Creative Review Annual 2015 – the design highlights

The Creative Review Annual, run by our sister title Creative Review, recognises “outstanding work in creativity” over the past 12 months.

Winning projects are selected for the annual, and the coveted Best in Book prize is also awarded to projects the judges feel deserve particular acclaim.

The results of the CR Annual also feed into the Design Week Creative Survey – you can see the current Creative Survey rankings here.

In this piece, we’ve picked out our design highlights from the CR Annual Best In Book winners.

Tanqueray No. Ten, by Design Bridge

Design Bridge’s new bottle design for gin brand Tanqueray No. Ten features a shape based on a 1930s cocktail shaker and a “lemon squeezer” built into the bottle’s base. The cap features the texture of a lemon zester and each of the ten facets on the bottle has been designed to catch and reflect light.

Airbnb rebrand, by DesignStudio

Surely the most talked-about rebrand of 2014, the new Airbnb “Bélo” logo inspired parodies and some rather childish criticism, but also won acclaim for being both comprehensive and inclusive – with the brand encouraging people to reinterpret the logo and create their own versions.

Ryman Eco, by Grey London

The Ryman Eco font was commissioned by ad agency Grey London for stationery brand Ryman and drawn by Monotype’s type director Dan Rhatigan. Ryman Eco is a free font that aims to reduce ink waste using letters made up of keylines rather than single strokes. At small point sizes these become filled by the “splatter” from inkjet printers.

Dandelyan bar identity and launch invitation, by Magpie Studio

Magpie Studio created the identity for a new cocktail bar at London’s Mondrian Hotel, which serves drinks made using fresh flowers, herbs and seasonal ingredients. Menus take inspiration from Victorian field guides and feature vintage botanical illustrations lithoprinted in fluorescent ink. The illustrations are interweaved with modular typography in House Industries Neutraface 2.

MTV: Always On, by MTV

Former Bloomberg Businessweek creative director Richard Turley was appointed SVP of visual storytelling at MTV last year. In this project, Turley and his team have celebrated the work of DIY image-makers and turned television into another channel for social media, bringing in on-screen graphics, gifs and animations.

Pelican Books, by Pelican

Alongside the relaunch of Pelican’s paperback editions, the design team at Penguin Random House also worked on a bespoke in-browser reading experience (developed with Fiasco Design), which aims to echo the experience of the books in print and create the best-possible online reading experience.

You can see the full list of winners in the latest edition of Creative Review and at www.creativereview.co.uk.