No book design Nominations at D&AD as “quality of work falls short” says foreman Carin Goldberg

The Jury at the D&AD Awards 2013 have not been able to find any work worthy of a nomination – let alone a coveted Yellow Pencil – in the Design category. 

The historically strong category saw a marked fall in creativity during 2012 according to the jury as book design work simply hasn’t been up to its usual standards of innovation and creativity.

Says Carin Goldberg, foreman of the Book Design Jury at D&AD 2013: “I’m really disappointed by the entries for both the book design and book cover categories this year. I’m not sure whether it’s because we’re living in conservative times or that we have to deal with difficult clients but I haven’t seen a lot of originality this year. There is good work out there, I’ve seen it, but it doesn’t appear to have been entered, which is a real shame. The other thing I’ve noticed is that there are more promotional books entered this year and more than half of the work is non-traditional books; they’re bound but to me they lack the narrative of a traditional book. At the end of the day, you can’t call something graphic design if there is a lack of typographic craft and sensitivity – something I hope will be given greater consideration in future.”

The work that was recognised with In-Book status, appearing in the D&AD Annual:

• In the Shadow of the Tree and the Knot of the Earth by Brighten the Corners for Lisson Gallery, Anish Kapoor
• Let’s Make Some Great Fingerprint Art by Laurence King Publishing
• Buchner Bründler Buildings by Ludovic Balland Typography Cabinet for Buchner Bründler AG Architekten
• Plan Bothnia by Tuomas Siitonen for Helcom, Boverket
• Fäviken by Phaidon Press
• Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec: Works by Phaidon Press
• Sticky Notes Annual by OPENENDS for Copy Writers Club Nagoya
• History of Jazz by Ena Cardenal de la Nuez for Turner Publishers
• Annual Keep Fighting the Good Fight  by DDB Worldwide New York for Art Directors Club