WINNER
San Francisco Symphony Communications
by Collins, for San Francisco Symphony
When the 108-year old San Francisco Symphony transformed its programming approaches and passed the baton to visionary conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, it brought in Collins to help clarify, define and express its new vision. The consultancy was tasked with helping the Symphony re-assert classical music as a “crucial, global contemporary art form,” while simultaneously remaining rooted in its community.
The Symphony’s explorations in emerging technologies informed a design direction based around digital, sonic, and typographic experimentation. Collins created a responsive, evolving visual system that aims to bring the dynamic qualities of classical music to life. Traditional typography is used as a nod to the artform's heritage, which is augmented with responsive and variable font technology to allow each character to change appearance as it reacts to sound. A new colour palette inspired by the colours and landscapes of the Bay Area was created to use alongside more formal black and white tones. Overall, the designs look to “evoke the rich emotional range of symphonic music across an always-changing media and digital landscape,” according to Collins.
The judges said: “Here we see the brand being just as expressive statically as in motion. Hangs together brilliantly as a piece of print and helps us imagine what the musical experience would be like.”
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Crane Paper Company
by Collins, for Crane Paper Company
Crane Paper Company has been making paper for 250 years, since Stephen Crane purchased the Liberty Paper Mill in Dalton, Massachusetts in 1770, and went on to become the paper supplier for all US dollars for the Federal Reserve Bank. Collins worked with Crane to revitalise the brand, reboot its digital presence and develop a “more relevant brand voice” to enable new products, artist collaborations and customisation capabilities.
The branding direction was informed by The Art Nouveau movement that influenced Crane’s premium-quality 100% cotton paper products at the turn of the century. The movement also inspired Collins to create a new tactile experience with Crane’s products. The designers “dialled up the vibrancy” of Crane’s classic blue colour, while using it to showcase the brand’s printing and engraving capabilities. “The stationery box becomes an object of hope, to be proudly displayed on a desk, shelf, or coffee table,” says Collins.
Pencil Box
by Studio Sutherl&, for Boss Box
Studio Sutherl&’s brief from printing company Boss Box was to produce a promotional box showing off the printer's box-making, printing and foiling skills using Fedrigoni papers. The box had to be a useful, playful and tactile object that people would want to keep.
Opting to create what became Pencil Box, Studio Sutherl& designed a typeface and created character illustrations using shapes inspired by pencil component shapes such as a hexagon reflecting the ridges of a pencil, and the shapes formed from pencil shavings. The four characters are Bubo the Owl; Ningyo, a fish-like creature; Calaca, a Mayan skeleton; and Helios the sunflower. The modular typeface, also informed by pencil shapes, is used alongside the illustrations on the identity for Pencil Box, the pencils, the insert and postcards. The studio also produced simple, playful animations to promote the project on social media.
Magic Canvas
by Magpie Studio, for Magic Canvas
Magpie created the identity for Magic Canvas, a platform which aims to "help children to express themselves” using art therapy techniques. Magpie aimed to create a brand that challenged the common misconception of psychotherapy being clinical and inaccessible, and rooted the identity in the art therapy-based idea "just draw how you feel". The colour palette uses Crayola-like colours and a suite of expressive illustrations alongside an "unpretentious" typeface and warm tone of voice.
At the heart of the designs is the idea of being age-appropriate while encouraging children to interact and express themselves. The consultancy also created a complete therapy toolkit including rubber stamps, workbooks and interactive card games to encourage discussion in sessions, as well as downloadable digital resources so that children can continue their conversations outside of therapy sessions.
“From the outset, Magic Canvas didn't have KPIs or ambitious commercial objectives,” says Magpie. “The aim was to challenge industry norms, and take some of the fear out of therapy – making a daunting experience more accessible and friendly.”
Sherlock stamps
by NB Studio, for Royal Mail
To coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the BBC TV series Sherlock, Royal Mail asked NB Studio to create a set of four stamps to bring to life Conan Doyle's four favourite Sherlock Holmes mysteries: The Adventure of the Speckled Band; The Red-Headed League; The Adventure of the Second Stain and The Adventure of the Dancing Men. Briefed to capture “the eerie and mysterious feel of the original books,” according to NB Studio, the team created a series of four atmospheric “micro-scenes” from the narratives, working closely with illustrator Karolis Strautniekas. Each scene uses a distinct colour palette and focal point, with significant clues from the stories highlighted using shafts of light.
The Joy of Print 2020/21
by Oliver Agency, for The Guardian
For its 2020/21 Joy of Print campaign for The Guardian, Oliver Agency acknowledged that since “the first lockdown in 2020 turned all our usual routines upside down”, it was important to demonstrate how the ritual of reading a newspaper could be an integral part of Guardian readers’ “new normal”. The designs focused on the positives that reading a newspaper can bring – namely, “a much-needed escapism for this stressful time,” says the agency, “from excitedly waiting by the letter box for your latest delivered copy, to sharing the sections with your family at the weekend.” While these rituals aren’t exclusive to pandemic times, Oliver Agency honed in on the fact that “for now, they speak of a normality which our readers miss and desire.” The team worked with illustrator Leon Elder, AKA Leillo, to create images depicting vignettes of life with the newspaper with a family of characters that can be used in evergreen communication materials and future campaigns.
Print Communications
shortlisted