What a year it's been! With the work year winding down for most and plans full steam ahead for 2017, now's the perfect time to scroll back through what made industry headlines in 2016. We've listed our most-read marketing and media stories, as well as our most popular contributors, most-viewed press offices, most-read new business wins and most-read new appointments of the year.

Keeping that forward focus, we find out more about another of #DesignIndaba2017's anticipated international speakers: Olafur Eliasson. He's a cofounder of the Little Sun solar-powered lamp that launched at the Tate Modern in London in July 2012: "in total darkness - to illustrate the plight of the 1.6 billion people worldwide who are without access to a reliable source of electricity," with the Palace of Versailles his most recent site for experimentation, with a towering waterfall appeared to fall from nowhere due to mindbending mirror trickery, fog machines and more.

Graham du Plessis shares insight into the ever-growing mobile landscape and what e-retailers could expect in 2017: a fluid customer journey focus, and brace yourself as mobile advertising is set to boom.

Looking back on another of this year's highlights, I also chat to INJOZI's partners, executive producer Nick Argyros and executive creative director Greg Russell about their six 2016 Loerie Awards in the 'interactive and digital communication' category for their work on Chicken Licken and Coronation in collaboration with Net#work BBDO, as well as what they're currently working on: "branding for a really amazing new company, which may or may not involve projecting the company's logo on the moon using freaking laser beams," so keep looking up!

Look up, look forward, and come back refreshed from the festive season. Note that this is our last week of newsletters until the new year but keep an eye on the website for regular updates throughout.

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