The Nikon Photo Contest is an international photographic competition that has been held by Nikon Corporation since 1969. We were commissioned by Nikon Japan to conceptualize and design a rebranding exercise for the established, worldwide competition.

Designed as a flexible identity system, the new logo for Nikon Photo Contest uses brackets to symbolize framing a photo, drawing inspiration from the universal act of framing an image with one’s hands. See Nikon Photo Contest: Rebranding for more information. 

Individually handcrafted with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, the award trophy translated the new identity from a 2-dimensional graphic to a 3-dimensional form. 

Ergonomically Designed
Designed to aid the process in which awards are presented, the trophy provides both the award presenter and recipient with ample handling space for optimum comfort during award presentations. This also created sufficient clear space around the award credits, to ensure the logos maintained high visibility even when held. 

 

Logo Visible On All Sides 
The new award trophy was designed as an abstract cube to showcase the logomark from every angle it is viewed. Simply by creating space between the brand symbols (frames/brackets), the trophy formed a six-sided object and brought dimension to the logo. 

 

With 6 different planes to the trophy, the frontal view was established through the application of the award credits (Nikon Photo Contest logotype and Nikon logotype). These were applied to the surface that formed the original configuration of the award logo.