The two Best Spread Design awards were awarded for two stories – On Cloud Nine and The Transformation of Nestlé – and the third award has been given to the story HR Turns SaaS-Y for Best Spread Illustration. 

Business Today competed with the likes of The New Yorker, The New York Times Sunday magazine, The New York Times Sunday magazine for Kids, Garden and Gun, The Economist, Fortune, and Fast Company, among others.

Sourav Majumdar, editor of Business Today, said: “We are delighted that BT has won these prestigious design honours from SPD. Design is an integral part of a magazine, and at BT we believe that today’s reader demands a product which is an amalgam of both top-quality writing and high visual appeal. These honours spur us to do even better.” 

Nilanjan Das, group creative editor of India Today Group, of which Business Today is a part, said: “In the world of business, Business Today is a path breaker. The design is intelligent and visually stunning, and we have shown it again and again by winning the best design awards around the world. Really proud to be leading such a talented design team.”

Anirban Ghosh, deputy creative editor of Business Today, and the architect of the award-winning designs, said: “I am very happy to get recognised and awarded by SPD, New York. It’s not just my win, but a win for the whole editorial team, the desk, reporters, our editors, and a lot of others who are closely associated with the entire process. Editorial design is not a process in isolation, it is team work. So it’s not only a design award, but the whole team deserves it.”

On Cloud Nine, a story by Nidhi Singal that was published in the 24 July 2022 issue of Business Today, spoke at length on the attempts of organisations to move into a multi-cloud environment, a complex and intricate technology setup that requires great expertise and brings extensive benefits. The visual played on the idea of cloud, and displayed nine benefits of multi-cloud computing to match the headline.

Also published in the 24 July 2022 issue of Business Today was The Transformation of Nestlé, written by Arnab Dutta, which spoke of how the foods major rebuilt its reputation after the Maggi crisis and is now on its way to becoming a solutions company. 

“In this visual, we worked along the idea of a ‘Nest’, which is part of the classical logo of Nestle. We created a semi-circle around the logo to create a mood for the overall story. It's like showing readers the tip of an iceberg and drawing them into the story,” says Anirban Ghosh.

The third award was given for Best Illustration Spread to HR Turns SaaS-Y in the 26 June 2022 issue. The story by Vidya S spoke of how SaaS start-ups are helping companies iron out kinks in their HR processes including in hiring, interviewing, employee engagement, and rewards & benefits, among other HR processes. 

On the design, Ghosh commented: “I wished to break the mould of usual design, mulled over AI, machines and so on. I tried something unusual not used in magazines, but in art galleries. I am grateful to my team for supporting such creative ventures. Such work helps break the monotony of typical design and breaks new ground.”

Business Today is India’s renowned business news and analysis platform. In addition to the magazine, Business Today has an extensive network of digital channels, social media channels and television programming, with a combined reach of more than 20 million users.