Design and Art Direction (D&AD), formerly known as British Design and Art Direction, is a British educational organisation that was created in 1962 to promote excellence in

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

and

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

. Its main offices are in

Spitalfields Spitalfields () is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and situated in the East End of London, East End. Spitalfields is formed around Commercial Street, London, Commercial Stre ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It is most famous for its annual awards, the D&AD Pencils. The highest award given by D&AD, the Black Pencil, is not necessarily awarded every year.

History

Origins (1962–1977)

D&AD was founded in 1962 by a group of London-based designers and art directors including David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Alan Fletcher, and Colin Forbes (who designed the original D&AD logo). A panel of 25 judged the 2500 entries to the first awards in 1963. They awarded one Black Pencil (to Geoffrey Jones Films) and 16 Yellow Pencils. Early winners received an ebony pencil box designed by Marcello Minale, one of the founding partners of Minale Tattersfield, which contained a pencil with silver lettering. In 1966 it was replaced by a more durable award. Its education programmes in their infancy, D&AD launched graphic workshops in association with the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

in the mid-1960s. They ran until the mid-1970s. Designer Michael Wolff became the first elected president of D&AD in 1970. Six years later, then-president

Alan Parker Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English film director, screenwriter and producer. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After abo ...

gave the first D&AD President’s Award for outstanding contribution to creativity to Colin Millward of Collett Dickenson Pearce.

Introduction of Student Awards (1978–1990)

D&AD education programmes continued to grow in 1978 when Dave Trott set up the D&AD Advertising Workshops. In 1979, initiated by Sir John Hegarty of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the Student Awards were launched. Bridging the gap between college and work, the awards present students with real world briefs to tackle. The awards had already started to recognise a wider range of categories through the 1960s and 1970s and photography, retail design (now environmental design), music videos, and product design became part of the awards in the 1980s. The awards also opened up to international entries for the first time in 1988. Controversy surrounded a decision to hold separate advertising and design awards in 1986 and 1987; the separation, made for practical reasons based on the chosen venue, was seen by members as a split between industries. Afterward, the ceremony did come back under one roof, where it has remained.

Move to Graphite Square, Vauxhall (1990–2012)

D&AD moved to Graphite Square, in Vauxhall in the 1990s. The first Student Expo (now New Blood) and the University Network, the D&AD membership programme for university and college courses, launched in 1993. The first session of "Xchange" took place in 1996. It was described as a ‘summer school’ for college lecturers and creative practitioners updated participants on the latest industry trends. D&AD launched its website in 1996 and introduced its first digital categories to the awards in 1997. D&AD celebrated its 40th birthday in 2002 with ''Rewind'', a retrospective exhibition and book of some of the most iconic work since the 1960s at the Victoria & Albert Museum. A new benchmark was set at the turn of the century when a double Black Pencil was awarded to the AMV.BBDO ‘Surfer’ for

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

for its visuals. This was matched five years later by ‘Grrr’, Wieden + Kennedy London's work for

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

UK. In 2006 another milestone was set as leoburnett.com won the first digital Black Pencil. Developments in the industry meant that two new categories were added in 2008, broadcast innovations and mobile marketing. That year,

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

won a Black Pencil for the

iMac The iMac is a series of all-in-one computers from Apple Inc., sold as part of the company's Mac (computer), Mac family of computers. First introduced in 1998, it has remained a primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since and evol ...

and the first-generation

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

. Design Workshops were relaunched in 2006 and D&AD North, its first regional network, in Manchester the same year. The Student Awards have become an increasingly international event. Entries in 2007 came from colleges in more than 40 countries. Italian design group Fabrica designed The annual outside the UK for the first time in 2007 and the showreel moved online that same year.

50th year and beyond (2012–present)

In 2012, D&AD moved to a location on Hanbury Street. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012 by honouring the most successful award-winners in its history with a special edition Taschen D&AD Annual featuring 50 different covers. In 2017, D&AD moved to a new office and event space on Cheshire Street, London. In October 2024, D&AD appointed its first US-based President, Kwame Taylor-Hayford.

D&AD Pencil Awards

The following are the D&AD Pencil award levels: *D&AD Wood Pencil: For best in advertising and design from the year *D&AD Graphite Pencil: Awarded to stand-out work, well executed with an original idea at its core *D&AD Yellow Pencil: Awarded only to the most outstanding work that achieves true creative excellence *D&AD Black Pencil: For work that is ground-breaking in its field; not always awarded *D&AD White Pencil: For exceptional and game-changing projects that have resulted in significant impact

D&AD presidents

Each year the D&AD elects a president from the creative community. They are always D&AD Award winners.

References

External links

D&AD website

D&AD Student Awards website
{{DEFAULTSORT:DandAD Organizations established in 1962 1962 establishments in England Organisations based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Design awards