The Design Week Awards 2016: Three of the best

Fresh from last night’s Design Week awards ceremony, here’s our personal ‘pick’ of the award winners.

1. Take me to Dreamland!

Our first winner was made for Instagram.

HemingwayDesign stole the Identity Design gong for their work with the Dreamland amusement park in Margate. Since 2011, they’ve been developing a brand vision, voice and visual language for the park – which finally opened in June 2015.

The identity has a clear ‘British seaside heritage’ theme, and is immediate, cheeky and purposeful. It permeates the aesthetic of the park itself (rides and uniforms included) as well as the park’s digital presence…leaving you with distinctly ‘dreamy’ outlook on life.

2. Amping up the audio category

Our second pick is the ‘Junior’ Amp by Paul Crofts Studio for Audioberry.

This impossibly beautiful amp picked up the Product Design award as, according to Design Week, it “redefines [the] visual language of technology. It’s not just another black and silver box – the success is in its restraint.”

HiFi brand Audioberry root their product design ethos in ‘stylish simplicity’ which ‘allows you to focus your attention where it matters – on the sound”.

‘Junior’ does exactly this. It is a purposefully pared-back amp, which focuses our attention solely to the volume control – offering a minimalist antidote to the complexity of most audio systems.

3. Taking brand campaigns to the ‘max’

A series of rather entrancing videos form the global campaign for ‘Air Max Day 16’ – an annual event that celebrates the iconic trainer.

ManvsMachine are behind it, and picked up the award for best Brand Campaign.

Their brief was to bring to life the unique mechanics of three of the most influential sneaker designers in the world: Hiroshi Furjiwara, Tinker Hatfield and Mark Parker.

Their videos, which they describe as “a series of kinetic sculptures of movement and energy, bring to life a designer’s mind – from product inspiration to conception. A joy to watch.