365: AIGA Annual Design Exhibition 29

Each year a selected group of design elite decide on that year's best designs, ranking entries according to such principles as form, function, balance, and innovation. Currently on display at the AIGA National Design Center, the 2008 winners include bottles of soda and beer; a clock that depicts the disappearance of animal species; various posters for bands, performances, and plays; shampoo, tissue, and hand-soap dispensers; magazines, notebooks, and college admissions catalogs; and logos. To us, design is often like business writing: we only notice it when it's really really bad. But this exhibit helped us get just how much thought and consideration go into the products that surround us.