After 50 years of sponsoring design competitions, Graphic Design USA calls Checkerboard’s three awards a rarity
Burnsville-based Checkerboard Strategic Web Development has earned the unusual distinction of winning three American Graphic Design Awards Certificates of Excellence, sponsored by Graphic Design USA (GDUSA). The awards honor the best graphic design work of the year in all media including print, Internet and branding and packaging. Only 15 percent of the more than 8,000 entries from across the country were selected for recognition. GDUSA says that multiple awards are rare.
Checkerboard specializes in functional design that directly supports a company’s marketing goals and objectives. “We are proud to receive national recognition from our peers,” say President Jason Kocina. “These awards prove that businesses can get excellent design services right here in the Midwest.” Checkerboard earned the GDUSA recognition for three projects:
1. The redesign of its own logo, business card and website (www.checkerboard.com)
2. The design of The Wellness Advisor, a four-color, glossy consumer magazine produced for another Minnesota-based company, Cargill
3. Its design of the CoroWise.com mobile website
“We pride ourselves on creating websites that enable our clients to effectively reach their target markets with the appropriate messages. But, it doesn’t end there,” says Kocina. “We also provide a full range of design services. It may start with a website, but many of our clients are undertaking more in-depth branding or logo development projects. With any design project, we apply the same results-focused approach that we use in our websites: using design to more effectively tell a client’s story and persuade people to take action.”
Kocina explains that design should always have a purpose. “Most companies and products change over time. Our own rebranding showcases our ability to creatively re-work a company’s identity to better reflect its current skills, services and audience.
“Technology moves forward rapidly. The CoroWise.com award is for one of our mobile-specific designs. Responsive design is the trend and the ideal for clients who want the ease of managing just one site, but this client wasn’t ready to revise the entire website so we built them a mobile-specific site which won the award. We are now designing CoroWise.com to be responsive.”
The Wellness Advisor Magazine design has evolved since the publication was launched several years ago. “We pay attention to magazine trends, and refine the look and layout with every issue. Found in the waiting rooms of many healthcare professionals, the magazine’s circulation has grown from a few thousand to more than 250,000. In fact, we designed an online version of the magazine because of the demand.”
For five decades, Graphic Design USA has sponsored design competitions that spotlight areas of excellence and opportunity for creative professionals. GDUSA’s American Graphic Design Awards is the biggest and broadest of these, open to everyone in the community: advertising agencies, graphic design firms, corporations, associations, universities, government, publishers and more. It honors outstanding work of all kinds and across all media.
Checkerboard specializes in creating graphics and websites that play an active role in its clients’ business plans. “We teach people how good, functional design helps to increase their sales. If your graphics and your website don’t clearly add value to your sales process, marketing plan, customer service, internal communications and/or client communications, then they probably need to be fine-tuned or completely re-designed,” Kocina concludes.
