SmartNews

(Info)

With a mission to “deliver quality information to the people who need it around the world,” SmartNews, Inc. operates the SmartNews news app in Japan and the United States. In 2015, the company established the SmartNews Awards to recognize the work of media organizations behind the high-quality content available on SmartNews, and to contribute to the growth and vitality of the media industry as a whole.
Equal.studio collaborated with SHIFTBRAIN Inc. and Taro Yoshimura on SmartNews Awards 2021, the seventh edition of the awards. We were responsible for the campaign’s communication design, visual development, and website production.
The key visual takes inspiration from roads, representing the continuous flow of events unfolding day after day. Through its constantly moving animation, it reflects a world that never stands still and is always evolving.
Beyond the visual expression, we also redesigned the communication structure to help users understand the information more effectively and move smoothly through the voting process. As a result, engagement with the website increased, votes for the Readers’ Choice Award reached 150% of the previous year’s total, while the number of invalid votes decreased.