In 2020, after being independently acquired by a group of the industry’s best design minds, PRINT launched its first significant website redesign in a decade, and returned to the design scene to provide more inspiration, design thinking in action, thoughtful longreads, and eye candy galore than ever before.
We also took stock of our signature annual competition—the Regional Design Awards—and decided it was time to bring it into the present like never before.
When it launched in 1980, the competition had a singular goal: to show that great design was being created in cities all across the United States, and not just in the usual hubs like New York City. The democratization of the internet has only further brought that concept to powerful life, and so it was time to formally embrace the fact that no matter where a designer lives or works, the best design rises to the top.
Moreover, we were missing out on a lot of brilliant design by restricting the competition to the United States—so we did what often needs to be done in design. We completely overhauled the system, and created something new. Something modern, inclusive, and reflective of a scene that is truly global.
Meet the 2020 PRINT Awards, presented by Adobe—a collection of the world’s best design, broken down across 20 categories, and featuring not just six regional judges, but a broad international jury of 21 luminaries of contemporary design, all with deep subject matter expertise in their categories. Their criteria? Originality, Innovation, Permanence, and Execution.
We of course have a show-stopping Best of Show winner, but we also created four all-new designations: Agency of the Year (the highest-rated agency, studio or in-house brand in the entire competition, determined by the largest amount of total wins across various categories), Editor’s Choice (a piece selected by the internal PRINT team), the Citizen Design Award (a free-to-enter category focused on outstanding original design for a social cause) and the Adobe Dimension Design Award (a free-to-enter category from our presenting sponsor, celebrating work created using Creative Cloud software, and highlighting the use of Adobe Dimension and 3D).
All told, we received more than 1,300 entries from 57 countries—and the awesomeness of our judges’ selections have left us floored, and fully inspired as we roll into 2021.
As PRINT editorial director Debbie Millman said, “This year’s entries surprised us with their depth, breadth and overall excellent quality. It was a thrill to see the work.”
Here, we share the winners of the 2020 PRINT Awards—and hope you find that same thrill and inspiration.
Eyes Say More Than Words
By: Design Army
USA
Our world is louder than ever before, so we imagined a place where eyes say more than words. Set in the “Quietest Library on Earth” (a temple of hush), the film focuses on a tyrannical “Quiet Guard” who punishes patrons for the slightest sound, sneeze or gesture. But a plot to overthrow—hatched only through conversing eyes (and super stylish frames)—sparks The Silent Revolution against the overly sound-sensitive tyrant. We took visual cues from eccentric 1970s style, specifically high school yearbooks: employing quirky prints, big hair, bigger glasses. Speak Less. Say More.
Editor’s Note: We developed our Agency of the Year award to recognize the highest-rated agency, studio or in-house brand with the most wins across all categories in the entire competition. In the regular categories of the inaugural PRINT Awards, we had a tie: Design Army, with wins in the Brochures/Catalogs, Editorial, Handlettering & Type Design and Photography categories, and One Design Company with two wins in the Logos category and two wins in the Handlettering & Type Design category. We offer them both our congratulations!
Design Army
USA
One Design Company
USA
Louisville Magazine—No Justice, No Peace
By: Sarah Flood-Baumann Design
USA
In the throws of the Breonna Taylor protests, Louisville Magazine published an editorial package that highlighted a conversation with the city's Black leaders and also featured two protest-centric photo essays. My job as a designer was to bring the image words to the page with reverence and seriousness. Using Martin typeface from Vocal Type Co., and photographs from Andrew Censi and Mickie Winters, my work was thoughtful in its loudness, boldness and it was unapologetic in its frustration with the systemic racism of our world.
Hairy Situation
By: Anu Manohar
Our presenting sponsor Adobe invited designers to unleash their creativity and make a 3D impact by designing a unique piece of content using Adobe Dimension, and answering a crucial question: What does design mean to you? Winner Anu Manohar was inspired by the year of the pandemic.
“Design is a world of endless possibilities—it’s an emotion, it’s an experience and it’s a lot of great things,” she details. “But design also has its ups and downs. The COVID situation made me experience design in a different way. From being a freelance designer to a full-time employee in the past few months, I realized that design can be a hairy situation. Dealing with creativity, projects, clients, deadlines, payments, etc., during the COVID period was a whole other ball game. It brought a ton of exciting, risky and unpredictable experiences. As a reflection of my experience during this period of time, I decided to make a poster with the phrase ‘it's a hairy situation.’ I wanted to bring a hint of humor to my message rather than a serious tone. So I used expressive typography and a colorful palette to make the message light yet meaningful.”
Editor’s Note: Throughout the course of 2020, we’ve seen so much powerful work dedicated to so many vital causes—so we created this free-to-enter category to honor such design from individuals, studios and companies. We received hundreds of outstanding entries, and had trouble selecting just one to feature—so here we present a top winner, and two honorable mentions.
