IIT Institute of Design
by Collins, for IIT Institute of Design
This historic graduate school needed help to find its voice and purpose.
The Institute of Design (ID) opened in Chicago in 1937, founded by former Bauhaus instructor László Moholy-Nagy. It saw progressive future design leaders including Jay Doblin and Buckminster Fuller work to cultivate the ‘designer of the future’.
The approach led to some of the most progressive techniques in the field. However, 85 years of swirling design theories had confused the school’s understanding of its controlling theory of design, making it less appealing than more single-minded institutions to prospective students.
Collins worked to define ID’s purpose as “creating generations of evolutionaries”, based on the view that evolutionaries are greater than revolutionaries, as they better appreciate the complexity of life.
The judges said: “This identity does exactly what it set out to do, to show the transformative power of design by bringing clarity from chaos. A generative design structure makes this possible, rooted by a compelling historical narrative.”
Branding for Norwich Castle
by The Click, for Norwich Castle
An iconic historical landmark, established on the orders of William the Conqueror in 1067, Norwich Castle proudly dominates the city’s skyline.
Over nearly a millennium since it has served as a fortification, a prison and, most recently, a museum and art gallery. Now mid-way through a £13m refurbishment to offer improved visitor facilities including a café, restaurant, shop, and digital learning spaces it has developed new branding in preparation for its reopening in 2024.
Inspiration was taken from the recognisable cube shape of the castle. The Click tested how memorable it was by challenging members of the public to draw the castle from memory, using the results to guide the development of the new brand as an uncompromisingly simple mark.
Portraying Norwich Castle in isolation, the agency removed everything that wasn’t needed from the outgoing logo, distilling the visual representation of the castle to its most basic and iconic form. That has led to a modular, grid-based system formed largely of squares, allowing an easy-to-use format for wider applications.
Ragged Edge x Wise
for Wise
Wise was launched more than a decade ago to disrupt the market for moving money around, offering a service designed to be faster, cheaper and fairer than the transfer service offered by banks. More than 16 million people and businesses use Wise.
Ragged Edge was appointed to rebrand Wise to reflect its evolution beyond the money transfers market, into an account that can be employed for using money anywhere. The rebrand was driven by a universal idea: that the world’s money is for everyone, everywhere, combined with the challenger spirit that established Wise to begin with.
The brand also had to celebrate being local, but on a global scale. A custom font, a bold approach to ‘real’ photography, a new colour palette and a revised sense of energy has helped Wise rediscover its voice.
Woven by Adam Smith – Storied Dining
by Magpie Studio, for Coworth Park, The Dorchester Collection
The restaurant at Coworth Park had an excellent reputation but remained pigeonholed as a hotel restaurant. Magpie Studio was briefed to create a visual verbal identity that matched the quality of its food and raised the profile of head chef Adam Smith.
The new name, Woven, was chosen to reflect the care and craft displayed in Smith’s kitchen, and also the nature of his cooking which weaves together ingredients, textures, flavours, and strands of memory and experience.
Once established, the name led to a textural and expressive identity that was layered with personal stories. These stories – from Nan’s roast dinners to chips at the seaside – are conceived as a relatable element of fine dining for anyone who grew up in the UK.
Woven underwent its first Michelin inspection six months after its rebrand, winning its first star.
Vineyard Theatre
by NB Studio, for Vineyard Theatre
Vineyard Theatre is an Off-Broadway venue in New York which prides itself on upending expectations. However, it wasn’t getting the recognition it deserved for its boundary-testing work.
The challenge for its new identity was to place Vineyard Theatre firmly in the spotlight while reflecting its groundbreaking approach.
NB Studio’s solution was an ever-changing identity for an ever-changing theatre. Using a constant wordmark for ‘Vineyard’, the new identity allows ‘Theatre’ to be completely reimagined for each new production. The dynamic identity is able to represent the fearless approach of the theatre itself.
The London-based design agency ensured that every piece of type used in the brand was designed by a New Yorker, to ensure that it was authentic to the theatre’s heritage.
Identity Design – Rebrand
HALL OF FAME WINNERS
shortlisted
highly commended
winner
highly commended
WePresent
by WeTransfer, for WePresent
WePresent, WeTransfer’s digital arts and editorial platform, launched in 2018 with a mission to produce and showcase world-leading content across art, literature, music, film and other channels. Its projects have grown in scale and impact since, cementing WePresent as a global destination for artistic discovery and inspiration.
Early in 2022 WePresent took its approach to experiential design a step further with a complete redesign and reconstruction of its digital presence and the introduction of a suite of new features.
A beautiful and ad-free user interface was created, letting visitors take control of their experience with options that mirror the evolving ways we engage with digital media. An audio player for podcasts, a highlight reel that condenses stories into key elements and a film playlist inspired by streaming habits, were all included.
