jurors
Mikey Burton
Mikey Burton Design & Illustration
Fuel by Commoner, Inc.
“Out of the literal tens of thousands of logos I reviewed, this logo stood out to me the most. It’s not the first direction one would think of when designing a mark for a coffee shop, because comparing coffee to crude oil is a little unappetizing, but it works so well. This is such a great bold logotype, very well balanced just like a good cup of coffee. It has that great Americana feel, but doesn’t feel like a recycled old gas station logo. For me, it also conjures up comic book covers or even could be scrawled across a superhero’s chest. It’s hard to capture the pure energy that comes from a morning cup of coffee, but this gem comes pretty damn close.”
An Ohio native, Mikey Burton proudly describes his design aesthetic as “Midwesterny” and draws much of his inspiration from artifacts found throughout the hardworking, blue collar Rust Belt: old type-specimen sheets, arcane equipment manuals, and ancient textbooks. Burton has received awards from Communication Arts, Graphis, HOW, Print, and ADC Young Guns. He is now a freelancer in sunny Philadelphia where he designs and illustrates for such clients as The Atlantic, Bloomberg Businessweek, Converse, ESPN, Facebook, Fast Company, Monocle, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wilco, and Wired.
Quique Ollervides
OLLERVIDES
MBT’s by Odney
“There is something about geometric logos using a single stroke weight that captivates me. Its straightforward simplicity makes it amiable, yet the absence of modulation makes it solid enough to make a bold statement. Mastering the single stroke weight is tricky: Make it too thick and it will look clumsy, make it too thin and it will lose its strength. You must know exactly what details to leave out in order to get a solution that doesn’t look too complex or that renders poorly at small sizes. Plus, they have a timeless quality to them; depending on how you twist and turn that stroke it could look retro or brand new. This rendering of the mythical Jackalope, a jackrabbit with antelope horns, is spot on and, wait, is that an upside-down J on the top of his head doubling as horns? I’m not sure—maybe it is something in my imagination—but hey! Jackalopes are an invitation to let your imagination run free.”
Quique Ollervides is a graphic designer, illustrator, and letterer from Mexico working on a broad range of projects for music, entertainment, beverage, youth-oriented, and culture-related clients. He has designed numerous brand identities, packaging, record covers, and gig posters as well as commercial and custom typefaces. Ollervides cofounded and codirected Hula+Hula (1996–2010), an international award-winning creative studio strongly inspired by music, humor, the abuse of color, and all things handmade. He also cofounded and codirected KONG (2006–2010), Mexico’s first graphic design, illustration, and low-brow art gallery and shop, where he was a curator of various national and international exhibitions.
Mike Abbink
Wolff Olins
Tarra by Midgar.eu
“Being a type and graphic designer, I leaned toward the TARRA logotype. The triangular positive and negative forms work pretty well together to make a solid piece of type or word mark.”
Mike Abbink has been designing identities, typefaces, packaging, and websites for seventeen years. His career has led him to work at top agencies such as MetaDesign, Siegel+Gale, and Wolff Olins, where he currently works, and he cofounded Method, where he oversaw corporate identity, interactive design, and Web design for clients such as Adobe, Autodesk, MSN, Gucci, and MoMA. Abbink also served as design director at Apple in between other gigs listed above. He is a type designer and has been recognized internationally for his typefaces FF Kievit, FF Milo, FF Milo Serif, and GE Inspira (GE’s corporate typeface).
Simon Frouws
Simon Frouws Design
Imaginary Friend Pictures by Jeriah Lau Design
“The Imaginary Friend logo strikes a perfect balance between simplicity and playfulness. Its witty omission of the focal point invites audience participation. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘Less is more,’ but this logo has higher aspirations. It proves that ‘Imagination is everything.’”
Simon Frouws specializes in premium wine and spirits branding, but he has also crafted identities and packaging for teas, coffees, bespoke guitars, and luxury playing cards.
Working from his home in the heart of the South African Cape Winelands, he serves both local and international clients, as far afield as France, the UK, Chile, Australia, and the United States. As a one-man band, he single-handedly takes a project from concept to design, prototyping to print-ready art. He currently creates more than eighty-five unique product ranges a year. Frouws’s expertise has helped guide the likes of Smirnoff, Guinness, Chivas Regal, Williams-Sonoma, Spier Wines, theory11, David Copperfield, and more.
Debbie Millman
Sterling Brands
New York Cipher Society by gruntmonkey LLC.
“I love this quirky, mysteriously enigmatic logo. LOVE. Is it a code? Is it a message? Is it a statement of purpose? I love everything about it, but mostly I love the questions it provokes and the ability the viewer has to project whatever he or she wants into the vast possibilities of what it is.”
Debbie Millman has worked in the design business for more than twenty-five years. She is president of the design division at Sterling Brands. She has been there for seventeen years and in that time has worked on the redesign of more than two hundred global brands. Millman is president emeritus of the AIGA, the largest professional association for design. She is a contributing editor at Print magazine, a design writer at FastCompany.com, and chair of the Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. In 2005, she began hosting the first weekly radio talk show about design on the Internet. The show is titled “Design Matters with Debbie Millman,” and it is now featured on DesignObserver.com. In 2011, the show was awarded a Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award.
Ty Mattson
Mattson Creative
Derrick Cuthbert by Hayes Image
“To me, an ideal logo will do the most with the least. This symbol for wildlife photographer Derrick Cuthbert is both simple and smart. Working on multiple levels, there is a built-in aha moment when you figure out the play. From experience, I also know how hard it is to design identity for a photographer that is truly unique and without cliché. Well done.”
A design practitioner who is as comfortable defining brand strategy as he is executing it, Ty Mattson is the rare designer whose business acumen is as strong as his creative ability.
This unique combination of strategic creativity can be seen in his projects for Apple, Billabong, Cartoon Network, CBS, Coca-Cola, Discovery Channel, DreamWorks, Hasbro, Mattel, Nickelodeon, Showtime, and others. His work has appeared in numerous professional publications and has been recognized for excellence by the leading design competitions including the One Show and Communication Arts.
Katie Kirk
Eight Hour Day
Quique Ollervides by OLLERVIDES
“I really enjoyed the uniform weight line work of this logo. Although the subject matter felt traditional academic, the line work made it feel modern and unique. I’m also a sucker for a well-done geometric bird.”
Katie Kirk is cofounder of Eight Hour Day, a design boutique in Minneapolis, with her husband, Nathan Strandberg. They aspire to the designed life(style): a place where work, life, and inspiration are all equal and integrated organically. Eight Hour Day has done work for Target, The New York Times, Chronicle Books, Williams-Sonoma, Random House, Wired, Old Navy, Purina, Moët Hennessy, and the Walker Art Center, among others.
Fraser Davidson
Sweet Crude
Mob Craft Beer by Design Union
“Obviously simplicity is key with logos like this, but this logo marks its story with brilliant immediacy and economy. Its the kind of mark you present alone hoping the client realizes you nailed it.”
Fraser Davidson is an award-winning director, animator, and designer. He is the cofounder of animation house Sweet Crude, the animation project 100 Frames, as well as founder and creative director of the sports branding agency Field Theory. Since 2005, Davidson has worked with some of the biggest names in the world of sport. His clients include Nike, Troika, the Welsh Rugby Union, Joe Bosack Graphic Design, Adidas, and many others, producing design for rugby, football, hockey, basketball, lacrosse, and more.