First Place: Creatives for Kitchens
USA
Creatives for Kitchens is a charitable initiative that has worked to assemble teams of volunteer creative professionals and match them with restaurants affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. The focus and result of our efforts have been pro-bono support for light touch updates to items such as menus, copy, signage and websites. For example, many of our tea
ms (typically a copywriter, designer, social strategist/content marketer and photographer) have collaborated to create powerful and essential social media updates to communicate the changes in service, menu and operations that restaurant patrons need to know. This is an ongoing project with no immediate plans to sunset. Direct relief for restaurants was slated on the newest stimulus bill, and with that on ice for the foreseeable future, restaurants need us more than ever.
Honorable Mention: Guide to Parking (for Those Living in Vehicles)
By: Various (see below)
USAMore than 2,700 people in Seattle/King County live in their cars due to homelessness. This brochure provides critical information on parking regulations and support services for car dwellers. In Seattle, as in many cities, a vehicle can be ticketed for being parked in the same spot for more than 72 hours. Vehicles can also be towed and impounded for having expired registration or multiple unpaid tickets. Fines and towing fees can be crippling costs that lead to seizure and loss of the car (by auction from the towing company). Besides explaining specific parking regulations, the guide explains how car dwellers can receive help from the court system and from the Seattle Scofflaw Mitigation Team, a group of volunteers who work with vehicle residents. Scofflaw Team members can accompany car dwellers to court and help them develop a plan to legally address their unpaid tickets. This brochure was designed by a group of students and faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle for ITFH, the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness. The printing of the brochure was funded by the Sappi Paper Company through their “Ideas That Matter” program.
Honorable Mention: Amidad
By: Esther Velasco
USA
In the current social and political climate, it is crucial to create a space for undocumented immigrants to feel safe, and like they are a part of something. The word Amidad is the combination of the word "Amity" with the Spanish suffix "dad," which means "characteristic of." As such, the term Amidad encourages a sense of community. The app gives immigrants tools and resources at their fingertips. The core of Amidad is our small device that can be hooked to your keychain. The device can alert family, friends and lawyers in case of an emergency involving law enforcement, as well as begin recording an interaction on your phone. Amidad is made up of two components: a resource app with easy access to immigrant-related tools and information, and an alert device to be used in emergencies. The critical app features that tie into the alert device have steps to handle cases involving ICE, such as raids or warrantless violations at a person's home. Once activated, the alert device sends a text message to designated lawyers, family, friends and local volunteers to come to observe and record the interaction. This was created using Adobe InDesign, Adobe Dimension, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
First Place: Hot Hounds
By: Rethink
Canada
Every year hundreds of dogs die in hot vehicles. To help bring awareness to this issue, we teamed up with Earth Paws and created Hot Hounds—the first and only car-baked dog treat. After being baked inside a 70°C vehicle on a hot summer day, the treats were packaged and sold in-store and online. All proceeds from their sale were donated to the SPCA.
Second Place: Heinz Ketchup Puzzle
By: Rethink
Canada
Our objective was to re-ignite an emotional connection with Heinz in a culturally relevant way to bolster consumer loyalty and reignite love. We sought to stay top of mind by instigating significant chatter across social channels and to reinforce our iconic status as Canada’s No. 1 Ketchup.
Third Place: Sunlight-Activated Florida Adventure Map
By: SPARK
USA
Utilizing UV-sensitive photochromic inks, SPARK designed a unique, interactive map that, when exposed to sunlight, reveals unexpected Florida adventures. From prehistoric caverns to rare coral reefs, bioluminescent kayaking to America’s first underwater art museum, the map highlights outdoor adventures that take visitors beyond Florida’s famous beaches and theme parks. This enabled people to see beyond the familiar destinations of Miami and Orlando and discover the wealth of diverse experiences that exist across the state, in regions they never knew existed.
First Place: Ysleta del Sur Pueblo 2019 Year-End Report
USA
I designed this Ysleta del Sur Pueblo 2019 Year-End Report for the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, a Puebloan Native American tribal entity located in the Ysleta section of El Paso, Texas. With a focus on the traditional foods of the tribe, the report features photos and text that document the creation of time-honored recipes created by various tribal members, and the stories that accompany them. To achieve this, we worked with a Tiguan photographer, whom I art directed during the cooking or baking process.
Second Place: UDEM Annual Report 2019
By: Reset Co
Mexico
[In] 2019, Universidad of Monterrey changed their communication objectives to highlight the characteristics that have differentiated them from other universities throughout their 50 years: “soft skills.” These refer to those skills focused on emotional intelligence and how you interact with other people. These skills are learned in college along with the “hard skills” (technical knowledge of careers), with the promise that through these, the university inspires the best version of its community. For the development of this graphic proposal, we applied elements of the new university campaign to be consistent in communication. In this case, in addition to the personalized alphabet made for the campaign, numbers were also created based on the "Work Sans" typo
graphy to create shapes that reinforce the UDEM pillars [while functioning] as windows into the university to visualize its achievements in 2019.
Third Place: KCAI President’s Report
By: DMH
USA
The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) publishes The President’s Report annually to show donors the school’s ongoing advancements and accomplishments, including student success stories and data visualization. The 2018–2019 report is the first document to debut the new KCAI identity, created from its brand essence: Imagine what the world has yet to see. Its cover introduces the dynamic system in its gridmark form and its complementary “revealed blocks”—the missing components from the gridmark—through die-cut, to spark curiosity. The remainder of the piece is formatted in a gridded layout, purposefully representing the matrix foundation of the mark.
