For more on our 2014 winners, click the links below. EDGE AWARD Armstrong DLW GmbH GOLD AWARDS D-Wave Systems Inc. Mailingtage Derse Inc. SILVER AWARDS Schattdecor AG Intel Corp. Alno AG Belkin International Inc. Daimler AG Genentech Inc. BRONZE AWARDS Wargaming.net LLP BeerBev LLC Philips Lighting (part of Koninklijke Philips N.V.) General Electric Power & Water Salesforce.com Germany GmbH Rhoddy Design Inc. Symantec Corp. Capcom USA Inc.

According to Dilbert comic-strip creator Scott Adams, "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." If Adams is correct, then the winners of EXHIBITOR Magazine's 28th Annual Exhibit Design Awards know a thing or two about separating the wheat from the chaff. Including everything from a sparse 100-square-foot structure cloaked in LED lights to a 51-by-33-foot tour de force bathed solely in linoleum, the 2014 Exhibit Design Award winners are truly exhibit-design artisans that have mastered the fine art of selection – and rejection.

Assembled at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, judges spent eight hours wading through entries. Ultimately, they arrived at 18 winners while also establishing a preference for simplicity and lauding those designers with the restraint to edit their work and siphon off some of their creative juices.

Consider the design for Schattdecor AG that the judging panel called "simplicity in action." While designers could have filled the 89-by-79-foot booth with enough technical wizardry to stupefy Spielberg, they instead opted for a mostly neutral palette and placed Schattdecor's own products in the spotlight.

Another spot-on example was crafted for Genentech Inc. To promote the company's new prescription to treat various eye conditions, designers created an ingenious 20-foot-diameter theater that looked like an eyeball. While less-skilled exhibit designers might have devised an over-the-top theater with a booming and heart-thumping multimedia display, the talented team behind this booth chose a slightly understated yet ultrarealistic theater that no doubt caught the eyes of passersby.

So hats off to the 2014 Exhibit Design Award winners. They've set the bar at an astounding new height, and taught us all a thing or two about the fine art of editing. Please join us in congratulating this year's winners, and may their simplistic yet artistic approach inspire you to reach new heights with your own exhibits.