I have a sort of love, hate relationship with D&AD if I am honest. On the negative side, I feel there is so much more they can do with regards to design education in this country. Yes, they do promote design with their annual design awards but I have always felt that there is way too much credability given to winning a pencil award. It's not even a case of sour grapes either but it may be an age thing! A young designer craves attention and wants the credability that an award brings. It does open doors to certain design studios but I still don't get what all the fuss is about. Plus the ammount of promotion that goes alongside these awards is quite staggering and surely the money could be better spent.
This year they hosted live talks so you could post a message about the brief you were working on and then there would be industry experts who would give you some guidance. I did watch one of them and found that the responses were quite uninspiring but that could have been due to the questions being asked. Also the guests didn't seem that interested anyway.
For me, I don't need awards. I am more than happy for someone to say to me, 'well done' , 'thanks for that' or 'I like what you've done there'. I don't need a bit of plastic to make me feel better. I just think that way too much emphasis is put on winning awards. This has now resulted in a few elite agencies, winning the major clients whilst the rest, who do work just as good or even better, struggling to survive. In part, they have created a secular society within design, the have's and have not's. I have to stress that this is just my own opinion and in no way am I affiliated with any other design awards!
Before I move on, what I would like to see is them implement a better education network that works with all the universities and not just those within the M25. It comes back to that whole credability issue of would they rather work with St Martin's or Ravensbourne instead of Hull or Bristol for example.
So why do I have D&AD near the top of my bookmark list? For me it's all about the President Lecture series they run every year. These events are a fantastic opportunity to hear some very influential, fascinating and inspirational people. Also, because of the relaxed format and location of these events, it also gives you on occasions to meet these people face to face, get something signed, shake their hands and say thank you.
In the past few years I have met some of my inspirations from Angus Hyland, Paula Scher, Wayne Hemmingway to Peter Gabriel and Neville Brody. For me these people are far more interesting than any so called celebrity you can mention. What can be better than hearing Wayne Hemmingway talk about his career and then walk across the road to see and hear him playing Northern Soul.
So, I got sent an email yesterday about some upcoming talks which had me reaching for my credit card. On the 14th March, 50 Years of Looking Forward. In the 1960's a group of designers and art directors formed the British Design and Art Direction. Three of them will be discussing their work and considering what the future holds for the creative industries. Sounded realtively interesting until I saw that it would be BOB GILL, ALAN PARKER and LORD DAVID PUTNAM. How much would you pay to see just one of these people? It's only a maximum of £15. Bargain.
Other events are:
Q&A with David Bailey on the 25th April
Hegarty on Advertising on the 9th May
PechaKucha: Japan on the 23rd May (if its like other Pecha events, it is worth it)
Sir Terence Conran on the 12th June
All fantastic events, well worth going to see. The only minor drawback is that they are in London but thats what the internet is good at, finding cheap fares.
Before I moved on I had a look at some of the other events they run, especially the Workout events. There are some really interesting events with Love Letters to Typography, The Truth About Branding, Writing For Design, Presentation Skills etc. Sounds really good, where do I sign and where do I get tickets from. Until you see how much they cost. On average they are £560! Ouch!
I would love to know who these are aimed at as the price dictates that only industry artists and designers could hope to afford the cost. But when you read some of the descriptions, they would be perfect for design students. Lots of experimenting and finding new ways to construct your ideas and how to deconstruct a brief. So why don't they provide these on a larger scale? Would it still work?
Anyway I have my own yellow pencil sitting on my desk......It's end is a bit chewed, it's an HB and I bought it from WH Smith quite a while ago.......But it's still a yellow pencil.
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