Serious Popcorn by DDMMYY for Serious Popcorn

Roger Holmes went from Stolen Rum (which we profiled in depth here) to Serious Popcorn and took the whimsical branding sensibility of Kelvin Soh (now creative director at DDMMYY) with him. Like the popcorn, kids love it and adults sneak a little for themselves.

Necessary Distraction by Inhouse for Auckland Art Gallery Toi o T?maki

We were a big fan of this huge survey of contemporary New Zealand (and talked to curator Natasha Conland here) and, now that it’s gone, its exhibition catalogue. Like the exhibition itself, the book design houses and frames the paintings with a visual wink and a nod.

Blue Oyster Poster Series by Matthew Galloway for Blue Oyster Art Project Space

Being based in Auckland means that we never actually got to see this series of Blue Oyster posters by Matthew Galloway out in the real world, but boy do they look good on the internet. Simple, colourful, fun. Kind of now but not too now.

Techweek AKL by AKIN for ATEED

Okay, so maybe we’re a little bias about this one, being big boosters of the inaugural Techweek AKL, set up (and shot down) by ATEED. And, as we did a fair amount of coverage of the event, we spent a lot of time looking at this design by Akin (like, A LOT) and never got tired of it. And we know that’s not easy, making something interesting that you can still appreciate after seeing it every day for a month or so.

The Imperial Body by Narrow Guage for Split/Fountain + AUT School of Art + Design

The Body Imperial, published by Split/Fountain, documents three projects by artist Fiona Amundsen about Japanese involvement in World War II. The book’s design carefully combines stark photography, scrapbook documentation, and theoretical essays.

For all the finalists in Graphic design, click here.