For the Design Competition Brief, we are venturing into a D&AD New Blood award brief. I have to say I’m excited about this. D&AD can lead to very promising opportunities and I think its jst great to be part of a such a huge organisation. With the feedback and knowledge I can get off my tutors, I feel a good chance of making some great work and having a chance of winning. All positive thinking!
I have begun to look into previous winners as this will not only boost my confidence in believing I can make a winning piece, but also get some inspiration and some background knowledge into what D&AD are looking for.
I have selected a few of my favourites.
First I looked into what I enjoy most, illustration. These are some winning entries based on the craft of illustration.
When I look at these I firstly see simplicity. Simplicity in the style, colours, compoisitions, and technique. The craft of each piece has been done with serious consideration. Ranging from ink, pencil, pen, cut out, collage, stencil, digital colour and shapes. Every piece stands out by itself, and it completely different. My notes from these illustrations are, keep it simple, playful with controlled detail.
I then looked at awards by Pencil. The Black Pencil is the top aim, a very hard award to achieve.
The Black Pencil was award to only two entries in 2016. The video ‘Finding independence in youth where it may otherwise seem unattainable.’ by James Wuds, and ‘Retro Serif’ by Polina Hohonova. Both, I think, are wonderful pieces of work. The video is humorous, whilst the monotype is perfect example of typography. As simple and plain (if you will) these two pieces are, its clear to see that the art direction of each piece was considered in relation to the brief set, and the artworks made. Something to consider here is to make sure my artwork is not ‘overly produced’. Nothing too stylized or shiny. Too much could prove to be a distraction from what its actually trying to be said, or shown.
I then looked into the brief from 2016, Adobe, which is the one I will be entering this year. The Yellow Pencil only went to one entry from the Adobe brief. (video below)
As I watched this I simply thought, what an amazing idea. AGAIN, so simply and effective. It just shows that sometimes its more about having a great idea in order to achieve what the brief is asking of you, and not necessarily an amazing piece of artwork.
James Notarianni 