D&AD Blog

www.dandad.org is down

 If you've been trying too access www.dandad.org this afternoon you might have seen nothing but a white screen. Sorry about that. Apparently something has blown up at our webhosts.  They're working flat out to try to fix it, but they tell us it might not be up again till tomorrow morning.

Please bear with us in the meantime, and sorry once again.

Edit: We're up again! Thanks for your patience.

An Apple a Day - Technology in design

Image by Hat-trick Design

We have very limited tickets for another free designers pub event, this time in conjunction with Ravensbourne College and ERDF. We will be debating the impact technology has had on design, with 9 fantastic speakers from Wieden & Kennedy, Dare Digital, Tonic, The Partners and Tomboy Virals to name but a few.

Tuesday 16 June
Strongroom
120-124 Curtain Road
EC2A 3SQ (map)

Doors and free beer from 6.30pm, debate starts at 7pm.

Edit: This event is now fully subscribed. To join the waiting/returns list, register here.

New Blood: 'I'll be there'

With the launch of the New Blood  2009 campaign, Laura Jordan-Bambach at LBi has written some background to the concept:

"Here at LBi we've just launched the campaign to promote D&AD New Blood's 10th Anniversary exhibition, at the end of June. Its been a labour of love, something that I'm really proud of for the best (in my opinion) and most important part of the charity.

This campaign is about getting industry down to New Blood to support graduating students. First off, don't let's forget the message here.  Internships and placements just evaporated for graduates in the last downturn. For a few years students stepped out into an industry that just wasn't paying attention. These graduates went elsewhere, and as anyone trying to find mid/senior talent, particularly in digital, can attest to - the whole industry lost out, and work has suffered for it.

Call me naive (and I'm sure you will) but we wanted to try to get the industry off its arses (or out of them) and take a minute to think about what New Blood is all about, where they might have been 10 years ago, and to make a personal pledge to give these new talents the support that they deserve: there's no denying its going to be really tough for them out there.

The hero photos represent only a small part of this campaign, but a lead that we hoped would put New Blood on the industry radar again, and cause some intense discussion about why it's so important (job done there, I guess ;-) ).The images are tongue-in-cheek but the message they contain is seriously important. The point is that these people aren't the six most important people at the event, it's the students, and it's each person that stops navel-gazing and actually contributes to its success.

These industry 'icons' were selected because they are actively helping New Blood already, offering their time (extra big thanks to Nadav) and profile to help get the conversation going, and who have committed to the New Blood event - they are the first step towards creating some solidarity with our brightest young stars by challenging you to do more yourself. And it's working.

For those that haven't seen the whole campaign, please check it out. For those lucky enough to be judging D&AD professional and student awards this year, there was a booth set up (using the 2 of 2006's Best New Blood Winners - David Horwich & Paul Mansley) where everyone could pledge their support... and  of course the hub of activity is that everyone is encouraged to upload their own photos or video committing to being at the event. "I'll be there".

On top of that we're providing free space for all students to have a web presence within the same matrix, and a great digital system for tagging your favourite work at the event, so that all that fiddling about with trying to contact your favourite future teams afterwards is as painless as possible.

So please, continue with the discussion as much as you like, but know it came from the right place. Most importantly take a moment to think about what it was like when you were entering an industry with your vivid optimism and desire to do what we all do every day still intact - and pledge your support."

'Inspired by' at the V&A

Simon Waterfall, Martin Lambie-Nairn, Tony Davidson

Simon Waterfall, Martin Lambie-Nairn & Tony Davidson
Inspired By
Friday 5 June
Lecture Theatre
19.00-20.15

The V&A is an extraordinary repository of artefacts and objects from many different cultures, covering many centuries and artists. Designers and Art Directors have been inspired by its collections since its foundation. But how does the art of the past influence the creative minds of today?

Three past D&AD presidents select their personal favourites from the V&A collection and explain how those pieces inspire them: digital designer Simon Waterfall, creator of award-winnign websites for Alexander McQueen and co-founder of Poke; branding expert Martin Lambie-Nairn, the creator of the launch identity for Channel 4; and Tony Davidson, the creative genius behind award-winning TV ads for Honda.

£8 or £6 for D&AD members/concessions (please mention when booking)

Book online or call +44 (0)20 7942 2211

Jonathan Ellery President's Lecture tonight

A reminder that Jonathan Ellery is giving a President's Lecture tonight at Logan Hall. Jonathan will be talking about his triple-faceted working life, encapsulating design, publishing and art. It should be a goody.

7pm – 8:30pm
Logan Hall
Institute of Education
20 Bedford Way
London
WC1H 0AL (map)

Tickets will be available on the door.

Product Design Nominations & In Book

We held Product Design judging at a different time to the rest of Awards judging this year, as the main week (20-23 April) coincided with the Milan Furniture Fair.  With a total of 10 entries going In Book, four nominations have been awarded to Seymourpowell, Apple, PearsonLloyd and bocci.  

These additional results, along with finalised proofed basic credits, have been added to the pdf on our website: http://www.dandad.org/awards/pdf/inbook09.pdf

The Awards website will go live on 22 May: www.dandad.org/awards09 and results will be announced on 11 June.

Student Awards Nominations online

Congratulations to the 308 student teams whose work made it through Student Awards judging.  From that group, one hundred teams have been nominated for a Student Yellow Pencil. 

The full list is available to download now.  All the work will be featured on the D&AD Winners’ Site, which will launch at the end of May.

Nominated work will be on exhibition at New Blood (29 June-1July) at the National Hall, Olympia, London.  Winners will be announced on 2 July at the Student Awards Ceremony at King’s Place, London and online on 3 July.

Greg Quinton, D&AD Education Chairman, has this to say, “Student Awards work was judged with the professional Awards this year, and frankly it was difficult to tell the two apart – a testament to the quality of the work submitted.  The creative standard is simply brilliant this year. Answering a Student Awards Brief is a big challenge and the judging (like all things D&AD) is of the highest standard possible.”