FCB Lisbon and Penguin Books win top design prize at Cannes

FCB’s work for Penguin Books, which aims to reclaim past symbols of repression, won Best Design at the 2022 Cannes Lions festival.

Returning to a physical format this year, the annual awards program celebrates work in the creative industries, from brand experience to print and publishing.

The Design Lions awards cover five categories: brand creation, communication design, digital and interactive design, brand environment and experience design, packaging and product. At the Design Lions, 1,058 applications and 38 Lions awarded by the jury: 6 gold medals, 10 silver and 21 bronze.

The president of this year’s jury was Lisa Smith, executive artistic director of Jones Knowles Ritchie.

Lisbon-based agency FCB won Portugal’s first-ever Grand Prize for its work with Penguin Books, titled Portuguese (Re)Constitution. The central idea was to recover the blue pencil, a symbol of censorship within the Portuguese artistic community.

FBC commissioned artists to use occult poetry to create something new from oppressive texts. This poetic form is created by selecting words from a text and blocking out the rest with illustrations.

With many projects using modern-era technology and innovation, the judging panel debated whether a publication should be the Grand Prize winner, according to Smith. However, she explains that the project is “not only the highest form of craftsmanship and execution”, but also “a beautiful message of freedom of expression that many Portuguese school children will continue to learn for years to come”. .

Pineapple Anam won a Gold Lion in the design-driven efficiency category for Piñatex – a natural textile made from pineapple leaf fiber waste.

Piñatex is marketed as a sustainable alternative to leather that can be produced commercially and maintain a low environmental footprint.

Pineapple Anams’ partnership with The Dole Sunshine Company – which aims to draw attention to the impact of food waste – is intended to help increase production and achieve its zero waste goal.

Swedish agency Prime Weber Shandwick also won gold in this category with The Billion Dollar Collection for the H&M Foundation – a virtual clothing collection where each item represents an innovation you can support.

Other Golden Lion winners include Brazilian studio Tatil Design for creating a new brand identity for Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival. The identity seeks to translate the creative force and tradition of the samba community.

Portugal also has another award, with This is Pacifia and Stream and Tough Guy winning a Golden Lion in the promotional item design category for a garment that absorbs CO2 and releases oxygen.

BBDO ends the week with a Gold Lion for its work on the Para Expansion Pack – a set of 20 custom-designed Lego avatars that seek to include the disabled community.

The latest Golden Lion goes to Nairobi-based agency Ogilvy Africa for its Lesso Lessons project, which fused Kenyan culture and tradition with modern postnatal nutrition lessons.

Ukrainian creative agency Banda received a Silver Lion for its endangered branding of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.