Every year the association 100 Beste Plakate e. V. presents awards to honor the most innovative and groundbreaking poster designs from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The yearbook has long been the go-to source in poster design for graphic artists, designers, and advertisers. While the traditional printed poster is still regarded as the most challenging genre in the graphic arts, it is increasingly coming under the influence of digital technology.

For this reason, the 2018 yearbook explores the status of posters amid the wide variety of media and forms of expression available to clients and designers. What relevance do posters still have in our day and age? Are they no more than decorative items for cultural institutions, festivals, and academic events? Or do they still serve their traditional purpose of influencing societal discourse and flagging up trends in lifestyle, fashion, politics, esthetics, and the corporate world?

This year’s edition was designed by the Zurich design studio Hi. It was printed on affiche paper, and the folds of the printed signatures were cut only on two sides similar to classical Japanese binding, inviting readers to make an effort to “open up” the book.