Starting in 2004, Tsang Seymour developed a new visual brand for the National Design Awards, the nation's highest recognition for design achievement. The new identity was created to quickly build and strengthen brand recognition, to easily operate with many different types of content and to be easy to implement in a wide range of mediums. Also, a serial form created so that repeat nominees and winners could indicate the sequence of years of recognition.
In addition to designing of the initial web site announcing and promoting yearly nominees, and winners, Tsang Seymour created the invitation suites, press kits and collateral supporting special events that included White House receptions hosted by the First Lady, dinner events and after party dance parties. Our collateral and event invitations was often the inspiration for the gala decor design which followed.
Press Kit Cover grabs the attention of a busy press community through direct and to the point design.
2006 was the first year that the National Design Awards Gala was a black tie event. Tsang Seymour secured paper mill donation of an important metallic silver and black dye paper duplex paper stock to communicate the shift from a dinner banquet to a gala celebration.
After party invitation with a custom display typography to reflect the informal, energetic mood of the after event celebrations.
2008 was an exciting election year and we leveraged that media buzz but sampling the visual vocabulary of voting ballets for the National Design Awards save the date mailer. The event sold out before the invitations were mailed.
The 2008 gala invitation suite was designed around a "floral" element made of the 8 counter forms from 4 figure 8's. The counter forms were rendered in line, color and volume as well as being animated for the AV presentation at the gala.
Award certificates are formatted to include the serial logo and reflect on the statue of the award.
2009 was the tenth anniversary of the National Design Awards. This signature logo was used in the early promotions and off-cover branding of collateral materials.
In 2010, the "Cooper-Hewitt" preface and serial modifier in the logo were dropped to help build independent brand equity in the National Design Awards and help they appeal to a broader, more national audience.
2011 was the most recent National Design Awards event branded by Tsang Seymour. Being the first year of the museum's renovation and with the galleries closed, it was more important than ever that the public and design communities know that the museum was sitll active and celebrating the achievements of design. The signature riffs the growing popularity of texting abbreviations.
