National Design Awards
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum
Visual Branding and Event Marketing
Founded in 2000, the National Design Awards are an annual Awards program celebrating design in various disciplines as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world and seeks to increase national awareness of design by educating the public and promoting excellence, innovation, and lasting achievement. Winners were recognized at a White House Reception with the First Lady and a Gala Dinner.
Four years after launch, ticket sales were declining and the program needed to be reinvigorated. Our strategy started with a new visual signature that would be the foundation of the new marketing. A logo that is bold—easily recognized and able to reproduce in a wide range medium. The year of recognition was required as many “finalists” would return as “winners” in subsequent years.
Under this new brand and marketing strategy, the annual gala regularly raised between $1.5 to $2 million for the museum.
Projects are shown with permission, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. ©Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum
Brand Identity Work
2-color logo
1-color log
Making the National Design Awards an annual focal point around which the Design community can galvanize: agree or disagree.
The Pulitzer Prize for Design.
—Paul, Director, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Museum
Martha Stewart with Eva Zeisel, 2005 Lifetime Achievement recipient
Press Kit Cover
90% of gala tickets were repeat sales making it critical that each year’s gala ceremony feel unique and distinct from previous galas. The core NDA signature would be a vessel that could adapt to a unique visual signature for each years’ gala event brand.
The bold use of typrography and color, composed with the serial number into a ribbon or medal shape, affirms the Museum is the authority on global design innovation – past, present, and future.
Including the Cooper Hewitt name, the awards are central to the greater mission of the museum. NDA is a sub-brand that helps the museum further its mission.
A graphically flexible mark which can be applied to letterhead, invitations, signage, web, and in the future, TV without overwhelming the presentation of featured work of winners in each category.
Prototypes for testing
National Design Week Launch Promotion
2008 National Design Awards
Developing the visual language for each annual gala requires looking beyond representing a single discipline or designer. We seek a relevant narrative that can stand as a memorable image but can also be read or decoded by inquisitive minds. In 2008, we focused on figure ‘8’, isolating the counter forms, the inside shapes of the number in different typefaces. With those forms, we then developed treats of composition and color that lead to the final design of rotating ‘petals’ that can be seen as different subjects by different people. Each person assigns their own meaning to the image, making it their own.
Gala Invite
Interior
Interior
After-Party Invite
VIP Reception Dinner Invite
Award Certificates
2009 National Design Awards
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the design of the gala invites needed to highlight the milestone while carefully managing reduced project budgets. Bold typography coupled with restrained foil stamping elevated the invite suite while reducing costs.
As recognition and status of the National Design Awards grew, our brand strategy shifted, giving the Awards more independence by dropping the “Cooper Hewitt” name and the serial year indicator from the primary logo. At the same time, Smithsonian policies changed to be more restrictive use of member museum identities.
Gala Invite
Invite interior
Detail of foil stamping
VIP Reception Dinner Invite
Interior
Gala Dinner & White House Reception Program Covers
After-Party Invite
Interior
Program templated pages
2010 National Design Awards
Gala Invite
Interior
Signature Gradient
Gradient Simulation with B-heads
VIP Reception Invite
Interior
After-Party Invite Postcard
Save the Date Self-mailer
Step and Repeat Photo Backdrop
Producer David Stark used our visual branding as the basis for the event design. Photo: Richard Patterson/BizBash
2011 National Design Awards
Gala Invite
Interior
Interior
Save the Date Self-mailer
White House Reception Program
Gala Dinner Program
Fashion consultant, creative director, author, and most famously, television personality Tim Gunn with National Design Awards White House Reception Program in hand. We noted Mr. Gunn coordinated his attire with the royal purple of the 2011 National Design Awards branding.
Related Projects
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