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AREA is a friendly, boutique design studio producing sustainable, thoughtful solutions regardless of scale or budget. We are passionate about the arts, the value of design, crafting quality work, communicating clearly and ­creating enduring relationships with audience and clients.

We have worked on a broad range of projects across many sectors from the prestigious to the prosaic. In its diversity, our work shares a common thread: a love for communicating personal stories, design and typography, along with attention to detail and clarity in execution.

What we do

Book / Publication Design
Brand Identity
Exhibition / Event Branding
Motion Graphics

Packaging
Signage and Wayfinding
Visual Communications
Web and Digital Design

Awards

2024

Publishers Association of New Zealand

  • Flora: Celebrating Our Botanical World / Published by Te Papa Press Best Illustrated / Finalist
  • Flora: Celebrating Our Botanical World / Published by Te Papa Press Best Cover / Finalist
  • Plated: A lifetime love affair with food / Published by Camberdown Press Best Cookbook / Finalist

2023

Publishers Association of New Zealand

  • Jumping Sundays: The Rise and Fall of the Counterculture in Aotearoa New Zealand / Published by Auckland University Press Best Cover / Finalist

New Zealand Book Awards

  • Jumping Sundays: The Rise and Fall of the Counterculture in Aotearoa New Zealand / Published by Auckland University Press Illustrated Non-Fiction / Winner

2022

Designers Institute of New Zealand Best Design Awards

  • SLT by Mark Purdom / Published by Ramp Press Editorial and Books / Bronze
  • Duck Island Ice Cream Small Brand Identity / Silver
  • Duck Island Ice Cream Colour Award Graphics / Silver

The New Zealand Photo Book of The Year Awards

  • SLT by Mark Purdom / Published by Ramp Press Best Photobook / Winner

Publishers Association of New Zealand

  • Hei Taonga mā ngā Uri Whakatipu | Treasures for the Rising Generation by multiple authors / Published by Te Papa Press Best Typography / Highly Commended
  • Kelcy Taratoa: Who am I, Episode 001 by Warren Feeney, Alice Hutchison and Hēni Jacob / Published by Quentin Wilson Publishing Best Cover / Highly Commended

Museums Australasia Multimedia and Publication Design Awards

  • Hei Taonga mā ngā Uri Whakatipu | Treasures for the Rising Generation by multiple authors / Published by Te Papa Press Best Book Level A / Highly Commended

2021

Publishers Association of New Zealand

  • Endless Sea: Stories told through the taonga of the New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui te Ananui a Tangaroa by Frances Walsh / Photography by Jane Ussher / Published by Massey University Press Best Illustrated / Highly Commended
  • Māori Made Easy Workbooks | For everyday learners of the Māori language | Kete 1–8 by Scotty Morrison / Published by Penguin Best Educational Book Series Secondary/Tertiary (Covers) / Finalist

Pride in Print Awards

  • He Piko He Paerongo 100 River Sensors by Eco Detection Innovation in Publication / Winner
  • Lines of Flight by Sarah Munro and Gail Pittaway / Published by Ramp Press Books over 32 Pages / Winner

2020

Publishers Association of New Zealand

  • Crafting Aotearoa by Karl Chitham, Kolokesa U Māhina-Tuai and Damian Skinner / Published by Te Papa Press Best Typography / Finalist / Winner
  • Crafting Aotearoa by Karl Chitham, Kolokesa U Māhina-Tuai and Damian Skinner / Published by Te Papa Press Best Illustrated / Finalist / Highly Commended
  • One Year Drawn by Pete Bossley / Published by Point Press Best Illustrated and Typography / Finalist / Highly Commended

2018

The New Zealand Photo Book of The Year Awards

  • Mimetic by Mark Purdom / Published by Ramp Press Book Finalist / Commended

2017

Designers Institute of New Zealand Best Design Awards

  • Intellectual Fashion Show 2016 / Published by New Zealand Fashion Museum and Blikfang Editorial and Books / Bronze

2016

Designers Institute of New Zealand Best Design Awards

  • From Certainty to Doubt by Mark Purdom / Published by Ramp Press Editorial and Books / Gold

2015

Publishers Association of New Zealand

  • Beyond the State by Bill McKay, Andrea Stevens, photography Simon Devitt / Published by Penguin Best Illustrated Book Finalist / Highly Commended
  • Essential New Zealand Poems selected by Siobhan Harvey, James Norcliffe and Harry Ricketts / Published by Random House New Zealand Best Non-Illustrated Book Cover Design Finalist / Highly Commended

The New Zealand Photo Book of The Year Awards

  • From Certainty to Doubt by Mark Purdom / Published by Ramp Press Trade Published / Winner
  • New Zealand Photography Collected Photography, by Athol McCredie / Published by Te Papa Press Trade Published / Finalist

2014

Publishers Association of New Zealand

  • Peter McLeavey: The Life and Times of a New Zealand Art Dealer, by Jill Trevelyan / Published by Te Papa Press Best Cover / Winner
  • Cut by Josh Emett, photography by Kieran Scott / Published by Random House New Zealand Best Cookbook / Winner

Museums Australasia Multimedia & Publication Design Awards

  • Peter McLeavey: The Life and Times of a New Zealand Art Dealer, by Jill Trevelyan / Published by Te Papa Press Best Book Level A / Highly Commended

2013

Publishers Association of New Zealand

  • OnSong by Simon Sweetman / Published by Penguin Best Overall Book / Winner
  • OnSong by Simon Sweetman / Published by Penguin Best Illustrated Book / Winner
  • Hunter from the Heartland: Recipes and Stories from Masterchef Favourite Cameron Petley by Cameron Petley, photography by Kieran Scott / Published by Random House Best Cookbook / Winner