ZAK is the Design Partner for the 2025 RGD Branding Awards

"We rarely get to work on a project directly targeted at our industry, so it was special to be contributing to the community we’re a part of. We also recognize that award identity programs—much like conferences or events—provide a unique opportunity to build a design system that showcases our skills across both digital and print materials. Creative professionals will definitely relate!" offers Zia Somjee RGD, Co-Founder / Design & Strategy at ZAK.

We asked Zia about the sources of inspiration for the Show Your Perspective concept: "One of the things that stood out to us at the start of this project was the sheer range of creative disciplines represented in the awards. Everything from full brand identity kits and design systems to strategy and copywriting is being recognized here. This led us to think about the number of perspectives required to create great work—perspectives shaped by skilled individuals, each bringing their unique expertise to a larger marketing or communications project. That’s where the idea of “Show Your Perspective” came to life, serving as the foundation for our visual system throughout the campaign."

“A project like this gives our team the chance to explore bold ideas, often leading to new insights about how we collaborate across different skill sets. Because this identity is geared toward the creative industry, we let our early ideation phases go wild—even if some concepts ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. It’s always a great opportunity for us to push boundaries and get a bit weird.”

Zia Somjee RGD

"At ZAK, we follow a methodical process. Internally, we start with an in-depth brainstorming and ideation session—a space where we let ideas fly, jot everything down and see what sticks. It’s always interesting to observe the common themes or conceptual “buckets” that emerge from these early discussions.

From there, everyone on the team is encouraged to explore. We begin with a blue-sky approach, allowing the entire team to ideate freely in the early stages. As the process moves forward, a few strong ideas surface and the focus narrows to a couple of key directions. At this stage, a few team members refine the chosen concepts and bring them to the finish line. This approach ensures that everyone is actively involved, even if they’re not responsible for final execution.

For this project, we initially presented three concepts that we thought were interesting and varied. From there, we refined the selected direction into a cohesive, functional and flexible visual system." shares Zia.

This new awards program will accept entries from branding to brand refreshes, as well as specific elements of branding such as motion, logos, packaging and websites.

Stay tuned for the 2025 RGD Branding Awards brand reveal details to be shared in March.