Vuoden Huiput — The Best of the Year is the Finnish equivalent of D&AD. It is the most important competition for graphic design and advertising in Finland. The aim of this annual competition is to emphasise the importance of the work done by visual communication professionals in advertising and design.

The Best of the Year advertising and design competition is organised into 16 categories evaluated by juries consisting of professionals from the fields of advertising and graphic design. We took these categories as a starting point for the visual concept for this year’s event.

Taking inspiration from modern-day icon design as well as egyptian hieroglyphs, we designed icons for each competition category plus some extra for Grafia’s comms use. The iconography plays with an eclectic mix of literal interpretation, arbitrary associations, pop culture references and humor. Glossy black foil and rough uncoated paper were used across all printed applications.

The project consisted of identity design, competition and exhibition invitations, gala dinner cards, menus and cut-out icons, gala presentation concept, print ads, web banners, exhibition graphics and the year book.

Vuoden Huiput 2011 event is part of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 program.