First Place: Impertinentes—14 livros de Gustavo Piqueira
By: Casa Rex
Brazil
The book compiles 14 books created by Gustavo Piqueira, produced between 2012 and 2018, that, with different degrees of intensity, sought to blur many of the existing limits between the established categories of the printed book through the exploration of the most varied articulations between text and image, visual and material, industrial and handmade, past and present, fiction and nonfiction. The cover therefore reflects two of the main dimensions of Gustavo's work: the deconstruction of “traditional” arrangements, when it appears as a book cover in which everything seems out of place and, by offering the reader the possibility of assembling/disassembling it, the playful look on the book as an object.
Second Place: Process: How to Create Community Buildings with Impact
By: HCMA Architecture + Design
Canada
The 208-page book functions as a manual to guide key decisions civic leaders need to make throughout each stage of a public building project. Projects of this nature span years and require fanatical dedication. As such, Process is housed within a sturdy canvas cover—screenprinted black with reversed-out letters intended to wear with age. The heavy-duty, tactile feel of the book harkens back to the nostalgia of "glovebox" machinery manuals that bore battle scars from use. Beneath the cover exists a black-on-white inversion of the bold typographic design, bound by an exposed spine, which metaphorically represents the design process—revealing how the book is made.
Third Place: Suspect Communities
By: Monograph
USA
We adapted an old COINTELPRO document to show the idea of surveillance and infiltration of communities. From the publisher: Suspect Communities is a powerful reassessment of the U.S. government’s “countering violent extremism” (CVE) program that has arisen in major cities across the United States since 2011. By undertaking this analysis, Nicole Nguyen offers a vital window into the inner workings of the U.S. security state and the devastating impact of the CVE program on local communities.
First Place: The X-Files: The Official Archives
By: Headcase Design
USA
The X-Files: The Official Archives is a hardcover collection of 50 FBI case files from the desks of Agents Mulder and Scully. Packed with lab results, autopsy reports, clippings, mug shots, crime-scene photos, and security camera printouts, the book allows readers to scour the evidence, immersing themselves in the story as a firsthand participant. We combined actual props used in the show with faux documents we created to meticulously build each case file. Era-appropriate FBI letterheads track the passing of time, while handwritten notes from the archiving Agent Harrison guide readers through the narrative. The goal of the book was to feel as realistic as possible, with aged and damaged artifacts that are placed in evidence bags, stapled, and clipped in the book—all meticulously rendered in Photoshop.
Second Place: Moholy-Nagy and the New Typography / Moholy-Nagy und die Neue Typografie
By: Institute Designlab Gutenberg; Isabel Naegele & Julia Neller
Germany
The extensive publication documents a three-year research project on the National Bauhaus Year. It brings together the exhibition panels by the Bauhaus master László Moholy-Nagy, recently rediscovered in the Berlin Art Library, which are illuminated with characteristic keywords by renowned authors by means of an "Abcdarium"—from A for Akzidentien to Z for Zeitungsdesign. Through associative cross-reading, the typographic cosmos of ideas of the avant-garde of the 1920s can be experienced again.
Third Place: Morla : Design
USA
Morla : Design is a dynamic monograph spanning Jennifer Morla’s 40-year career. Recipient of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and an AIGA Medalist, Morla illustrates her creative process and design philosophy in the book, and shares the inspiration behind more than 150 projects. With an introduction by Paula Scher and a prologue by Erik Spiekermann, Morla : Design vividly demonstrates why design matters.
First Place: 2020 Arphic Font Library
Taiwan
In Taiwan, font libraries have been primarily used for searching and editing, in the form of printed materials (flyers), come in various different forms resulting in difficulties when putting to use in packaging or publicity. As the numbers of font libraries increase the number of printed materials it increases, resulting in unnecessary consumption of paper and ink, which is a burden to the environment. To improve such situation, the designer focuses on three main points “conveniently assemble”, “visual diversity” and “environmentally friendly ”as the major themes for the ARPHIC Font Library, including the entire font library (from ARPHIC Technology Co., Ltd) encompassing thousands of fonts from the last 30 years that has been categorized into four collections.
Second Place: Where Ideas Lead
By: Design Army
USA
A promotional brochure to introduce the new branding tagline “Where Ideas Lead,” positioning Neenah as a partner in the creative process that provides the products and services—the solutions—to help bring brand visions to life and transform ideas into results.
Third Place: Arturo Alvarez Catalog
By: teiga, studio.
Spain
Arturo Alvarez entrusted us with the conception of a publication that visually summarized the brand's values. This publication should summarize its emotional light philosophy, handmade, crafts, design and product finishes. An art direction in photography and a design focused on showing the products through textures and representing the emotional light (lights and shadows projected in space) with a cover printed with luminescent ink that absorbs the light.
