The Best of the Best {New Zealand Best Awards}

LWC / News

With the awards season rolling on the next in line to take to the design red carpet are the kiwis. Drumolls thundered through the hills last week as this years Best Awards were finally announced. So who was the best of the best?

Internationally acclaimed Alt Group did pretty well with 12 awards in total including the purple pin for their work on the rebrand of Auckland Art Gallery. Strategy Design also did pretty well with a handful of precious cargo to take away with them.

I was glad to see some of my top picks from the small scale identity section walking away with a prize or two, Auckland University Press by Alt and The Elephant Wrester by Designworks being my stand outs from a ‘great idea executed well’ perspective. Wandering over to the packaging section I was as usual slightly disappointed. This category always feels a little slim on the ground with this year being no exception. The highlights for me we Living Earth by Fracture and Stolen Rum by DDMMYY. I was disappointed to see Oob by Special Group walk away with the only gold in the category. For me the packs lack appetite appeal and any kind of hierarchy or shelf presence.

Lastly a couple of picks I feel maybe shouldn’t have walked away empty handed come from DDMMYY in the form of their packaging and branding for Triumph and Disaster. A nice niche brand excuted well I felt. Also the work for the Print Awards by Switch – again a nice idea rolled out effectively across a number of touchpoints.

All in all the awards do a great job of showcasing New Zealand creativity to the big wide world. Great job one and all. Check out the student section for next years potential winners!

@bestawards