D&AD (Design & Art Direction) is a professional organisation that supports creativity in design and advertising. We popped in to see if we agreed with the judges on the best of our contemporaries work and for some graphic inspiration. Here’s a few of our highlights.
We loved this new employee welcome box from advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather. It comes with a letter, inspirational book, notebook, pencil, memory stick, a couple of posters and a slinky for good measure.
We think this is a clever way to ease new staff into the company culture. Every last detail has been thought about and fits with O&M’s driving force “divine discontent”, down to inspirational quotes (‘We are all born children. The trick is to remain one.’) which are revealed as you take items out of the box. We’d feel pretty chuffed to work for Ogilvy & Mather if we’d received this.
Menswear brand Jack Spade’s Brand Manual takes a simpler approach, using uncomplicated layouts, bold colour and illustration. The hard cover finish, rounded corners and ribbon bookmark give the book a sophisticated, keepsake appeal.
Ad agency Gyro produced a Creative Transformation Workbook filled with questions and spaces to respond. We love the interactivity, and the taped in, personalised letter is a nice touch too.
The personalisation trend continued with this handwritten note incorporated into a book – this time executed with some clever folding on the cover. The Scottish Poetry Library’s brochure feels very personal and special and we like the way the handwritten note interacts with the printed title of the book.
World Masters Games 2017 and branding agency Viva & Co embraced the humble circle. Using cutouts and special finishes they’ve created something simple and distinctive.
Perusing the Graphic Design section, these brave, authentic and human valentines cards for disability charity Scope stood out for us. The light–hearted humour and use of illustration stands out from the usual, bland, comfort–zone material of the charity sector.
And finally, our favourite idea of the day was this book, Thoughts of a Dog Walker designed by Paul Belford. A great example of how language and design can play off each other, we think this is such a simple, well–executed, effective idea. Though we do wonder if some poor intern had to chew the corner off every copy?