Last week Brick Lane’s Truman Brewery played host to the D&Ad annual awards, a celebration of more than 26,000 pieces both physical and digital running from the 25th-27th. I was lucky enough to get work as an event runner volunteer, which scheduled me a whole day free to listen to talks by renowned creative figures and take in the inspiring atmosphere. Over the course of these three days I was left starstruck by the people I met, the work I saw, and the experiences on offer. I learnt how to correlate beauty and function, how to be moral in the world of advertising, how to be Argentinian and how to kill myself with chocolate, these are my highlights:
DAY 1
On the 25th the expo opened its doors for talks and workshops, but judges were still deliberating in the display rooms behind closed doors. I was tasked to serve these ponderous critics drinks as they argued the case for various items. Each judge will make a shortlist of about 800 items, I was told, these will qualify for wood pencils. They then whittle that down to about 60-70, which receive yellow pencils. Finally, if any are deemed worthy, selections are made for a black pencil award. I stared at each tier’s prize (pictured in the cover image), as I took coffee orders over radio. In the precious moments that I spent in the judges hubs I got a real unadulterated sense of the festival; I felt the overwhelming energy and analytical creative eyes about me – and it felt great, as though I was engaging with this festival on a level that I could never as just a visitor at a normal exhibition. Working in the judges lounge I greeted people like Yancey Strickler, Kickstarter CEO, and Marina Willer, partner at Pentagram. What really amazed me though, was how interesting and sociable everybody there was. I conversed with the founder of Creative Conscience Chrissy Levett about how to develop creative ideas with a moral and just agenda; rarely has anybody got me talking about this blog at such lengths, her advice was invaluable. “What do you hate?” she asked, to which I stupidly replied “politics”, “and what is your specialty when it comes to creativity?” she continued, “writing, I suppose”. Hearing this she said “How do you solve your hatred for politics using writing?”- and the formula to reset a moral creative compass was revealed at its most base level. Problem-solving through creative pursuits. I also spoke at length with an Austrian type designer working at Dalton Maag about Logobook (which I wrote about here) and about his compatriot Stefan Sagmeister, the game-changing graphic designer who was speaking on the final day. In the partnerships room two sweaty people roamed the floor dressed as the Polar Bear from Sky Atlantic’s Fortitude, whilst people took Polaroids on a replica of GoT’s Iron throne. I, however, was entranced by the Microsoft section, where new Surface Studios were set up for artists to try their hand. I saw amazing things being produced on these super-sized tablets, but was content with the scrawly purple clouds that I doodled. Products like the Studio are so fun and enjoyable to use that I actually believe owning one would make me a better artist, alas they were too large to steal.
DAY 2
This day I had off, with the option of using it to explore the festival for free. The display of all this year’s nominees was open, with the pencil winners all declared apart from the yellow and black – which are left for the closing ceremony. I rushed straight to the VR section, having had tantalizing glimpses of what it had to offer the previous day. Firstly, ‘Strata’ is a relaxation game made by ‘The Mill’ – whom I knew to be responsible for an awesome music video for the Chemical Brothers. In addition to the vive headset, I was strapped into a heart-rate monitor, a brain-wave measuring device and a few other gadgets all collecting data on how relaxed I was. The game responds to your levels of zen by making you rise up through the vivid and colorful world, in which elements of the scenery will mimic parts of yourself; such as water rippling in time with your breathing. I was amazed by the ethereal graphics used in the rainbow northern lights-esque climax, it certainly gave me hope in the future of VR yoga. I then got to have a hands-on demonstration of the Microsoft ‘Hololens’, specifically the hologram and human anatomy applications. ‘Hololens’ is still in development and only really available on a
commercial level to businesses wanting demonstrations like the one I received, so I was really lucky to play around with it. The detail and technological ability of the headpiece itself is insane, and I’m certain in time it will be made readily available in an educational capacity. Onto the actual displays; the Truman Brewery itself is a labyrinthine maze of rooms – and they were being put to full use housing this library of modern creative excellence. I obviously cannot mention everything, so here are my favorite picks: La Comunidad in Argentina produced a triptych of prints for Tic Tac – one of which is pictured on the right. I thought they were artistically brilliant and wonderfully garish, see the whole lot and the agencies other work here.
I also came across a bright pink book with its title in all caps reading “How to kill yourself with chocolate” – in the aftermath of the Easter weekend I thought I was probably doing a good enough job of that already, but regardless I picked it up and read it through. It was a cro
ss between a genuine magazine recipe booklet, an art-house photo-journal and an unsettling item of black-comedy. The combination was actually brilliant, and the whole design was really flawless and cool to physically hold. The whole thing was brought to life by a Kickstarter campaign, which you can see here.
I also got to sit in on the screenings of this years best designed music videos, which encapsulated all tones from bizarre dark-comedy to thrilling action. Kolshik by Leningrad was all of the above and more, never have I seen such a crazy flurry of artistic and directorial brilliance. You must watch it to understand my raving, all I can promise is tigers, riot police and bubbles (find it here). ‘False alarm’ by The Weeknd made waves amongst mainstream listeners upon the release of its ultraviolent and ‘Hardcore Henry’-esque music video. All in first person, it depicts a robbery gone wrong and the subsequent car chase. Whilst the song itself is quite one dimensional, the video is excellently realised. Both of the videos mentioned thus far were directed by Ilya Naishuller, the director of the aforementioned ‘Hardcore Henry’ – who clearly has an eye for non-stop adrenaline action (view here). There’s similar soviet imagery in Jamie XX’s ‘Gosh’, which features albino model Hassan Kone at the centre of astonishing visuals under the eiffel tower. The brilliant artistry of the video is bolstered by director Romain Gavras’ very powerful and important exploration of race and how albinism affects different people of different cultures, watch here.
DAY 3
On my final day at the festival, back on the 9-7 shift, I was running an odd array of errands that allowed for further exploration of the festival and the talks on offer. The most enjoyable of which was watching my uncle conduct the Q+A with Stefan Sagmeister, fresh off the back of his packed main-stage talk. I was on crowd control duty as they discussed the design trifecta of beauty, ornament and function – and how each make up the complex puzzle of design perfection. Sagmeister spoke at length about the beauty of the Manhattan High Line, and how it has reduced crime and littering, and about the historical approach to beauty with regards to function in Japanese culture – citing the Tokyo Type Directors Club as he went. My uncle, Editor of Creative Review Magazine, got the best out of Sagmeister in that half hour slot, it was a real treat to behold. I closed out the day watching Armando Bo and Joaquin Cubria’s talk on Argentinian film, which proved to be just as entertaining. Oscar winner Bo appeared extremely humble, not mentioning the success of Birdman at all. He and Cubria, VP of global design agency DAVID, instead took the audience on a breathless tour of recent Argentinian history, with a reel of hilarious adverts and sporting moments.
My experience as a volunteer was as unforgettable as it was dazzling and inspiring. I’d like to thank uncle Pat for getting me in contact with D&AD, and Ian for being an undemanding and great boss.
Joecrastination 