D&AD’s theme for its Festival 2020 is Imagine everything, a theme that captures the ambition and scope of this year’s event. The 2020 global festival will explore how creativity shapes culture and helps industries and businesses innovate and grow in the face of disruption.

Patrick Burgoyne, chief executive officer of D&AD, explained, “This year’s theme, Imagine everything, reflects D&AD’s ambition to be an international platform that inspires and challenges both leading lights and emerging talent to push the boundaries of creativity. Our aim is to be a place for active engagement and a fertile ground for disruptive ideas, whether that means showcasing creative talent at the cutting edge of their discipline or exploring the power of creativity to address broader issues like the climate emergency, social injustice, the future of commerce and the growing influence of artificial intelligence.”

The initial concept for Imagine everything came from a series of workshops held between teams at D&AD, The Guardian and Dutch branding agency, Studio Dumbar. Studio Dumbar then developed the brand identity and design language for the festival.

The Festival content will explore the power of creativity across key sectors including design, advertising, film, music, fashion and gaming, organised around five conversations:

• Imagine joining forces
• Imagine unleashing talent
• Imagine reinventing commerce
• Imagine progressing humanity
• Imagine brilliance

“Creativity drives innovation and we’re excited to be working with D&AD. As part of the festival The Guardian will be bringing together some of media’s most inspiring thinkers in specially curated sessions to examine how we can harness creativity to build and deliver value in an environment of constant disruption,” stated Hamish Nicklin, chief revenue officer, Guardian News & Media. 

Liza Enebeis, creative director at Studio Dumbar, explained, “Our purpose with this project was to engage and amaze. We wanted to find a way to encapsulate the limitless possibilities that creative excellence offers. Imagine everything does that. It’s a starting point, like the beginning of a sentence, and allows you to create an engaging campaign by opening up a question: faced with a blank canvas, what can you imagine?

“We selected the Marfa font by Swiss foundry Dinamo, a variable font that can contract, expand and accommodate very wide application. It acts as a physical representation of the endless possibilities that the mind can imagine, as well as the festival’s ambition to stimulate and broaden the minds of its visitors.”

D&AD Festival will run May 19-21 at the Old Truman Brewery in London. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of D&AD’s New Blood programme, the Festival will feature a programme of events dedicated to emerging talent. As part of D&AD’s mission to support and nurture emerging talent, attendees on a full pass are invited to bring a young creative under 25 for free. The Festival further delivers on its objective to be more accessible and inclusive through the introduction of a ‘Sharer’ pass, one that openly allows up to three people to attend the Festival on one pass, split across the three days.

Burgoyne added, “D&AD has a broad international reach and is widely respected as a marker of excellence, fairness and diversity. We hope that Imagine everything becomes a term used as a blank canvas, and that creatives from around the world fill in the gaps of what they want to imagine for themselves, for their communities, for their countries, for the world, and to share these ideas in the lead up to and at the Festival next May.”

Passes can be purchased now, with 20% off through 19 December. Buy passes here. 

D&AD is launching new passes and initiatives to further its mission to be accessible and inclusive, including a Sharer pass to be shared between up to three people split across the three days. This year, every attendee on a full pass will also be able to bring a young creative under 25 for free.