This May, WMH’s Design Director Mark Nichols visited D&AD’s new swanky offices as part of the D&AD New Blood jury. He was a judge on the Arjowiggins Creative Papers brief which set out to unite print and pixels, asking how print and digital platforms might form a new, symbiotic, relationship.
The task was to create a campaign, product or service for Sony Music, Facebook or Instagram that reminds digital customers of the power of paper.
Mark was joined on the multidisciplinary jury by Jack Renwick, acting D&AD President, Rob Newlan, Facebook Creative Shop’s EMEA Director and Sean Perkins, Director at North Design, along with a wide range of other creatives from advertising, design and paper artistry.
The work well received, but did it break the mould?
The provisional online round of judging saw 265 entries from across the globe, some underwhelming and well wide of the mark, some entertaining, but off brief, some ‘good’ and a handful that stood out as being truly great.
On the day, the Arjowiggins jury awarded two wood pencils, three graphite pencils and one yellow pencil.
WINNER of the Yellow Pencil: Colorgram is a concept for Arjowiggins Creative Papers that engages Instagram users in real life. It identifies shapes and colours in Instagram posts and transforms them into minimalistic die cut art. Congratulations to Jack Welles and Danae Gosset, from the School of Visual Arts, NYC.
Click here to see all of the 2017 D&AD New Blood Winners.
So what tips does Mark have for creating a winner?
“To start with, it’s imperative to interrogate the brief fully. Not only must your work answer the brief but it must stand out, stretch the brief and turn it upside down and look at it from a new, and relevant, perspective.
It’s unlikely your first answer will be the winning answer (no matter how good you think it is). Chances are, if it comes easily, many other people will have thought of the same solution. Trust me, we saw a lot of the same ideas regurgitated and skinned slightly differently. You have to persist until you’ve created something you’ve never seen before.
Having a proper grasp of the latest technologies, creative platforms, relevant social issues and a thorough and un-biased understanding of the target audience, will also help elevate your entry.
Once all of the above is in place you’re in with a chance. Now, to test if your idea will translate, can you easily and confidently describe it in no more than two short sentences? If it takes an essay and tons of boards to explain your ground breaking creation, the chances are you’ve overcomplicated it and got lost in your own genius.
Of course the one thing all the winners had in common was a great and original idea at the heart of the work.
To get to the higher pencil levels the work had to be well executed and commercially achievable – it’s a lot easier to have a great idea without thinking of its practicalities.
To win you need to have the jury arguing over who’s going to employ you first and be nervous that they’re going to be left behind by the next generation of creative mega minds! Easy right? No. Design is and will remain a challenging discipline, but with the right amount of blood, sweat and ideas your work just may get rewarded with the coveted D&AD pencil”.
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Upon completion of his judging duties, Garrick said: “This year’s entries demonstrated a renewed optimism and appreciation of craft, with clients opting for the bigger, braver solutions. People are seeing the benefit of creativity and how it can play an important role in being the key differentiator. Against the current backdrop of uncertainty, it is good to see clients embracing fresh, bold and brave design.”
Creativepool’s Managing Editor, Alexandra Schott, said: “Given how uncertain our future now seems to be, both politically and technologically, it is a powerful time to be a part of the creative industry. The bravery and innovation we have seen this year has been eye-opening and empowering for the team, who have assembled an incredible judging panel. We can’t wait to see who our community name as their People’s Choice. We hope the bonds formed through the Annual act as a catalyst for the year ahead. Creativity will save us.”