Best of 2023 Winner Bob Case Illustration Welcome to the Jungle

Contribute the best work you've done this year to AIGA Arizona's design archive and be entered to win Best of 2024 honors during Phoenix Design Week in October!

Submission entry is now closed.

August 12–September 13, 2024
Dropoff Day for physical items: September 13 (or earlier) at MAC6

The Best of 2024 project is part of an ongoing initiative by AIGA Arizona to catalog and chronicle the people and creativity that make up Arizona's vibrant design community. Each year since 2014, the Best Of exhibition has been shown in person and virtually during the Phoenix Design Week conference.

Every entry (space permitting) will be presented in a physical display during the PHXDW Conference on Saturday and Sunday, October 5-6, 2024, as well as in an online gallery that will open for viewing on October 1.

Best Of 2024 Voting: Community & Conference

Unlike a traditional design competition, there are no official judges and no categories for the Best of 2024 — this is a "people's choice" voting process. Pre-pandemic, only PHXDW attendees were eligible to vote, but now that we have online galleries (thank you Incentive Pilot and Robby Doyle) in addition to an in-person display, we'll be conducting both a Community online vote as well as an in-person Conference vote.

Once the Best of 2024 online gallery goes live on October 1, anyone anywhere will be able to view, log in, and vote for their favorites until Friday, October 4. We'll compile that tally as the Community winner.

Then, during the PHXDW Conference from October 5-6, only in-person attendees will be able to view the physical display in the conference hall at Phoenix Convention Center and cast their votes. Both the Community and the Conference Best of 2024 winners will be announced from the stage on Sunday, October 6. Will the winner be the same entry in both votes? Hmmm, you'll have to wait and see!

The Best Of 2024 winner receives a free pass to next year’s Phoenix Design Week conference, the opportunity to contribute a blog article* about their project for the AIGA AZ website, and is included in the graphics for the following year, like Welcome to the Jungle by Bob Case (above), the 2023 Conference Winner.

Submission guidelines and tips

The rules are easy: There is no entry fee – yay! The only requirements are (a) you must have been a resident of Arizona at the time the piece was created, (b) the project was first created between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024, and (c) there is a limit of 2 entries per person/firm (for items such as a brand project or a campaign, please submit multiple related executions as a single entry). Form submission deadline is Friday, September 13, 2024 at midnight.

Deciding what to submit

During the voting phase, viewers are asked to evaluate each entry and vote for the one(s) that exhibit the best that design can be. When deciding what to submit, consider how your project:

  • Solves a challenge in a unique way
  • Communicates a message effectively
  • Demonstrates an inspired degree of creativity, talent, and skill
  • Makes excellent use of the medium – printed or digital
  • Marks a significant milestone or point in time
  • Surprises and delights your audience
  • Is a source of pride for you!

Make it tangible

For the in-person exhibition, people gravitate most to the items they can pick up and interact with. Even if your project is digital-only, consider how you might make it tangible – making a print-out, a promotional sticker, or including a sample of the product that’s being offered on a website can help call attention to your entry. If your entry is a food or beverage item, please empty the contents and provide only the package. Here are some examples of past items on display:

image of poster: modern phoenix - the resurrection
two conferences attendees looking through printed material

WIIFM?

Simply having your work in an exhibition can be a feather in your cap on a résumé, not to mention that the online gallery we provide offers an additional searchable presence – not only for you, but also your colleagues and clients.

Most of all: Don’t get hung up on the “Best Of” term – if you have worked on something that you are justifiably proud of, please send it in. The true goal of this initiative is to build AIGA Arizona’s historical archive of the designers that live and work in our state, the clients and organizations we work for, and the design trends over the years.

No matter who you are — individual designer, agency, in-house group, and students — we want to see and show off what you have been working on this year. Ready, set, go: show us YOUR best of 2024!


Yes! Please consider my work for the AIGA AZ Design Archive and the Best of 2024 vote during Phoenix Design Week. I am submitting (choose all that apply):


About Your Submission

Only items created from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024 are eligible for Best of 2024 consideration. If submitting a project from a prior year for the legacy galleries, enter original creation date.

Other Contributors

you would like to mention who were integral to this project, such as designers, illustrator, writer, developer, printer, photographer, etc.

Description


Attach Cover Image(s)

Please attach up to 5 still images (JPG or PNG) that best represent your submission. The first image will be used as the cover image in the online gallery, so choose a good one! For Web/Interactive/Motion projects, please include a representative still or screen shot that will be your cover image in the gallery.

SPECIFICATIONS

  • Hi-res JPG or PNG preferred, up to 5MB file size.
  • Cover image #1 must be JPG.
  • You may submit up to 5 images if you wish to show multiple elements of a brand or campaign.
  • MUST BE formatted in 16:9 ratio HORIZONTAL 1920 x 1080 preferred.
  • The form will also accept a multi-page PDF document if you would like to contribute it to the permanent AIGA Arizona archive, however, no pages of the PDF will be shown in the Best of 2024 online gallery.
  • Please use the following file naming convention:
    "Last Name_Agency_Title of Item_2024" (Example: Smith_StudioX_AcmeBrochure_2024.jpg)

Web/Interactive/Motion Projects

In addition to a still digital image requested above, please include the following.


Submitting a Story

Use this area to contribute a story about your experience with design in Arizona this past year. Any particular standout memory, acclaim you received or short quip you would like to share? What message would you like to leave to the future about where we've been as a design community, and where we're going? What do you feel has been your contribution to making Arizona what it is today?

Major Hint: This is our favorite thing to read and really helps the viewers connect with you and your entry! (150 words max)


Anything else?

Enter any comments or questions about your submission below. For general questions, send a note directly to the AIGA AZ Archive Team c/o Kathy Morgan


Ready To Submit? Just One More Step...

Please double-check all your entries for accuracy. AIGA Arizona cannot be responsible for errors or omissions in your submission. You will receive an email confirmation of this entry for your records.

Certification - By checking the box below, I hereby certify that I am the rightful owner, original creator and/or copyright owner of the work submitted, or that I have written permission from the rightful owner(s) to distribute, display and reproduce this submission. Furthermore, I authorize this submission to be reproduced, displayed and/or distributed by AIGA Arizona and AIGA in perpetuity, in whatever form it chooses, whether as a physical exhibition, digital catalog, website, printed, or other form.

After you click SUBMIT, wait for a Thank You message to confirm your submission has been received, then check your email for a copy of your submission. The email confirmation will provide more detailed instructions for dropping off any physical entries. If you do not see either of these confirmations, your submission may not have gone through. Please try again or contact us for assistance.

Call for submissions is now closed

Have a previous year's project to contribute to the ongoing AIGA AZ Design Archive?

Go ahead and use this form to send it in — just enter the original date it was created or launched in the Date Created field. We're gradually building the AIGA AZ Design Archive categorized by year from all previous Best Of submissions, and we'd love to represent your noteworthy work as part of Arizona's design legacy, too! For more information, contact Kathy Morgan.

*Space permitting, subject to review and approval of AIGA Arizona Communications Director.