2010: Introduction
If there is one thing that there is no shortage of in the design industry, it is award shows and competitions. From city-specific to regional to global models, there are more than enough opportunities for designers to pit their work against that of their peers and earn a little bit of prestige and validation on their talent and hard work. Even within logo and identity design there are sufficient specialized awards and competitions. So when we decided we would be adding to the glut of publications and organizations asking designers to spend their time and budget on our awards, we wanted to make sure it was not just a well-worth investment of both but that it presented a unique model that celebrated and awarded projects through a scope and approach different than the rest.
One of the biggest complaints about design awards and competitions is that they consist of juries full of designers who then pat other designers on the back, a vicious circle that doesn’t demonstrate how design is appreciated and understood by people other than designers. Our approach was to include “clients” in the jury. After all, it is clients who initiate the process of designing a logo, identity, or brand program, and it is they who must appreciate, understand, and, more importantly, approve for implementation the work we do. We built our jury around five individuals: three designers and two clients, where we asked two of the designers to each invite one of their clients. While we presumed this would work, we were thrilled to see the balance that was actually achieved on judging day.
The relationship between designer and client then became the foundation for the Brand New Awards: In order to be published, all the winning projects would need to provide a statement from their client in which it could be demonstrated that their expectations were met. Some of these client statements provide surprisingly succinct and effective proof that working with a great identity designer, firm, or consultancy is of the utmost importance to any organization. Client statements also helped rid our awards of a recurring malady in other competitions: winning work that was never produced or concept work that never faced the rigors of implementation.
Another important aspect of our model was to establish categories that reflect the work identity designers do, regardless of how big or small their own businesses, or clients, may be. The most popular category was not surprisingly “Logos.” We received 243 of them, ranging from a local laundromat to a global pharmaceutical company. Using the logo as the foundation, we built up in scale and complexity of a project: from “Logo and Identity Animations” to “Basic Identity Applications” to “Comprehensive Identity Programs” to “Guideline Documents.” There are further details and insight about each of these in the category openers of the book.
To complement the traditional “Best of Show” award we added two special awards: one for “Design Effectiveness,” awarded to the project best able to summarize the quantitative and qualitative effects of a project, and the other for “Client Leadership,” awarded to the project best able to exemplify the leadership of an individual or group of individuals on the client side to oversee the development and implementation of an identity. Entrants were given the option to nominate their project by submitting a written summary. Unfortunately, of all the winning entries none provided a nomination and these special awards went unclaimed. We had originally secured sponsorship for these awards so that each winner would receive $3,000 that UnderConsideration would donate in their name to a charity of their choice. Since only Best of Show was awarded — sponsored by Neenah Paper — the other $6,000 secured from Pattison Sign Group and MailChimp were split among the four Best of Category winners in the professional level, each assigned $1,500 to select a charity to donate to.
The Brand New Awards were also open to students as a recognition that imaginative identity work, free of the constraints of professional work, is being done in classrooms around the world.
As interesting as it was to formulate an alternative model for a competition and raise $9,000 for charity, the main purpose of the Brand New Awards was to find the very best identity work being done around the world, and the result is this compilation of 101 projects that represent work from freelance designers to multinational brand consultancies, for indie musicians to global corporations, from Australia to Peru to the United States to the United Kingdom to Singapore and more. Our judges’ discerning selections capture a snapshot of the field of identity design in 2010, reflecting the most successful collaborations between a client and their designer, design firm, brand consultancy, or internal creative team.
Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to all who entered,
Bryony Gomez-Palacio + Armin Vit
Principals, UnderConsideration
About the categories
Logos
PROFESSIONAL By far the most popular category, logos were hard to judge not just because of the amount but because of the wide range of concepts and executions for such a menagerie of clients: from local laundromats to airlines to global corporations. Judges gravitated to entries that were quick and easy to understand but they also found joy in a few logos that demanded decoding and even overly ornate entries. Establishing the selections within the rating hierarchy — 5 stars for unanimous approval for inclusion, followed by 4 stars and 3 stars for non-unanimous inclusion — took a significant amount of time as judges discussed the merits of each one. Everyone agreed on one thing: Comedy Central’s appropriation of the copyright symbol and a flawless execution set the standard for what logo design can achieve.
