The Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce engaged Backcountry as a creative partner to breathe new life into their business awards, known as the Business Excellence Awards at the time. The task was to increase recognition and interest in these awards. To do this, we needed to rethink what these awards represented and build clarity around their purpose.
Impact Worth
Celebrating
Project Scope
- Verbal identity
- Visual identity
- Collateral design
- Award design
- Brand guidelines
This rebrand aimed to transform this stuffy black tie affair into a fun and engaging event. To accomplish this, we simplified the name to the Kingston Business Awards and pushed the brand and its visual identity to become bolder and braver. This new identity remains professional but is more contemporary, bold and vibrant.
The Kingston Business Awards exist to recognize the success of local businesses and celebrate their impact on the local community. They provide the platform and spotlight for remarkable businesses in Kingston to be recognized in their community by their community.
We began with a brand personality that was bold and vibrant. This inspired the logo, punchy colour palette, typography, and collateral compositions.
Inspired by the brand personality, we created a modern and simple wordmark with a bold symbol. The ‘K’ symbol, which is part serif and part sans serif, illustrates the arm as a folded extension of the leg, highlighted by its bright green colour. While embodying the personality, it also symbolizes the impact and upward trajectory of the remarkable people and businesses they celebrate.
We created a typographic motif to communicate simple messages in a bold and dynamic way using contrasting widths and colours.
We wanted the trophies to be unique and artful so winners would be proud to display them, unlike the previous generic etched glass trophies. We designed them to be handmade locally using wood and metal. While each trophy has the same design and metal base, the wood grain makes each unique.
The Kingston Business Awards allow small businesses to get recognized on a larger scale and benefit from an increased awareness of their existence and what they do.
Event Video by James Media
Project Credits
Creative Direction: Jon Allison
Design: Jon Allison
Photography: Jamstone Productions
Award Concept & Design: Jon Allison
Awards built by Westwood Designco & BGM Metalworks