First Place: Emme
By: Deerfield
USA
EMME is rooted in the word “strength”; we wanted to create a brand that empowered women to be able to do whatever they set out to do. The name is a palindrome, and mirror quality of the logotype literally closes the loop on women’s health. Our mark is a modern-day Athena (the goddess of wisdom and the hunt) riding a tigress, and she's always a perfect shot. Our mottos are Woman on a Mission and Knowledge isPowerful and Power to the Pill. During a time when access to birth control and choice is at risk, we were honored to lead the branding with EMME as exceptional partners; led by women for w
omen. A passion project, EMME is an example of the power of branding to do good in this world.
Second Place: James Weldon Johnson Park Branding
USA
Amidst impassioned calls for social justice and racial equality across the country, the City of Jacksonville made the bold decision to remove the Confederate monument from Hemming Park, the city’s first and oldest park. Named for the Confederate veteran who purchased and installed the monument, the city recognized the opportunity to forge a new, more harmonious path forward by renaming the park after James Weldon Johnson, a Black writer, early civil rights activist, and native son of Jacksonville. We were entrusted to create a new brand identity for this historic project that would transform the park into a modern, urban space, engage diverse communities, and restore vitality to the city’s most prominent public square.
Third Place: Fisher-Price
By: Pentagram
USA
Fisher-Price is one of the world’s leading toy companies, defining the category in infant and preschool toys and playing an important role in childhood for almost a century, creating everything from “bump to bus.” Pentagram has collaborated with Fisher-Price on a refresh of its brand identity that highlights a return to a playful sense of fun. The system draws on the brand’s extraordinary heritage to build a complete visual language, and includes a custom typeface, messaging, art direction and merchandising.
First Place: IMAPI
By: Café.art.br and Odd.Studio
Brazil
The first thousand days of a child are the most important ones to guarantee a healthy development. IMAPI is a Nurturing Care Municipality Index that combines over 100 metrics that are strongly related to environmental development in these first days of a child’s life. The project is an 18-month effort from a diverse group of professionals to put together databases from 2015 and 2016 from all of Brazil's 5,570 municipalities, to create a sound, peer-reviewed methodology, and to make the results publicly available.
Second Place: A Walk in the Dark
U.K.
The data visualization, exploring the incredible legacy of spacewalking in its entirety, is presented in a similar structure to a constellation chart, and plots every person who has ever embarked on a spacewalk or moonwalk. I wanted the design to be in a vintage style, conjuring the timeless majesty of space, and conveying a sense of the ambition and enthusiasm around space travel that existed during the time of the moon landing and Apollo missions. The astronauts and cosmonauts are plotted chronologically according to the date of their first extravehicular activity. Different icons featuring stars, planets and other interstellar objects depict the various missions, while the scale of each icon represents the number of EVAs undertaken. Finally, EVA’s undertaken by the same person across different decades are linked to create constellations, presenting a complete picture that celebrates scientific achievement and our collective aspiration as a species to sit amongst the stars.
Third Place: Emotion Archive
USA
It all started with a simple question: "How have people around the world coped with the COVID-19 crisis?" The Emotion Archive is an interactive data visualization, featured on McKinsey's COVID Response Center, that explores the reflections of 122 people in 22 cities and eight countries around the world. It offers a deeper look into how the pandemic has changed people’s lives and livelihoods while serving as an archive of the unprecedented changes and emotional responses triggered by the crisis.
First Place: Arrested Development
Hong Kong
The South China Morning Post graphics team chose to mark the one year anniversary of the ongoing anti-government demonstrations by visualizing the fate of those arrested on protest-related charges. Lead artist, Adolfo Arranz drew 8,981 unique silhouettes to show the number of people acquitted, discharged, bound over and convicted. The design makes clever use of the broadsheet format to show how many face prosecution, are under investigation or have been released. Readers can see at a glance that more than a quarter were female, the youngest was 11 years old, the oldest 84.
Second Place: Mohawk Maker Quarterly 16: Community
By: Hybrid Design
USA
Community as an aspiration has captured the attention of a broad cross section of the design world. As mediators of a cultural environment where we are constantly presented with everything, remarkably, we feel we are missing something. As curators of the Mohawk Maker Quarterly, and designers ourselves, we were struck by the possibility that the elusiveness of community stems from a hazy definition. Maybe we are drawn to something we haven’t fully de ned, dooming our desire to be forever unrequited. In this issue we investigate varied expressions of community with stories in three volumes: Place, Voice, Time, each representing a different point of vi
ew on community through a different point of view on design.
Third Place: MICA Commotion Vol. 08
By: Design Army
USA
The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore is one of the oldest and most prestigious art schools in the country. When approached to help find an exciting and “interactive” way to unite their 20 graduate programs, we developed and designed a semiannual magazine to connect students, alumni, faculty and prospective students. The new magazine was titled Commotion. The name comes from the belief that artists and designers create through exploration and investigation, taking inspiration from vast and varied sources; the process can be chaotic, noisy and confusing, but always rewarding. The magazine had to be visually dynamic and exciting to represent this process. We created visually exciting and compelling layouts, with bright pops of color, dynamic typography and custom illustration. The publication increased engagement and graduate enrollment and seamlessly connected the disparate groups to create a strong MICA experience that extends well beyond the college years.
