Design > Brand-building
NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS
RETHINK, Toronto / NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS FOUNDATION / 2022
Awards:
Overview
Credits
Overview
Background
The National Magazine Awards celebrate excellence in journalism and visual creation. For more than 45 years, it has been considered the most prestigious award in Canada’s publication community. We were tasked with creating an identity for the 2021 awards—an identity that would be used across promotional collateral as well as at the show itself.
Describe the creative idea
We drew inspiration from a magazine’s most distilled form: the spine. From there, the design system explores a range of perspectives – inspired by the wide range of publications that submit to the award show each year.
Our target audience was design-savvy individuals within the publication community who hold their craft up to the absolute highest levels.
Describe the execution
We played with the relationships publications have with one another – represented through the stacking, bouncing and changing perspective to show the variety of work at this show.
From there, we established a design system that celebrates Canadian excellence. First, we used color to tell that story: red is iconically Canadian, while gold and silver represent excellence by drawing inspiration from the different levels of recognition awarded by NMA. As for typography, we chose Lausanne because it’s a contemporary take on the “Canada Modern” aesthetic. Using Lausanne allowed the identity to align with the historical context of typography in Canada, while allowing for moments of warmth and character.
The identity was used across physical and digital event posters, covers for nominations and winners guides, social and digital assets, and signage and templates for the digital event live stream.
List the results
The identity was widely praised by the magazine industry and design community. Communication Arts, the largest international trade journal of visual communication, celebrated "the simplicity of the spine" for its ability to "inform such a robust system." Armin Vit of Brand New, the world's leading source for opinions on branding and identity design, said the identity sent "shivers down my spine". Applied Arts, Canada's longest running magazine dedicated to visual communication, praised the identity for being "so poised and perfect for the application."
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