D&AD reveals the stunning visual identity created for D&AD Festival 2017 via The Beautiful Meme

Courtesy of The Beautiful Meme, the D&AD Festival 2017 creative has been unveiled today – with an explosion of colours, textures and shapes representing the ever shifting nature of our category, thinking and work.

This year, the iconic D&AD Pencils are brought to life in animations with tangible textures, explosions of activity and a flurry of shape shifting. All the executions are designed to pay homage to the award levels or categories from the D&AD Professional Awards and using previous winning work as executional inspiration.

Says Ben Haworth, creative director, The Beautiful Meme: “In advertising and design the D&AD pencil, the symbol of excellence, is ever-present. Around it the industry is weft and warp and flux. Nothing stays still and that’s as it should be. That’s what this year’s identity is about.”

Says Tim Lindsay, CEO, D&AD: “D&AD is much more than an Awards show and the Festival is a fine example of this – bringing together 26,000 pieces of work, 250 jurors, speakers, exhibitions, events, parties and the Awards Ceremony itself in what is a slightly crazy, slightly chaotic evocation of the wonderful world of creativity and the dividends that excellence delivers. This year’s branding from the Beautiful Meme builds on their rich visuals and sharp statements from last year in a brilliant expression of what the Festival and our business is all about at its best.”

There will be at least 20 designs in the campaign with a number light projected on the walls at the Truman Brewery – adding movement and colour to the areas where the winning work is displayed. Executions will also appear as animations on screens at the entrance to the events and as prints throughout the venue. This series will be shared through D&AD’s social channels as well as on their website in the run up to the Festival.

 And this year the D&AD Festival has been organised into three distinct days, each with their own agenda.

• Tuesday, 25 April – The Earth Will Shake: This is a day of responding to the big issues our world faces. D&AD want to inspire you to build a better, fairer and more sustainable future.

• Wednesday, 26 April – Staring at The Sun: Shifts in technology, trends and work-styles are upending the creative industries. This is a day of leading innovators thinking, predicting and demonstrating how they are adapting to a transforming sector.

• Thursday, 27 April – Outrageous Magic: This is a day of our industry’s leading designers and creators talking about what they do when crafting the big ideas.

Festival Highlights Include:

–        Over 150 speakers across three days of Festival and four stages.

–        Insight sessions with D&AD Professional Awards Judges, sharing their experience of the judging process.

–        Bite-sized Training Sessions from some of D&ADs most popular (and most exclusive) professional development classes.

–        An exhibition of over 26,000 pieces of work including areas dedicated to Graphic Design, Packaging Design and Film Advertising.

–        The Next Awards are putting on a show in the form of a Next Photographer Exhibition sponsored by Getty Images and a Next Director Showcase screening sponsored by Adobe.

–        New Blood will be putting forward speakers and training sessions as well as having a dedicated area at the Festival where you can learn all about the D&AD Foundation projects.