2017 Best Design Awards Winners

Last Friday night the design community honoured some of Aotearoa’s best designers, and their projects from the past year, at the annual Best Design Awards. The acknowledgement of great design is a pinnacle event, and we want to extend our congratulations to all of the winners.

In the Graphic category, Inhouse took home the supreme Purple Pin for their work on Steinlager Tokyo Dry. Here is a selection of the gold winners from the Graphic category.Inhouse: Steinlarger Tokyo Dry
Creative Director: Arch MacDonnell; Design Director: Toby Curnow; Team Members: Arch MacDonnell, Toby Curnow, Dean Foster, Hamish Haydon, Sarah Gladwell; Contributors: Toaki Okano, Dean Foster, DDB
Client: Lion Breweries
Judge’s comments: An exemplary piece of work across various mediums from packaging to brand standards with a clear idea executed to the highest standard. Something fresh and different in a tough and saturated category.

Osborne Shiwan: Awa
Creative Directors: Lloyd Osborne, Shabnam Shiwan; Team Members: Lloyd Osborne, Shabnam Shiwan; Contributors: Charles Howells, Carolyn Haslett
Client: Atamira Dance Company
Judge’s comments: Powerful and impactful.

New New: Just Drink It
Creative Director: Kelvin Soh; Contributor: Mat Bogust
Client: Stolen Rum
Judge’s comments: Single minded and makes you smile. You react to it.

ALT Group: Silo Theatre 2017 Season Photography
Creative Director: Dean Poole; Team Members: Dean Poole, Janson Chau, Kennady Virak, Helen Clegg, Toaki Okano
Client: Silo Theatre
Judge’s comments: Stunningly beautiful and single minded.

Sea Change: Cazador – game, offal & the rest
Creative Directors: Tim Donaldson, Amanda Gaskin; Contributors: Pippa Drummond, Rebecca Smidt, Dariush Lolaiy, Simon Farrell-green, Kimberley Davis
Client: Cazador
Judge’s comments: This book tells a very complete story about the ethos and what they are about. Every single spread is flawless: the packaging, the printing, the whole thing. One of the nicest books the judges have ever seen.

Some supreme Purple Pin winners in other sections include:
Interactive – DNA: CERT New Zealand
Creative Directors: Phil Dunstan-Brown, Charlene Turei; Design Director: Stacy Orr; Team Members:
Katherine Allan, Zak Kinnaird, Idris Corap, Amy Revell, John Milmine, Andy Dover, Georgy Malanichev, Naomi Guyer, Jim Perry, Tony Watson, Julian Thomson, Jacob Roberts, Scott Newlands
Client: MBIE
Judge’s comments: This entry places the spotlight squarely on a real, urgent problem. The site’s progressive-disclosure model works brilliantly to guide the reader through, and the simplicity of layout works perfectly to bring clarity to its text-heavy content. Its sensitivity to typography and a strong understanding of hierarchy and content flow all contributed to this being the judges’ pick for the best interactive work in 2017. It is inspiring to see a brief taken to this level with a resulting outcome that is approachable, easy to consume, never overwhelming, and user focused above all else. Here’s to pushing the limits of not only government sites, but large-scale digital projects full stop.

Ngā Aho Award – Designworks: Air New Zealand Te Tohu
Creative Directors: Jef Wong, Clive Fugill; Design Director: Anzac Tasker; Team Members: Anzac Tasker, Stacey Gordine, Sam Currie, Sam O’Flaherty; Contributors: Jodi Williams, Andrew Baker, Erica Beagley, Jen Macindoe, Carly Wigley, Garrick Sutherland, Māori Language Commission, New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute
Client: Air New Zealand
Judge’s comments: For this project, Air New Zealand, The Māori Language Commission, and the New Zealand Māori Arts & Crafts Institute came together and worked with Designworks to bring to life Air New Zealand’s Māori Culture Strategy by providing a simple visual ‘tohu’ or emblem that staff with fluency in te reo Māori could wear with pride, that would say to Māori speaking customers ‘kōrero mai’. The resultant ‘waha’, or mouth symbol, derived from traditional carving motifs/language was described by judges as “a beautiful small object with a credible process and big agenda behind it”. The judges commend Air New Zealand for bringing te reo Māori to life inflight and see potential for such an icon to gain currency beyond Air New Zealand in recognising and celebrating te reo Māori speakers.

User Experience Award – DNA: Immigration New Zealand
Creative Director: Charlene Turei; Design Director: Stacey Orr; Team Members: Anna-Marie Antipas, Idris Corap, Charlene Turei, Julian Thomson, Tony Watson, Jacob Roberts, Naomi Guyer, Jim Perry, Georgy Malanichev, John Milmine, Andy Dover, Amy Revell, Katherine Allan, Kristin Jarvis
Client: MBIE
Judge’s comments: Serving over 12 million users each year, this solution shows how goal directed design and user research at the inception of a project can unlock innovation and compellingly frame up the case for transformation. In this instance, that foundation led to the re-organisation of Visa presentation and the elimination of complexity for users by way of a radically improved user-centred experience. This in turn has resulted in significant reduction in cost to serve and facilitated the continued growth in online channel migration for the business.