Nation.Africa lands finalist spot for global awards
What you need to know:
- Organisers of the awards said NMG’s campaign video creatively sent the message that Nation.Africa was there for every African.
- The recognition comes just days after Nation.Africa crossed the 200,000 mark in registered users.
The unique design of Nation.Africa has been selected as a finalist at the prestigious International Forum (iF) Design Award 2021.
The Nation Media Group (NMG) is also battling for top honours in the iF awards’ video campaign category against global brands such as Siemens, Virgin Galactic, Primera Beauty Products and Planet World.
Both entries have been judged by online jury members and received good reviews, landing them on the shortlist.
Submissions are subject to comprehensive evaluation for design, innovativeness, functionality and seven additional features— including product, packaging, communication and professional concepts.
From January 18 to 22, the design experts evaluated nearly 10,000 submissions from 52 nations and selected the best 50 percent. This shortlist qualifies for the second round of judging due in March 2021, and the competitors stand a chance to win the iF Design Award 2021 or the iF gold award.
The Nation.Africa logo, which features a font that was specifically designed for NMG, has different colour palettes which change based on different segments.
The “Lifestyle” segment, for instance, is purple, “Sports” (green), “Counties” (red), “News” (yellow) and “Business” (blue). According to Morrow BV, the people behind the Nation video campaign, the concept was to fuse current audiences and strong legacies with younger audiences and a new promise — to empower all Africans.
High standards
“We created a strategy and identity rooted in African culture and tradition that allows for a lot of flexibility. It caters to everything from news to a children’s show or fashion podcast,” Morrow said.
“Allowing each and every outing to be unique while still part of the same family. An identity needed on an iterative journey into the future.”
Organisers of the awards said NMG’s campaign video creatively sent the message that Nation.Africa was there for every African; relayed through its imagery, music and conclusion.
“This video marks the continuation of change that Nation and its rebranding represents. Their goal, best explained by the chairman of directors, ‘to decolonise the African mindset that keeps Africa poor despite the abundant natural resources and talent’,” they said.
The recognition comes just days after Nation.Africa, Nation Media Group’s flagship news and digital content website, crossed the 200,000 mark in registered users in just under five months — a major milestone in the group’s digital transformation journey.
Mr Mutuma Mathiu, the Group Editorial Director, said that the company is “delighted by the recognition of the high standards we have set for Nation.Africa” and promised that NMG “will strive to maintain those standards”.
