Shift at its Best
Shift picked up the BEST Award for Interactive Media and Web Design at the annual awards ceremony in Auckland on Friday
9 September. The Best Design Awards, organised by The Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ) to showcase and
celebrate the best work that New Zealand’s design industry has to offer, are the pre-eminent awards for design across a
variety of media.
Shift was rewarded for its work on Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand (www.teara.govt.nz), a major multi-year
initiative to develop one of the world’s first authoritative online references of its kind. Te Ara, which means ‘The
Pathway’ in Maori, is quickly becoming the first port of call for those wanting to learn more about New Zealand’s rich
past.
“Te Ara is not only an important project for Shift, but for the entire country as well.” says Creative Director and Te
Ara’s lead designer Brian Smith. “Its incredibly rewarding to see how the site is beginning to be used by students and
teachers alike. The BEST Award is fantastic recognition of the impact that we believe our design brings to our clients
and the people who visit their sites.”
According to Jock Philips, the General Editor of Te Ara, “the BEST award is a tribute to the extraordinary creativity
and care for detail of the whole Shift Team. They are world class as interactive designers and are a pleasure to work
with.”
The BEST Award is the second major design award that Shift’s has collected this year. In June the company received an
international Webby Award in New York City for their ongoing development of Tourism New Zealand’s consumer travel site
(www.newzealand.com/travel).
For more information about shift, visit www.shift.co.nz