Review of the Year 2023: Editorial Team Picks

By now, you’ve probably seen our top articles for graphic design, photography, illustration and our most read features, but there are some stories that didn’t quite make those lists that we still wanted to shine a light on. So this year, we’ve added a new section to our Review of the Year – our Team Picks.

Theme-wise stories about community have stirred something in us. On the film front, we highlight Timi Akindele-Ajani’s thought-provoking and visually rich domestic drama, Guests, set against the backdrop of 1970s Britain and highlighting the Black community’s experience of racism. When it came to visual art and design, we found community narratives as groundbreaking; Work/Play for its ushering of Black historical imagery into the present day (they even made an Angela Davis playing card), Lakwena with bold lettering that inspires togetherness, and Secret Riso Club’s journey of designing for social justice.

Furthermore, some members of the team found music to be a (ahem) big hit. From Cha Chaan Teng’s animations for Atlantic Records 75th anniversary to Henry Miller’s paintings of classic album covers – Bowie, Alice Coltrane, ABBA – and Base Design’s unique identity ushering in an opera house’s new season. But, it wouldn’t be It’s Nice That if we didn’t enjoy writing (and reading) articles that speak about innovation of the past and present, as seen in our news article on Keith Haring’s never before seen digital illustrations from the 80s and our exploration of Rashaad Newsome’s voguing AI Robot Being.