Design360°/105: Award360° Best 100

• Magazine special issue
• 2023
• offset lithograph, adhesive bound
• 210 x 285 mm, 208 pp

Award360° is an annual graphic design award organized by Design360°, a leading design-focused media brand operating from Guangzhou, China. The Award aims to promote and celebrate excellence in graphic design from all over the world, while firmly positioning itself in the Asian context. We served as jury members in 2020 and 2023, and for the 2023 Award, we also designed the visual identity.

The key element of the visual identity is based on a series of pie charts that implicitly respond to the Award360° report published in Design360°, issue 100 (2022). The charts show some statistics relevant to graphic design in general and the international aspirations of Award360°. Without any supporting text, however, the charts are not meant to be read literally as statistics. On the contrary, they work as ambiguous markers to point to the larger context in which graphic designers function. Simultaneously precise and obscure, they also allude to the duality that characterizes many graphic designers’ work: “clarity for business and obscurity for pleasure” (our motto). Additionally, the colorful charts help create a festive mood.

We also designed the cover and the page templates for Design360°, issue 105 (December 2023), where the winners of the Award were presented. As an extension of the Award’s identity, we proposed a series of statistical charts that would show aspects of the Award, from the locations and nature of the winning works to the age and gender of the designers.