15 Comments

CR – Is it about the judges finding great work or agreeing on what great work is?
alexparrott
2008-10-14 14:05:52

@ Alex
Guess it has to be both - too often in the past they've not been able to do either
 Patrick Burgoyne
2008-10-14 14:10:57

Well I think I used all of my vitriol up last year, but here are a few points I've had issues with in recent Annuals:

• It's quite obvious that many pieces of work within the book are created merely to gain entry into the annual, and often get rewarded for doing so. But isn't it as valid to feature pieces which, within their industry and brief's remit, challenge the conventional and are strikingly different? I think it must be very hard to judge a huge piece of branding against some own label work and a great little idea for someone who 'conveniently' has two p's in their name. But I hope there may be some way of striking more of a balance.

• Recent annuals have got very repetitious, and often the same piece can appear in the book half a dozen times. Should the categories you can enter be limited to perhaps just two or three to stop this, or even go as far as to limit agencies to only 3 entries each in total to get them to do half of the filtering work for you? I appreciate its tricky as design diversifies, but I'm sure there's room for improvement...

• The computer games section, in previous years, has been a real waste of space. The titles in there are often far from the industry's best, or more often than not merely the ones with the larger production values. Either D&AD needs to drop the section in my mind, or work harder to attract those smaller, better developers into entering the awards. Apologies if this doesn't fall within the scope of your title, but it does make the book look a lot less like an informed expert in my eyes.

• Please stop giving Apple a couple more of our precious trees every year for merely shaving 2mm off the current iPod's girth. Ta.
Sean Thomas
2008-10-14 14:11:57

I'd like to ask them to stick their pencils up their arses.
DeAD
2008-10-14 16:28:44

Why do you have to be a member to get a book, why cant you buy them? This amongst other things closes the doors to designers as well as clients and students. As well as being loss of income.
Vicki Legg
2008-10-14 17:23:15

Well, there's no questioning the jury. It looks like a very very competent collection of graphic designs best heads.
Let's HOPE someone with money to spend sends some interesting work in.

I would like to ask: Why D&AD?
action man
2008-10-14 22:23:15

It seems that a disproportionately large number of British advertisers are scooping up the bulk of pencils and nominations. Do you agree? If so, could you please elaborate on what you think may be causing this trend?
Across the pond
2008-10-15 19:13:17

Might D&AD consider paying more heed to architecture and environmental design? perhaps as a way to provide a somewhat needed breath of fresh air?
Bayar
2008-10-16 13:41:34

D&AD why are you leaving us? Don't you love me anymore? Is it something I did?
James Yencken
2008-10-16 13:59:02

This is all off the top of my head...

My current perception of D&AD is: a big awards ceremony, a stack of lectures, a student awards programme & the Newblood site, and a bunch of career development programmes.

Is there some way D&AD could take a more active stance on the issues that are affecting the industry/industries day by day - providing the latest information, analysing that information, and then suggesting ways forward?

Speaking as a graphic designer, certain topics rear their head regularly - sustainability / free pitching / intellectual property etc. D&AD is in the position to provide support and leadership in these areas - perhaps as the AIGA does?

Can we have the DVD back in the Annual? It's useful to have as a 'real' thing.

Would there be any merit in creating individual subsections of D&AD for the different sections of the industry? The mix of all the bits is often a real strength, but sometimes more focus would be useful.
Alistair Hall
2008-10-16 14:43:50

@ Pinion

"Brilliance is more easily accessible when you have huge budgets & huge clients."

Rubbish.

"There is so much amazing work out there that is being missed or drowned out by the big corporations & financial influence."

I think the smaller brilliant work is recognised on blogs and in magazines, which is where a lot of the design world inhabits. I think D&AD have missed a trick by not having its fingers in those pies. CRBlog is something of a hub for designers, why not D&ADBlog? Let them show us that they do see the cool lo-fi stuff as well as the big-budget ads.
Ed Wright
2008-10-17 10:56:21

I would like to see all work real paying client work in all awards. So much of the entries are for spoof or non existent clients run in few places as a favour to get into award shows. A lot of this work is for Charidy Mate! or some made up sexual reference none of it a true reflection of our industry.

Most of the big global networks can afford to do this and spend up to £20K just for one award shows entry fees. Smaller designers/agencies can't afford to compete with that unfair advantage. I think they need a turnover sliding scale scheme where small design outfits can pay less to get their work seen and thus compete with the bigger agencies.
bclgrh
2008-10-17 14:06:10

I'd like to ask why D&AD are such a bunch of w*nkers
Yank
2008-10-22 17:39:41

There is a lot of spam links in your text. Its come through on the rss feed, and here its invisible between the lines:


The discussion will be printed in our December issue and on this blog.

[and here is lots of spam]

And, just for reference, here is the D&AD Graphic Design jury for next year’s awards. Let’s hope they find some great work:
james
2008-11-04 19:40:25

@James

Thanks for letting us know. That's been cleared out now
 Patrick Burgoyne
2008-11-04 21:26:04

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