D&AD 2017 Winners

posted by Amber Weaver July 6, 2017

Another year down and the winners of D&AD New Blood Awards have been announced! The judges applaud the amount of raw talent that was unearthed throughout each brief, with the total of 173 Pencils awarded across the board. The New Blood Awards are a platform for students and other new creatives to showcase their talents on real briefs, set by real clients.Thousands of submissions are reviewed each year, so each pencil is a huge achievement in any creatives career. Briefs were set by Adobe, Amazon, The BBC, Nationwide, John Lewis, Monotype, The British Army and many more brilliant brands on the look out for a solution to their design problems. Below we’ve outlined a few projects that we found inspiring, not to mention the announcement of the one and only Black Pencil award this year.

The full Pencil statistics are as follows:

? 1 Black
? 3 White
? 32 Yellow
? 40 Graphite
? 97 Wood

Titled “Mm-hmm” student creatives Hannah Mcnally and Martha Halliday from Kingston University responded to The National Autistic Society brief. Drawing on personal experience, they created their winning film stating “We know there are many joys and sorrows to autism, much like the ups and downs of life. Therefore, we did not want to sugar-coat the daily thoughts and concerns of the carers. We feel the hard-hitting message we are giving must be expressed more; to showcase the help and understanding The National Autistic Society provides families and individuals when they face the transition into adulthood.” Fused with heart warming characters and a powerful narrative, the judges were confident it was this submission that would win the respectable Black Pencil.

A white pencil award went to Sian MacFarlane who’s submission was titled ‘Fabric of the Nation’. This inspiring campaign cleverly uses the type systems of fashion and fibre composition labelling to challenge the beliefs surrounding British identity. “The rise of mass migration and globalisation has been accompanied by a questioning of what, if anything, it means to be British. Too often these discussions lead to the division of our citizens into those who are ‘more’ British and those who are ‘less’ British. ‘Fabric of the Nation’ focuses on the DNA profiles of well-known British citizens and celebrities; and aims to reinforce the fact that we are all different AND all British. A moving message to say the least.”

With 32 yellow pencils being awarded in total we loved Matt Holmes’ response to the Amazon brief. ‘Local Just Got Closer’ was a beautifully put together campaign that advertised Amazon’s new venture, Amazon Fresh. From the pin sharp, and gorgeously shot photography to the sophisticated type choices, the overall project certainly nailed the brief on the head.