Brands consider design as a highly essential part of business success. Whether it’s for your website, packaging, or billboard, design must be the conduit that emotionally connects you to your audiences. Every brand must integrate a unique and creative graphic design to stand out in a fierce competition. If you want your design to excel, take heed from these award-winning designs that deserve a spot on this list. Here are 20 creative graphic designs, from web designs, packaging, to social media, and print collaterals.

 

1. Lyst

Lyst aims to cut through the noise in the fashion and apparel niche. Their website is simple, with interactive features that won them the Awwwards Site of the Day on May 04, 2020. What grabbed the judges’ attention was the interactive quiz users can take that matches lifestyle preference with worldwide fashion trends. 

 

2. Zillow

Zillow bagged the 2016 People’s Voice Webby Award due to its intuitive website. Once visitors land on their homepage, a stunning hero image welcomes them. The search, save, and estimate field also sits in the middle of it, making it easy for users to browse. 

 

3. Poetry Foundation

Another 2019 Webby Award winner in the non-profit category is Poetry Foundation’s web design. At first glance, it doesn’t look like a charitable website. There’s a rebellious appeal that makes it unique. Moreover, the color palettes are pretty straightforward, and the white space makes the layout clean and structured.

 

4. Revols

In the world of eCommerce, web design is also vital to reel customers in. And Revols did it with an elegant, bold look that earned them a final score of 7.63 in 2016. They won the CSSDesignAwards Website of the Day Award. 

 

5. Sage Glass

A website that lets their customers interact is a sure-fire win. Sage Glass smartly integrated web features that enable their customers to try out various glass tint colors. They can click on four options (clear, light, mid, full), and the glass on the hero image changes. Because of this innovative approach, they bagged the 2016 W3 Award in the homepage category. 

 

6. Studioart

Studioart’s website screams of sophistication as they showcase Italian craftsmanship in various leathers and leather wall coverings. The creative graphic design is exquisite, displaying their craft front and center. They earned a score of 8.11 in UI design, 7.99 in UX design, and 7.91 in innovation. Overall, they took home the CSSDesignAwards Website of the Day Award in May 2020. 

 

7. 7Up 

The iF Gold Award receives over 6,000 entries annually from over 70 countries. And last year, 7Up won the 2019 iF Gold Award for its vintage can packaging design. While the design modernizes the decades-old character, each design element conveys the culture, branding, and people of 7Up.

 

8. Thorndown

Here is a mix of creative graphic design and straightforward copy. Thorndown aims to gain traction in a saturated market by creating standout packaging. By using wildlife imagery for different paint colors, the design is fun and eye-catching. They now have the 2019 iF Gold Award under their belt — thanks to the designer Brown&co.

 

9. Kungfu Cow Milk

Designed by Xu Shihan, Kungfu Cow Milk’s bottle packaging contains centuries of Tai Chi tradition. The illustrations portray the three significant Tai Chi movements. Customers can also see the milk line through the hollowed out bottle image when the content is about halfway. Kungfu Cow Milk sits pretty with the 2018-2019 A’DESIGN Award. 

 

10. Pepsico

Pepsico’s limited edition packaging design is a sight for sore eyes for all Brisk and Marvel Studios fans. The packaging features characters conveying the “Wakanda Forever” salute to honor black excellence. This beautiful graphic design bagged them the 2019 American Package Design Award by GDUSA.

 

11. Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon surely got kids excited when they released this Spongebob packaging in 2019. The illustrator Rusell Spina put a fun twist on this Nickelodeon packaging. By depicting the kids’ favorite square-panted creature’s many facial expressions, it turns a lifeless box into an energetic one. This won them the 2019 American Package Design Award. 

 

12. TRU

Another GDUSA 2018 American Graphic Design Award winner that forges an emotional connection with the consumer is TRU Chocolate’s packaging. Although simple, this creative graphic design creates movement through trickling chocolate. The packaging itself is also compact, donning various vibrant colors, giving emphasis to the delectable chocolate. 

 

13. National Institute on Drug Abuse

A Bright Idea creates a clever brochure on drug awareness for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It is enveloped in charming illustrations that balance texts and images. The brochure’s structure is also easily digestible, making it quick to scan. They won the 2018 Health + Wellness Design Award by GDUSA. 

 

14. Kim Brown-Irvis (GDUSA Cover)

Kim Brown-Irvis takes home the 2018 Digital Print Cover contest for GDUSA’s cover. It’s a black-and-white image of a Juniper pine, exposing a part of its beautiful bark in its real color. The esteemed graphic designer caught this while hiking in Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. 

 

15. HIP

HIP is one of the winners of the branding and identity category in GDUSA’s 2019 American Graphic Design Awards contest. This innovative health education website aims to transform students into teachers through a peer-to-peer model. The agency behind this branding and identity creation is Agenda28. 

 

16. New York Archives Magazine

Magazines should have captivating graphic design to entertain and retain regular and new readers. This entry is from the New York Archives Magazine for Spring 2019. The company wanted to showcase the beautiful sights of New York, like the Madison Square Garden, in its vintage glory. They won the GDUSA 2019 American Graphic Design Award. 

 

17. The Planetsider

Here’s an eBook cover graphic design that sets the entire plot of the book. The Planetsider won the 2018 eBook Cover Design Award in Fiction last 2018. The dark colors with the main character standing in the middle prepare you for a thrilling folklore adventure. The comet which cuts through the sky also lures the eyes in. Lastly, the title creates a luminescent effect that piques interest as well.

 

18. Finish Line

Finish Line’s Shoes So Fresh campaign centers on raising brand awareness without being overly promotional. They submitted this entry in the multi-platform campaign category and took home the 9th Annual Shorty Award. The creative graphic design on several social media platforms made their campaign a success. Check out the graphics and video here. 

 

19. RIDE Checks

RIDE Checks partnered with a cannabis producer to raise awareness on the dangers of smoking cannabis while driving. They released this image called “Consequence Strains” with various names such as Kourtroom Kush, White Whiplash, and Slammer Time. Thanks to the creative agency BBDO Toronto, they bagged the 2020 Silver Public Service – Integrated Campaign Award Led by PR. 

 

20. RGD DesignThinkers

DesignThinkers is a must-attend conference for the creatives and creatives at heart. For this entry, the agency Rethink created this 2017 RGD DesignThinkers Event Guide. It won them the Marketing Awards 2020 Bronze Design in the Brochures/Print Collateral category.