First Place: Resilience Mural Project
USA
Resilience is the ability to persist and thrive in spite of challenging and unprecedented circumstances. This mural located in Washington, DC is designed to inspire our community through art and storytelling while offering resources to those affected by COVID-19. From physical to digital, this multi-layered project, in partnership with Capital One, was created to encourage perseverance through artistic expression and storytelling while providing pandemic relief resources to minority-owned businesses.
Second Place: Knit Con Event Branding
By: Hybrid Design
USA
Knit Con, [Pinterest's] annual employee conference, is designed to celebrate creativity, hands-on learning and the exploration of new skills and experiences. By focusing on the elements that tie Pinterest’s values and employees together, Hybrid Design created a fresh new take on the idea of the Pinterest Thread. Typographic expressions, illustration, art direction and photography work together to literally tie ideas together and take over the beautiful physical space that the Pinners call home. Installations throughout the Pinterest offices created the feeling of anticipation and excitement for the event to come to life and the well-deserved days of enrichment and learning for the Pinterest employees.
Third Place: Sniffing Out the Differences
By: Sniffing Out the Differences, ValueLabs
India
Sniffing out the Differences is a series of multisensory installations consisting of novel interfaces that use the unusual medium of smell along with sensor technology to narrate socially relevant stories for today. The narratives primarily deal with the modern conception of identity, and with differences which often lead to xenophobia. It consists of five installations titled Jallianwala Bagh, Identity stories, Mir Abdul Attarwala, Xeno 500, and Diversity in us. Each of these installations tackles a key social or cultural issue relevant to current society by allowing the user to experience multisensory inputs guiding them through varied narratives.
First Place: AIGA Chicago Mentorship Program 2020 Identity
USA
The AIGA Chicago Mentorship Program—one of the chapter's most successful and inclusive platforms—gives creatives from across disciplines a place to gather and share insights, experiences and resources. With programming that supports all levels of experience, the organization has collaborative mentor groups that develop a curriculum based on community interest and need. The One Design team was proud to support the program with a bold, flexible, custom typographic identity for the 2020 season—taking conceptual cues from the rich diversity of mentorship program participants.
Second Place: PRINT Award Certificates
By: Design Army
USA
Custom lettering for the 2019 Print Awards—each poster was custom for each region using various kinetic graphic elements. The certificates are oversized poster format, and were printed with white foils and inks. The goal was to create something epic and memorable for each winner, as these certificates also marked the end of the printed regional publication, and the start of a new online format. Long live PRINT!
Third Place: Confluence Chicago
USA
Collaborating with Chicago’s famed Merchandise Mart and BIFMA (the trade association for business and institutional furniture manufacturers), One Design developed a positioning strategy and brand system for Confluence Chicago, a new programming track for NeoCon 2020 (now slated to 2021) focused on bringing together creative practitioners from across multiple modes of design.
First Place: Muito Esquisito
By: Casa Rex
Brazil
Graphic design and illustrations for a children's book that creates fantastic animals—some described verbally, others visually. The illustrations move from mixing collages to simple, multicolored geometric shapes. … By combining distinct and easily identifiable body parts of animals into a single being, [they] evoke not only the fantasy of small readers but also broaden their visual representation—something that could easily be proved in the numerous school encounters in which students created their own "weird animals."
Second Place: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance
By: Journey Group
USA
The assignment was to create a pane of U.S. postage stamps to honor the Harlem Renaissance. The four literary figures honored on these stamps were chosen to highlight diverse facets of the Harlem Renaissance: writer, philosopher, educator and arts advocate Alain Locke; novelist Nella Larsen; bibliophile and historian Arturo Alfonso Schomburg; and poet Anne Spencer. The stamps feature stylized pastel portraits of the four honorees based on historic photographs. The artist created each piece of art by first sketching in pencil on translucent paper. He then moved to pastel pencil on paper to make the final designs.
Third Place: Rishi Tea & Botanicals—Boxed Sachets
By: Studio MPLS
USA
Rishi Tea & Botanicals tasked us with redesigning the retail presence of their core line of tea sachets and loose-leaf teas. Offering hand-picked teas of the highest quality, and using ingredients that were globally sourced through rigorous, fair-trade practices, we knew this was not your ordinary tea. We chose to represent each flavor profile with its own unique hand-painted illustration. We created 19 original gouache paintings, inspired by the origins, ingredients and experiences of each flavor profile. Utilizing stark white as a canvas, these paintings rest on the front of each box of sachets, while blind emboss and gold foil serve to elevate the packaging above all other tea packaging in the retail category.
First P
lace: A Love Letter to Austin
By: Guerilla Suit
USA
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the midst of shelter-in-place orders citywide, Guerilla Suit asked itself how we could use our collective creative powers for good. What could we do to help our family, friends and neighbors during these most trying of times? While we were all doing our part to help flatten the curve, our small local businesses were suffering. Y'allmanac was created as a resource to help preserve our local businesses and help keep Austin Austin. When deciding how and where to spend our hard-earned dollars, we urged Austinites to eat, drink, shop, play, hire and care locally.
