Karma Cola at the Best Awards

The best of New Zealand design was celebrated in style on Friday night with the 2013 Best Awards held at the Viaduct Events Centre. Among the heroes of the night was our own Beck Wheeler for her work on the Karma Cola branding and packaging (read more).

Organised by the Designers Institute of New Zealand, The Best Design Awards recognise the country’s strongest design work. Whittled down from 778 entries, the top designs for 2013 were announced at a dinner attended by New Zealand's design illuminati.

Karma Cola took out the only Purple Pin awarded in the Graphics section for 2013.  It also won two golds in Packaging Design and Identity Development (Small Scale), as well as silver in the Graphic arts category!

‘Me and James Stewart (the illustrator for Gingerella) shared a high five when the Purple Pin was awarded to the Karma Cola team,’ says Beck. ‘A spontaneous party atmosphere erupted at the Special Group's table and lots of hugs and words of appreciation were shared. It was such an honour to work with such a talented bunch of designers.’

The brief was to blend African imagery with the Eastern idea of karma (or ‘what goes around comes around’ to most of us) and the Western idea of ‘cola’ for a new, ethically sourced soft drink. For Beck, who worked with designers from Special Group and their client All Good Drinks to produce the Karma Cola image, it was a chance to immerse herself in another culture.