Graphic Solutions believes clear design brings out the best in a communication. Photo by Crissy Jarvis on Unsplash
The Plain Language Awards owes a huge amount to design sponsor Graphic Solutions. This boutique Wellington-based design company has sponsored the Awards for many years now!
Craig Christensen is the inspired designer behind our favourite Awards catchcry ‘Who’s the clearest of them all?’ Craig has infused the Awards brand with bold colour and quirky, eye-catching icons.
Read Craig’s story behind the Awards branding
Craig has always been a keen supporter of clear communication and of the Awards, and says becoming a sponsor was an easy decision to make. He believes in the intimate link between clear communication and clear design, so he welcomed the opportunity to sponsor a cause so closely related to his professional practice.
Good design starts with good content. Clear, well-designed, and well-planned content means your messages get through with less effort.
We agree!
Read more about why Graphic Solutions chooses to sponsor the Awards
Anne-Marie Chisnall April 22nd, 2021
Posted In: 2021 Plain English Awards, Sponsors
Tags: clear communication, design, Graphic Solutions, sponsors, Sponsorship
Who's the clearest of them all?
The Awards celebrated 10 years in 2015. The time seemed right for a fresh new look.
Craig Christensen of Graphic Solutions was keen to help. Craig is a great advocate of clear communication in words and visuals. And he designed the popular theme ‘Who’s the clearest of them all?’ for some of our earlier Awards.
‘Who’s the clearest of them all?’ successfully captured the essence of what the Awards are about. ‘We thought it was time to bring that theme back, but with a new twist’, says Craig. So now those words sit in a speech bubble against a background of editing symbols. The idea is to convey the idea of working hard to create the best and most effective communication.
The simple sentence as a graphic
The gold Awards icon is a simple graphic representation of a sentence. It was inspired by the emergence of icon-based visual language in digital media. The best known of these icons is the ‘hamburger menu’ icon, widely used on mobile websites to show where the navigation menu is kept.
Using gold for the icon signifies the prestige associated with the Awards and helps to bridge the gap between the old and new brands. Adding a deep electric blue to the colour palette adds vibrancy while complementing the gold of the original brand.
We’ve used some good old Kiwi phrases as language-based, companion imagery on the website, conveying the idea of fun Kiwi straightforwardness.
A new era for the Plain English Awards
This bold new identity represents the refreshed face of the Plain English Awards. We hope it’s going to become a very visible and recognisable brand and that it will help to further raise awareness of plain English in New Zealand.
Thanks to The Wright Family Foundation for kindly sponsoring the new website.
Anne-Marie Chisnall July 16th, 2016
Posted In: Awards brand, Communications
Tags: branding, clear communication, Graphic Solutions, plain English, Plain English Awards, plain language