Second Place: BMS UNITED
By: KOMMIGRAPHICS
Greece
BMS UNITED has been active in the shipping industry since 1990, and today is one of the leading bunkering companies in the world. An important characteristic is its multinational culture, as well as its reliability, responsibility and transparency towards customers. Based on the progressive character of the company, we designed far out[side] the classic boundaries of this market. The new website of BMS UNITED presents a company that embraces diversity, is constantly evolving and always aiming to the top.
Third Place: Industry City
By: IBM Originals
USA
Much of what IBM offers is not seen with the naked eye, and therefore our clients are unaware of our expertise and solutions. We have an opportunity to present our solutions through the lens of our client—and how it will enable them to meet their customer expectations of today. This interactive experience holistically displays IBM’s breadth and depth of industry expertise and innovative technology in scenes that are familiar to the audience. The points of interest host inspiring and humanizing stories of problem solving, success through reinvention and working smarter, while also linking to our must-win solutions.
First Place: FIT 75th Anniversary Gala
By: Cynda Media Lab
USA
The FIT 75th-anniversary identity is an elegant design system that focuses on timeless design fundamentals such as balance, visual rhythm and simplicity. This design direction will fully manifest its potentials when produced with special inks and/or other high-end printing technologies to enhance the texture element in this design. For the anniversary gala, a set of Save the Date cards was designed and sent to the invited guests. These cards are printed with heavyweight matte finish paper to create the deep black, which contrasts with the bright color geometric shapes with a slight gradient treatment.
Second Place: Holiday Celebration Box Limited Edition
By: Hybrid3
USA
We designed a package for the client, Dowbuilt [a custom home builder], … a unique wood box with hidden hardware and magnetic closure … to house the gift of wine from Water-1st—a nonprofit organization that provides access to clean water and sanitation for the world's poorest people. The letterpress wrapping allows handwritten notes to recipients.
Third Place: CCD Holiday Card
By: Colin Campbell Design Inc.
Canada
As part of the promotion for my design business I like to send out an annual holiday card. The subject matter varies depending on my travels and focus during the year. This card was inspired by our trip to Nara, Japan, and features my interpretation of a caution sign in the park. The card is letterpress printed by Fox & Found Letterpress on Crane's Lettra 110 lb. cover, natural white.
First Place: Wilder Fields
USA
Wilder Fields is a technology-enabled food company producing extraordinarily flavorful, fresh, safe and sustainably grown food for local communities across the country. Harnessing bleeding-edge technology, sustainable operations and ethical real estate practices, Wilder Fields seeks to nourish the world and transform local economies by reinventing the practice of large-scale indoor vertical farming. The One Design team worked with CEO Jake Counne, CCO James Radke and their team since early 2020 to develop the Wilder Fields brand identity and communication strategy. Formerly known as Backyard Fresh Farms, a new name, positioning strategy, messaging plan, identity program and packaging system has been crafted from the ground up to express a more resonant, emotional and authentic narrative for the organization.
Second Place: Office Ours
USA
Office Ours is a series of virtual studio tours focused on the nuts and bolts of running a creative practice. Featuring an evolving roster of studios, the programming track is an opportunity to dig below the surface and see how businesses operate, evolve and thrive. One Design created and named the series. An elegant, time-keeping variable logo and classic design system came to life online and off. A digital content hub—custom built by the One Design team—served to promote upcoming events in the series, and provides access to past episodes.
Third Place: How the “Share a Little Sunshine” Logo Evolved Into “LoveFL”
By: SPARK
USA
VISIT FLORIDA’s original advocacy platform, “Share A Little Sunshine,” initially started as a campaign designed to encourage travelers to visit Florida by featuring residents who shared what they loved most about their home state as a way of extending a welcoming invitation to their out-of-state friends to come join in the fun. But after 10 years and three million pieces of content, this pool of advocates had exploded into a flourishing online community of local fans who formed a bond through their love and pride for all things Florida. … As part of our comprehensive repositioning effort, we made sure to capture the true spirit of these grateful loyalists by holding a “Sunshine Summit” attended by 30 of the most active and outspoken followers from across the state. Naturally, our intention was to start off our strategic work by listening and letting their voices not only shape the new brand, but also play an integral role in becoming a part of its ongoing success. What resulted was a total makeover of the identity, including a new logomark, color palette and identity system that accurately reflects the vibrant personality and genuine gratitude of those more than 100,000 proud Floridians eager to celebrate all the reasons why they LoveFL.
First Place: Exponential Growth of COVID-19
USA
This summer, KUSA—a Denver-based news station—asked TEGNA Design Tank to create an animated explainer graphic to assist in describing how contagious COVID-19 can be and how infection rates are measured. The main goal of this animated piece was to explain some of the more technical aspects of disease infection rates through the use of strong visual storytelling. In order to demonstrate why social distancing amidst the outbreak of COVID-19 is so important, we made use of clean, minimalist design layouts and bold, yet gentle, colors. This motion graphics piece provides an animated representation of the scientific term known as “R naught” and details how exponential growth can (and has) occurred in the spread of the coronavirus. Our simplistic choices for symbolizing the spread of infection in conjunction with legible text queues effectively educate viewers on the significance of vaccinations and what makes COVID-19 a serious global health concern.
