Mark Bonner selects hero of book cover design, David Pearson for the new and revised D&AD Annual 2015
This year, D&AD President Mark Bonner has decided to reinvigorate the format of the D&AD Annual 2015 proving that even “The Book” can be disruptive. This new, inspiring Annual will be unveiled during London Design Festival on September 23rd at Village Underground in east London, the creative heart of the city.
Each year, the D&AD President has the responsibility of selecting a designer to contribute to the creative direction of the Annual. The 53rd edition has been designed by D&AD Pencil-winning book cover designer, David Pearson. Well known for his work for Penguin Classics, David alongside colleagues Alistair Hall and Paul Finn have designed the cover to reflect what is the very essence of D&AD: The Pencil.
David Pearson about the design process:
When you boil D&AD down to its essence, it’s all about the pencils. They’re the prize that everyone wants. The prize that helps drive you to create your very best work. And with the introduction of the full family of pencils, now including Wood and Graphite, it felt like the perfect time to put the pencils front and centre on the Annual cover. Just as the pencil is the heart of D&AD, wood is the heart of the pencil, so we used that as the core element for five cover designs, each featuring one of the iconic awards.
Different about the content in this year’s Annual: For this first time ever, the book will be organised by Pencil level rather than by category. With the introduction of the two new Pencil levels at this year’s professional awards, this year’s Annual will be a firework display of creative power with industry big hitters sitting next to independents via alphabetical order, celebrating the diversity of creativity as well as amplifying the impressively varied catalogue of work.
Mark Bonner, D&AD President:
Creativity isn’t limited to the well-known or the most-awarded. At D&AD, the best idea wins. When you enter D&AD, you are hoping that your work will be worthy of a Pencil and this year our collection of the best creative work in the world grew. Importantly, we awarded more than 40 first time winners in 2015, perhaps via the additional lure of the new Wood and Graphite Pencils. The time was right for the Annual to be organised by Pencil level not by creative discipline, creating a staircase of excellence that will hopefully inspire creatives at all stages of their careers. Take a look through and you will see ‘Davids’ next to ‘Goliaths’ by virtue of the great work they did, just as it should be. Colliding the disciplines like this, we highlight the incredible dexterity of modern creativity.
In addition to these changes, this year Mark has introduced 10 feature-length case studies chosen on the merit of their story rather than their level of success. These case studies are designed to look behind the work and take an engaging look at how these concepts become a reality. These case studies will be exclusively available for owners of the Annual and D&AD paid members.
For the second year running, Hogarth Worldwide have provided the retouching, color management, general reprographics and production for the D&AD Annual 2015. The cover paper was provided by Black Pencil-winning paper manufacturer G.F Smith. The D&AD Annual is published directly by D&AD with a limited run of 3,000 copies, the D&AD Annual 2015 will be available exclusively to buy from the D&AD Shop on the 24th September.
The full list of work that will appear in the D&AD Annual 2015 is available here.
Since 1962, D&AD has been inspiring a community of creative thinkers by celebrating and stimulating the finest in design and advertising. A D&AD Award is recognised globally as the ultimate creative accolade, entered and attended by the best creative decision makers from around the world. Set to reward, promote and enable creative brilliance in all areas of creative communication, a Yellow – or Black – Pencil remains the pinnacle in many careers.
The D&AD Annual is considered to be the authoritative archive of advertising and design. Hotly anticipated within the advertising, digital and design industries each year, previous designers include Peter Saville, Bob & Roberta Smith, Neville Brody, Sir Peter Blake and Allen Jones.
