Gutting to say the least that Webmedia is no more. To show how world-class we were > winning the 2000 EMMA Awards Supreme Award! Winning meant that we had the privilege to design the winners certificates for the 2001 awards.

The 13th job at Mata: Job number 0013 circa Q4 2001. As Webmedia is no longer, this illustrative and representative job is kindly given to me. I then work directly with the team running the awards to get the brief.

The brief from Tom Hall said: The certificate needed to include the EMMA Foundation logo - and utilise the EMMA award graphic in the background design of the certificate. The design could also incorporate the fact that this is the 10th anniversary of the awards. The details need to be filled in with all the details from a database, printed from a B+W laser printer.

With the brief I went away and created a proposal of design approaches. I came up with two ideas to present.

Concept A “Pinnacle” Inspiration: The EMMA award trophy and the 1987 game “The Sentinel.” on the Spectrum 48k.

Concept:

The EMMA award symbolises the pinnacle of interactive design excellence. Inspired by “The Sentinel,” where players climb a 3D landscape to replace the sentinel at the highest point, the award's design mirrors this ascent. The finalist certificate would depict multiple people striving for the award, while the winner’s certificate shows a single person at the pinnacle. The design, in line with current EMMA branding, would honour the game’s originality and celebrate EMMA's 10-year history. Two certificates (for finalists and winners) would be created with minimal differences in illustration and wording.

Concept B “Deca” Inspiration: 10th Anniversary, Ten, Deca, Decade, Decagon and trophy design 10 years and 10 sides.

Concept:

To celebrate the EMMA awards’ 10th anniversary, the certificate design features a 10-sided polyhedron that can be cut out and assembled into a 3D decagon. Each face of the decagon lists the year and major winners, with the EMMA trophy fitting inside and the winner's name beneath. This interactive design aligns with the connectivity theme and offers recipients the option to cut and assemble the decagon. The certificate will also include a section for required information and sponsor logos. The overall 10th Anniversary winner could be highlighted as well.

The Pinnacle concept was chosen - oh wow - a little jump of joy in my heart doing work around something I love.

First of all, the base design was made. The composition was around an isometric grid. Spatial thirds composition was used for the dominant obvious contrast areas along with half/half grid and 6x6 grid for reference. A simple test pinnacle was created with simple isometric grid extrusions.

Next the design was refined, mainly focussing on the Sentinel inspired 3D landscape. The landscape was built using multiple levels of isometric 3D extrusions. Colours were used to help identify each area as a complex maze of isometric levels appear on the landscape home to the Sentinel.

The final concept stage with all the design elements in place. Colouring is still for indicative purposes, but overall, the design elements are completed. The EMMA logo now sits alongside the other logos in the same colour, connecting them and giving the certificate a solid foundation.

The final certificates are produced, sent to Tom for the replication process. Mixed emotions of elation, sadness and accomplishment on this project.

Thank you Webmedia and the awesome team, thanks for supporting me in my journey to create Mata, the trust and belief was invaluable in the leap of faith.