Second Place: REC Narrated By Christophe Pillet for Studio TK
By: Tolleson
USA
Studio TK wanted to create its first-ever video by highlighting Christophe Pillet, designer of its newest table collection, Rec. As is standard across much of the contract furniture industry, designers work with many brands. Subsequently, a simple search can return multiple videos from competing manufacturers featuring the same designer, answering the same generic questions. For Studio TK, we needed to unearth a story that went beyond just furniture, that broke from the mold of traditional designer videos and that played into the spirit of Studio TK’s human focus and social charisma. We began by interviewing Pillet over the phone and found a consistent throughline—designing for happiness—that would pair well with Studio TK’s brand and provide content rich in visual storytelling. Our original storyboards set out to capture this story utilizing in-person interviews with Christophe, plus live action b-roll of his studio in France. But then COVID hit, forcing us to completely rethink how we could tell his story without the conveniences afforded by a traditional in-person film production. With the Studio TK brand as our guide and the safety of all involved as our priority, we took this as an opportunity to challenge ourselves creatively to think beyond our original idea, and found our inspiration in stop-motion animation.
Third Place: Dreams in Fiber Optic Wood at MSK Cancer Center
By: C&G Partners
USA
The digital installations for the new David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care are designed around the feelings and needs of patients and caregivers. The main lobby hosts the welcome wall, Dreams in Fiber Optic Wood, featuring images in motion that glow directly through the wood of the building. Inspired by nature, the dreams include koi fish, butterflies, flowers and bonsai trees, all constantly changing with the
seasons. The effect is deliberately meditative and atmospheric so that it can be viewed for one minute or 100. Because light passes through thousands of actual tiny holes in the wood, a special approach was required to create the original animated sequences. Recent science has clinically proven that artistic and nature-based experiences (in medical language, “positive distractions”) can speed healing and improve outcomes. Random natural motion—like what is found in water, wind, foliage, animal life and the motion of light—has been demonstrated to hold near-universal appeal for patients in medical contexts.
First Place: I'm Feeling Myself
By: Malik Dupree
USA
“I’m Feeling Myself” Highlights the importance of self love and self care for Black Queer males who are still struggling to be themselves in a hyper masculine society. The main goal of this photo series is to let go of any and all insecurities of being a Black LGBTQ+ individual, while confidently looking into the mirror and saying "I'm feeling myself today." Whether it's putting on your favorite stylish du-rag to keep your hair kept, doing some daily skincare routine, or spending some well-deserved time with close friends, looking after your well-being as well as the state of other Black Queer folks is critical, especially now!
Second Place: 36 Days of Type
By: 80east Design
USA
[This is a] series of still-life photographs using everyday household items illustrating the 26 characters of the alphabet, and 10 numbers (zero though nine). Shown here is the master grid of all 36 images and five photographs individually. Created and posted one per day on Instagram in early 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Third Place: Where Ideas Lead
By: Design Army
USA
Promotional images to introduce Neenah's new branding tagline, “Where Ideas Lead,” positioning Neenah as a partner in the creative process that provides the products and services—the solutions—to help bring brand visions to life and transform ideas into results.
First Place: Goddess Experience Poster Series
USA
The Goddess Experience, a performance series written, directed, and performed by Ebony Payne-English, needed a cohesive set of expertly crafted promotional materials to draw attention to the project. Centered around reclaiming her experiences as a new mother and a woman of
color living with HIV, we needed to communicate both the beauty and universality of her story. Inspired by the artist’s name, we created profile silhouettes of her and her daughter from exotic ornamental ebony wood.
Second Place: Breathe and Vote
By: Rigsby Hull
USA
The AIGA Design for Democracy/League of Women Voters exhibition celebrates a century of voting rights uneasily, acknowledging that women of color didn’t gain that right until 1965. As a woman working on the project I found the discrepancy intolerable. And as a mother, I heard George Floyd’s dying plea as a call that cut across all racial lines, a petition to all mothers: “Mama, vote.” “Breathe, and vote.” Collaborating with artist Michael Ray Charles, we visualized that call on placards, church fans, banners, and in this second submission to the AIGA poster exhibition.
Third Place: Never More
By: Code Switch
USA
[This is] an anti-Trump poster inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven. I wanted us to remember what really matters this year: That we must all show up and vote the current inhabitant out of the White House. The famous phrase "Nevermore," combined with one simple yellow brush stroke, is sufficient to convey the message.
First Place: Fika Promo Package
By: PS Design
USA
Most commonly defined as “a coffee and sweets break,” Fika is a Swedish concept and a state of mind. Not just a break with some joe, but a moment to slow down and appreciate all that is good in life. Time to connect with friends and loved ones over a good cup of coffee and something sweet. After visiting Sweden this concept of Fika was one of the biggest cultural gems we took back with us. As a thank you to our clients and colleagues this year, we decided to share the ethos behind this wonderful Swedish tradition by providing them with all the “necessary” goodies so they too can experience it firsthand. The concept behind the extending type as the box opens is simple—take more time to take your pleasure seriously—a subtle nod to the famous quote from the great Charles Eames.
Second Place: Glenmore Valentine's Day Promotion: Those who print together, stay together.
