n Feb. 14, 2003, five esteemed designers sat down to judge 132 entries in 13 categories (half the normal entries in a healthy economy). Each entrant provided up to eight exhibit photos, plus a floor plan and written summary describing its client’s company and products, marketing goals, design challenges, materials, dimensions, and budget. By noon, jurors had weeded out the merely good and amassed a hefty pile of great designs — as well as an informal recipe for success. For example, judges clearly preferred on-brand environments that broadcast the client’s message without an obnoxious choir of logos. Judges decided big ideas, rather than big budgets, best captured their hard-won attention. Click on a photo for the full story Nike, Inc.  Scion  Sony PlayStation  Ceramic Tiles of Italy  Applied Materials  EDPA  SOLA  Sony Ericsson  Microsoft XBox  Monterey Design  Polo Jeans  G4 Media  Sean John  Teknion Furniture  Deutsche Post AG   Jurors also championed exhibits with fresh, unexpected palettes, which they called a break in form from typical “garish trade show colors.” Suggesting that sensory overload had gone the way of the blue booth, jurors also touted designs with a refreshing use of restraint. The competition’s highest honor, the EDGE Award (for Exhibit Design and Graphic Excellence) went to Nike’s 13-city marketing extravaganza, which judges touted as the most innovative marketing they’d seen. Gold Award winners Sony Computer Entertainment, Scion, and Ceramic Tiles of Italy were identified as pinnacles of on-brand, subtle environments. Silver Award winners Sony Ericsson, Applied Materials, SOLA Optical, and the Exhibit Designers and Producers Association offered examples of novel color combinations, and what judges called “damn-neat, museum-quality concepts.” Judges chose each Special Merit Award winner for a remarkable ingredient — Sean John’s on-brand environment and G4 Media’s fully functional broadcast booth, for example. Exhibitor’s 2003 award winners offer a mix of originality and respectability as well as risk and restraint. Linda Armstrong senior editor		Kit Hinrichs, partner,Pentagram, San Francisco. At Pentagram, Hinrichs leads a graphic design team with expertise in corporate communications, packaging, and editorial and exhibition design. Hinrichs’ work has been honored and published widely, and several of his pieces are in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and San Francisco. Jennifer Sterling, principal, Jennifer Sterling Design, San Francisco. Sterling’s work has been published widely and is included in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress. An AGI member, Sterling serves on the Architecture and Design Accessions Board at SFMOMA. Jeremy Regenbogen, principal, Dual Office, San Francisco. Formerly of Vanderbyl Design, where he assisted with Exhibitor Show posters and the design of furniture collections and retail showrooms for Baker Furniture, Robert Talbott, and Teknion. His firm recently completed an exhibit system for the National Air and Space Museum. James Tucker, Founder, THUNKdesign, San Francisco. Tucker has worked in Southern California and Germany. At one time the art director at CNET, Tucker and THUNKdesign have created online “motion graphics” for Eddie Bauer, Old Navy, and Sonicnet, as well as ad concepts for BMW. Jacques Rossouw, principal and creative director, Anjaro Designs, San Francisco. Currently a faculty member at California College of Arts and Crafts, Rossouw has designed identity and packaging products for clients such as Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, and Broderbund.