The 61st D&AD Annual has launched. The free digital resource contains all shortlisted and winning work of 2023 as well as interviews with winners and industry leaders exploring major cultural themes; the judges favourite work and their opinions on the most talked-about entries; and letters from D&AD chief executive officer, Jo Jackson, and the 2022/23 D&AD president, Richard Brim.
In this edition, D&AD also includes an Annual Trend Report providing an analytical observation of today’s global creative industry.
Behind the Work interviews offer an insight into how the work was made, from the inside story on the development of Vogue Brazil’s award-winning Typeface to Muskrat Magazine and BBDO Canada casting culturally sensitive projects and preserving the past by rewriting Pocohontas.
D&AD Voices provides broader context and perspectives on key ideas in this year’s winning work, such as how AI is raising new and age-old questions about photography, how brands and advertisers are responding to consumer climate anxiety, and perspectives on colour theory, branding ubiquity, healthcare design, and more.
The D&AD Annual Trend Report, created with The Thought Partnership, examines emerging themes that dominated the D&AD Pencil winners in 2023. It distils insights gathered from the jury rooms as well as the impact of wider cultural and societal shifts in the world at large. It is shaped by shifts in the wider world and points towards what’s coming next.
Six trends are explored in the report: Joyful Surrealism, Open-Source Casting, Ownable Iconicity, Augmentation For All, Preserving the Past, and Pay It Forward. There is also a look at how AI is developing a presence at the Awards, and predictions on how it will develop in the creative industry.
Joyful Surrealism explores creative work that surprises and thrills, transporting audiences to unexpected worlds with engaging, surreal concepts. This was demonstrated in Black Pencil-winning work, Pharrell Williams – Cash In Cash Out, a music video pushing the creative boundaries of Video Production with a realistic fantasy world created entirely through CGI. This trend shows that if you tap into awe and joy you will reach consumers seeking escape, and creating goose-bump-inducing effects will engage audiences.
Open-Source Casting is the trend for casting real people. Presenting authentic and socially inclusive depictions of society reflects anti-perfection in an imperfect world. Pencil-winning work tore down societal barriers to inclusivity. Lacoste knows its community is not defined by demographics; it’s formed of diverse social groups and subcultures. Unexpected Encounters by BETC Paris drew on this with an authentic and bold campaign shot by Irish photographer, Ronan Gallagher.
Overall findings are clear that the TikTokification of social media means audiences now expect real-life, unfiltered content.
Future Focus – AI. In 2023, the possibilities and limitations of artificial intelligence as a creative co-pilot were entertained. Coca-Cola Masterpiece took home a Yellow Pencil and two Graphite Pencils for its application of AI, with a two-minute fizzy film explosion set in a gallery where Andy Warhol’s 1962 artwork Large Coca-Cola comes to life. Although not yet widespread, the jury predicts that AI will be a dominating trend next year. If 2023 was the year of experimentation, 2024 will be the year of refined sophistication.
The report will be presented by D&AD awards director, Donal Keenan, at an open networking event at D&AD, 64 Cheshire Street, London E2 6EH on Tue, Oct 10 2023 18:00 – 21:00 BST.
Register for a free ticket here.
D&AD Annual 2023 Content:
Behind the work
- Product design that transforms congenital heart disease into music
- How people of Native American heritage rewrote Pocahontas to tell the real story
- The online tailoring service that gives disabled people fashion options
- The digital platform that generates commerce for Black-owned businesses every day
- Empowering indigenous Australians and allies with a brand celebrating Blak excellence
- Inside the campaign that leverages male behavioural psychology to combat violence against
women
- The producer behind Native Sportscasters on casting culturally sensitive projects
- The cheeky charity influencer campaign challenging big brands to donate
- How ancient Chinese craftsmanship informs the art direction and typography for a cultural
heritage site
- How Pharrell’s Cash In Cash Out music video had audiences wondering how they did it
- How to stop worrying and learn to love AI, according to the team behind Coca-Cola’s
‘Masterpiece’
- How Studio Drama broke the type design rulebook for Vogue Brasil
- How a designer and copywriter used a lack of space to their advantage
- Will sneaker consumers embrace the circular economy?
- Collaborators Iyama Design and Kamoi Kakoshi on how design can expand a product’s
potential
- How this Japanese studio transformed a 2D poster into an emotive feat of 3D graphic design
- How The Last Photo uses a critical insight about suicide to land an emotional message of
support
- FCB Africa shares how they reached a youth audience with a whole new language and
rebrand
- Inside the campaign helping Ukrainians to ‘backup’ their cultural heritage
- DDB Paris champions defeat in its retelling of 24 Hours of Le Mans
D&AD Voices
- How AI raises new as well as age-old questions about ‘documentary’ photography
- What the creative industry needs to know about neurodivergence
- Why the creative industry needs to redefine ‘good’ for a more sustainable future
- How brands and advertisers are responding to consumer climate anxiety
- Why creative excellence is only as good as the diversity of perspectives judging it
- Colour theory: How colour in creativity is pivotal to making us feel
- How creativity in product design and public communication in healthcare is key to achieving a
defining social mission of our age
- How our creativity must move us beyond ‘Love is Love’
- Familiarity breeds contentment: How brand ubiquity trumps standing out
- Looking to the past: From ancient history to retro references, historical influences in design in the 2023 D&AD Awards