By: Best Studio
Canada
Glenmore wanted to promote the fact that they are Canada's only custom tube manufacturer, as well as highlight some of their luxury printing and packaging techniques with a direct mail piece for Valentine's Day. They needed something that would speak to their core audience of designers and design agencies and be visually engaging enough for people to take notice. We created a gift set that was immediately eye-catching while highlighting several different print techniques offered by Glenmore. Each box contained three custom-designed candy-containing tubes alongside cheeky Valentine's Day cards and stickers that played up printing puns.
Third Place: Bracom Mooncake Magic Giftbox
By: Bracom Agency
Vietnam
Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival, is a traditional festival celebrated across many Asian countries. … In Vietnam, it is regarded as a children’s holiday, as well. On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, they parade through the streets with illuminated lanterns in different colors and shapes. The moon coming in the roundest and brightest represents a reunion. Therefore, this day is also an occasion for a family gathering. The mooncake set by Bracom, featuring the enchanting image of the moon, is highly believed to be a valuable present to show our appreciation toward friends and clients for their productive cooperation. The visualization of the autumn moon rising over a tranquil lake reminds us of putting aside the hectic life to enjoy the allure of nature for the present.
First Place: Department of Digital Remains
By: Anjali Nair, Maryland Institute College of Art
In 50 years, the dead will outnumber the living on Facebook, and it will turn into a virtual graveyard. The Department of Digital Remains is a fictional federal agency that keeps a tab on all your virtual actions, which will determine your fate in the digital afterlife. In an age of immortal digital presences, this is a speculative look at what happens to our online selves after we die. This project uses design fiction to examine digital lives through the lens of digital death while trying to answer the question: If we have found ways to treat physical remains of the departed with dignity, why not digital remains?
Second Place: With Water
By: Yasmin Ali, College for Creative Studies
With Water is a brand/identity initiative that was created in direct response to Detroit's water shutoffs. Not only does it aim to provide water to people experiencing a shutoff but it aims to spread awareness and use political messaging to promote governmental change. The brand began with extensive research on Detroit's complex and nuanced water system that has left thousands of Detroiters without water. Research included looking at billing practices, the unique drainage charge, mismanagement in Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, and the neighborhoods that are most affected by these shutoffs. From our research on demographics we found that the majority of those affected by the shutoffs were Black families and that single Black mothers were hit hardest. Looking at the issue of Detroit's water system, it was clear that systemic racism had created barriers that limited access to something as basic as clean and reliable water. Reading articles and interviews it seemed as though shame had been directed at those experiencing a water shutoff rather than at the city for depriving people of water in the first place.
Third Place: Breathe
By: Akshita Chandra, Maryland Institute College of Art
Breathe is an interactive and dynamic typographic artwork of breathing type. It reminds the user to slow down and breathe along. It was created in direct response to the universal and high anxiety we all faced due to the uncertainty and change that seemed to consume us during peak lockdown. The interface with the type-able breathing typeface lets the user type out any combination of letters or words, select from a variety of five different typographic treatments, choose an ambient music to go with and meditate along! The breathing pace of the typeface is set to mimic the pace that was calming and relaxing. The artwork was coded in p5.js.
First Place: I'm Feeling Myself
By: Malik Dupree
USA
“I’m Feeling Myself” Highlights the importance of self love and self care for Black Queer males who are still struggling to be themselves in a hyper masculine society. The main goal of this photo series is to let go of any and all insecurities of being a Black LGBTQ+ individual, while confidently looking into the mirror and saying "I'm feeling myself today." Whether it's putting on your favorite stylish du-rag to keep your hair kept, doing some daily skincare routine, or spending some well-deserved time with close friends, looking after your well-being as well as the state of other Black Queer folks is critical, especially now!
Second Place: Hack(Comedy)
By: Lan Zhang
USA
The word "hack" has many meanings. In the computer programming realm, "hack" is known as an act of gaining or attempting unauthorized access to a network or computers. However, this term is also long established in the comedy industry, referring to materials copied from original comedians. My native language isn't English, and I struggled to become culturally competent in American society, where humor is also a crucial cultural pedestal. With my design background and programming ability, I started my design research in decoding the secrets behind becoming fluent in the comedy language. "Hack(Comedy)" is a computational comedy net art interface and a net art performance. "Hack(Comedy)" aims to interrogate our perception of humor through live procedural text generations that reflect the American comedy landscape's condensed themes and identities.
Third Place: SOF | Sisters Overpowering Fibroids
By: Hamda Al Naimi
USA
SOF is an acronym for Sisters Overpowering Fibroids. To translate the core of the brand identity, it was essential to use a simple name that embodies strength and support. Consequently, the goal is to bridge the gap between people diagnosed with uterine fibroids, their doctors, as well as creating a safe and supportive space. SOF aims to encourage and empower patients to be in charge of their health through multiple design deliverables. SOF is a concept project inspired by the design
er’s journey with uterine fibroids, the frustration of being handed the same generalized brochure after a doctor's visit, meeting women in similar positions who have waited too long to get treated. While not dangerous, ignoring the symptoms can lead to complications. Possible solutions involve creating a sense of urgency, giving patients enough personalized information and a support system.