Unlike Nobel, which awards its laureates according to strict categories, the Polar Music Prize spans all musical genres, acknowledging the work of exceptional individuals, groups and institutions across the globe, awarding one classical and one “popular” artist each year. Our task was to transform this well-loved and respected brand into a digital-first platform as coherent as its mission to celebrate great music.

The Polar Music Prize is the only award to acknowledge the breadth and depth of the global music scene, giving equal weighting to disciplines as varied as electronica, hip-hop and jazz, raga and rock ‘n’ roll. All of our work was pinned to the concept of Celebrating Music. Uniting Cultures.

Having established a concept, our visual work for the brand began with redrawing and simplifying Polar Music Prize’s ornate crown logo, built from a stave and musical notation. We refined and simplified the logomark and redrew and extended the wordmark, all to ensure improved legibility on devices and screens. We also created a versatile and unifying animated device for use across social channels and redesigned and rebuilt Polar’s website from the ground up.