STUDENT The Logo category also dominated the Student level but, unlike their professional counterparts, neither the entries nor the winners made a significant impression on the judges. Nonetheless, the discussion around the Best of Category was remarkably impassioned, and because these alternatives to real-world brands Bosch and Tom’s of Maine were so stylistically different yet equally effective, the judges decided to offer a tie and reward both students.
Logo and Identity Animations
PROFESSIONAL The range of projects within this category is broad: it can be something as limited as a 5-second logo animation for a product or service or something as complex as a whole system of on-air identification materials for a television channel. This category demands a new set of considerations for judging identity work as it’s not just a static logo anymore but kits of moving parts, sounds, and gestures that must work together flawlessly. The winners show that logo and identity animation can take any form, from flat digital animations to live-action sequences to voluptuous visual effects. It’s not surprising then that the on-air identity system for the Independent Film Channel took top honors in this category, combining the best of all techniques topped off with great humor.
STUDENT In contrast to the Professional level the logo and identity animation entries from students were lengthier explorations, time wise, that challenged students to tell short stories through animation. The majority of the entries were illustrative but it was the 3D-based animation for POM Wonderful, with its swirling pomegranate juice filling in the heart portion of the company’s well-known logo that impressed judges the most — especially Claudine, who was the only one to select a Student level entry as her Judge’s Pick.
Basic Identity Applications
PROFESSIONAL Allowing a maximum of three applications, this category served as the middle point between the Logo and Comprehensive Identity Program categories for entrants whose projects consisted of a limited number of applications, be it a stationery system, signage, web, or packaging, among others. This was a surprisingly tough category with a very small percentage of winners: sometimes the logo was good but the applications were not and vice versa, only a few managing to blend the two together. The angled visual device on Slice proved to be the perfect segue from logo to applications to the judges’ hearts.
STUDENT No awards were given in this category.
Comprehensive Identity Programs
PROFESSIONAL Accepting a minimum of three applications with no maximum limit, this category was both the most entertaining, for the sheer exuberance of the scope of each project, and the most taxing, for the extent of attention each project demanded. Without a doubt this is the flagship category of the Brand New Awards, exhibiting the capacity of designers and clients to develop and implement smart, complex, and good-looking identity programs around the world. Found between a program for a South American country and one for a small hot dog restaurant in the middle of Texas, the identity for Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, in all of its stark and playful detail, took not just the best nod in this category but the Best of Show.
STUDENT It would be easy to think that students would not yet have the mettle, knowledge, or experience to imagine and execute a fictional comprehensive identity program, yet the entries for this category displayed a tremendous grasp on the complexities and breadth of scope that these kind of projects demand. The judges were genuinely mesmerized by these efforts, and it was the re-imagining of what firearm brand Colt could be that satisfied them the most as a representative of the potential that these students have in the identity industry.
Guideline Documents
PROFESSIONAL No one goes into this business with the dream of doing hundred-page guideline documents. Yet they are a very important element of all successful identity programs and deserve both dedication when produced and recognition when completed. Attracting less than two dozen entries proved that this isn’t the most exciting category. The winners, however, demonstrate the difficulty of creating documents that are attractive, engaging, easy to understand, and comprehensive. The guidelines for the on-air application of the Independent Film Channel are as well presented and humorous as the work that won the channel Best of Category in Logo and Identity Animations.
STUDENT Guideline documents are difficult enough to do when there is real content and materials to work from. Students have to conjure up everything from the logo to the applications to the copywriting. The results are typically mired with Lorem Ipsum, poor stock imagery selection, and uninspired layouts. Of the less than a handful guideline documents submitted the two that were selected for inclusion rival — in their design, writing and depth — and even surpass some of the entries in the Professional level. With its perfectly tailored tone of voice and brand personality, the guidelines for Ocean Pacific impressed the judges for its clarity and execution.
UnderConsideration’s Salvage
The organizers of most awards and competitions are completely behind the scenes, serving as a conduit between the entries, the judges, and the ensuing publication of the work. We stayed in this role as much as possible until we noticed that, in the barrage of entries that judges see, it is easy for some very deserving entries to be dismissed and not selected. So, as an addition to all the selections by our judges, UnderConsideration has selected a few more entries that we (Bryony and Armin) personally felt deserved an honorable mention in this year’s Awards, meant not to undermine our judges’ choices but to complement them.
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