inequities in our society? How could our field contribute to a fairer world in the future?
Our moodboard for “The Equity Issue,” reflects a magazine that’s lush, warm, and intimate, but also bold and vibrant to provide a hopeful lens to a subject that could otherwise be quite sombering. Equitable design was an integral part of our collaborative process, and 13 out of 14 of the issue’s featured illustrators are people of color. The publication design was heavily inspired by classicism, so we riffed on tropes in old books and scientific journals. We balanced black and cream palettes with colorful spreads to infuse the read with a sense of surprise and delight.
Second Place: Latino American Icons
By: AARP
USA
AARP: The Magazine celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a feature on iconic Latinos who have influenced and inspired us, including athlete and humanitarian Roberto Clemente, labor activist Dolores Huerta, and singer Selena. Associate art director Joanna F. Hagan commissioned top Latino illustrators from the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America to create portraits for our icons that reflect all the vibrancy and energy of this diverse community. The team behind this includes Creative Director Scott Davis, Design Director Todd Albertson, Art Director Lesley Q. Palmer, Associate Art Director Joanna F. Hagan, and Editors Bob Love and Meg Guroff.
Third Place: The Red Ox Chinese New Year Illustration for Gillette
By: TS/D Agency
Ukraine
We accent aggressive red with sharp, metallic edges of gold and silver to emphasize a new generation of Gillette razors. This bull illustration for Chinese New Year 2021 Packaging & Advertising uses a combination of small details to communicate cutting-edge technology.
INTERACTION DESIGN
First Place: Jason Pontin
USA
Former MIT Tech Review editor and polymath Jason Pontin was looking for an online home to archive and present his vast catalog of content. One Design crafted him a powerfully conceptual brand language that combined personalized, endlessly evolving illustrations with an unabashedly confident toolkit of sans serif typography and rich color. Pontin’s homage to the printed page leverages graphic layering and editorial sensibility to create a rich, engaging, and supremely navigable online reading experience.
Second Place: Lankler Siffert Wohl
USA
In the midst of a competitive marketplace with a new generation of firm leaders, established litigation boutique Lankler Siffert & Wohl needed to differentiate themselves. In order to accomplish this, the firm sought to develop a new brand platform that reflects its energy and dynamism as it moves into the future. The project centered around a full redesign of the brand’s most visible manifestation: its website. LSW’s existing website was technologically outdated, visually uninteresting, and failed to convey a sense of personality. In order to stand out from the current cluster of New York City-based legal boutiques, we had to devise a truly unique visual brand expression. We took inspiration from LSW’s international capabilities and looked beyond the American legal market, from European law firms to large consulting firms such as McKinsey and Booz Allen. We used smart design to echo these brands’ punchy, concise messaging and creative promotion of thought leadership work.
Third Place: Sher Tremonte
USA
Sher Tremonte is a boutique litigation firm in New York City that represents companies and individuals in high-stakes white-collar matters and complex commercial disputes. After ten years in business, the firm contacted Decker Design to help articulate the brand more effectively. Their new homepage contains all the important marketing messaging, such as client quotes, accolades, third-party endorsements, and news. This clear, succinct website features a user-friendly mega-menu and practice area streamlined into three parts with subsections. While the approach is very contemporary, the alternating use of serif and san serif fonts adds a timeless air of gravitas to the design.
INVITATIONS / ANNOUNCEMENTS
First Place: Kwanzaa Stamp
USA
The U.S. Postal Service wanted to create a new stamp to continue its tradition of celebrating Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa is a festive time for rejoicing in the prospect of health, prosperity, and good luck in the coming year. It is also a time for individuals and communities to reflect on past hardships and examine the ways in which history can impact future happiness.
For this year’s Kwanzaa stamp, the design team of Art Director and Designer, Antonio Acalá decided to feature the profile of a woman’s face with her eyes closed. The artist, Andrea Pippins, added a contemplative demeanor that signifies the ways in which observers of Kwanzaa reflect on the seven founding principles, the Nguzo Saba, and their role in everyday life. A kinara (candleholder) with the seven lit candles (mishumaa saba) sits in front of her. The hand-sketched, digitally-colored design uses cool tones and vibrant design elements to create an effect that’s both peaceful and celebratory.
Second Place: Silver Linings Calendar
By: Taylor Design
USA
Every year, Taylor Design develops an annual calendar to send to clients, friends, and prospects as a holiday greeting and promotional keepsake. The creative team agrees upon an overall theme, which is then applied to all 12 months of the year. As a response to living through a pandemic, the theme for 2021 was “Silver Linings.” Each month described the details of a mistake, accident, happenstance, or an unintended consequence that resulted in a positive outcome for humankind. With our reassuring, educational calendar, we proved that positives can arise from negatives.
Third Place: Greeting Card 2020
Switzerland
Our client was searching for an outstanding year-end greeting card to send to all of their 10,000 clients, partners and colleagues. We started with a simple message: “Every day is a fresh start. Every sunrise, a new beginning.” In order to make the card stand out, we created a moving illustration of a sun that rose when the recipient opened the card. We accomplished this by designing a beautifully crafted, analog animation with high precision hot foiling and laser cutting on heavy stock Colorplan paper from G.F. Smith. We elevated the copy, illustration and logo by embossing them in shiny rose gold hot foil. The finished card sits inside a fitting envelope in the same heavy stock paper and color.
LOGOS
