2016 in Review

For many, 2016 will be seen as the year of celebrity deaths, Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump. For DWH, 2016 was a great year. We started up in September and it’s been a rollercoaster of a ride ever since. Here’s hoping 2017 is as busy as the last part of 2016 was!

So to kick off 2017, here is a brief review of some of the best (and worst) in design, film and music from 2016:

BRANDING

Best in class: Co-op

Sometimes its good to take a step back to move forwards and for me, the Co-op rebrand by London-based North got this spot on. Honorable mentions go Kodak and Mastercard but the execution of this brand makes this project stand out.

Worst in class: Subway 

I nearly went for the absolutely dull Dell rebrand, but at least they had some rollout.

TV SERIES

Best in class: Stranger Things

Honestly, this had me hooked from start to finish. There have been other noteworthy series such as Daredevil, Mr Robot, Luke Cage and Blindspot, but this is the only series I binge watched.

Worst in class: DC Legends of Tomorrow

Sorry but I couldn’t get past the first episode of this. I think the deal breaker was when Dominic Purcell and Wentworth Miller showed up! Basically super powered versions of their characters in Prison Break (which had a great first season but then nosedived by season 3).

A close second is the Netflix series of Van Helsing. I’m trying to persevere with this one but at the minute it’s coming off as a poor clone of “The Walking Dead”.

PACKAGING

Best in class: Budweiser

The clean and crisp packaging for Budweiser was the standout winner (followed closely by Carlsberg). Technically it can be classed as a rebrand as well but as this was mainly a packaging rebrand then it deserves it’s own category.

FILM

Best in class: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

For a long time the best film of 2016 was Captain America: Civil War as that was everything I wanted from a Marvel film and more (Spidey was spot on). Then during the Christmas break I saw Rogue One and it blew my mind! It was so much better than last year’s “The Force Awakens”. I would rate it on a par with “The Empire Strikes Back” which for me is the best Star Wars movie so far. Which brings me to…

Worst in class: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Honestly, this is the worst thing I’ve seen by a country mile! It’s an absolute mess of a movie, the plot is all over the place and some of the dialogue is cringe worthy (no spoilers but for those who have seen it… Martha!)

ALBUM

Best in class: Cubicolor “Brainsugar”

There have been a lot of decent albums released this year. Radiohead’s “A Moon Shaped Pool”, Metallica’s “Hardwired…To Self Destruct” (which represents a return to form after a couple of disappointing albums) and of course, what turned out to be David Bowie’s final album “Blackstar”. But looking at my Most Played counter, Cubicolor’s debut album is right up there. It has the right blend of House and Techno and reminds me a lot of some of Thom Yorke’s solo work. You can check them out on Soundcloud.

CAMPAIGN

Best in class: International Missing Type Campaign

This was a really inventive campaign by the NHS to raise awareness of the lack of blood donors which involved some major brands coming on board to support the campaign.

ART

Best in class: Message from the Unseen World

Sited underneath a bridge near Paddington station in London, this stunning installation generates words from poet Nick Drake including an algorithm which also spells out text from an 1950s paper written by Alan Turing as people walk past. It’s inventive and a fitting tribute to the work of Turing.

So there you have it. A small snapshot of some of the highlights from the year that was 2016. Here’s to a great 2017!