D&AD 2012: Apple and Nokia take nomination honours in product design category

On Day 3 of D&AD judging event, taking place in London’s Olympia Exhibition Centre from April 16-April 19, work from the US, Finland, Italy and the UK took top marks in the Product Design category. The Nominations included two for Apple (iPad 2 and Livescribe Echo Smartpen) and Nokia (Nokia N9). Archetype, Vitra and Edge of Belgravia were also honoured. There were a further six entries that were awarded In-Book status by the judging panel.

Projects from China and the UK were amongst the four given top marks in the Spatial Design category. Nominations in the category went to: Shanghai QingCongQuan Training Center for “The Distance Between Mother and Child” (China); Living Architecture/Artangel for “A Room for London” (UK); FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) for “The Social Playground” (UK) and GE for “Living Masterpiece” (UK).  A further 12 projects awarded In-Book status in the category.

Morag Myerscough founder of Studio Myerscough and Foreman of the Spatial Design Jury at D&AD 2012 said: “Spatial Design has been a challenging category this year. There haven’t been as many ‘wow’ moments as I might have hoped. The work that I have seen that was interesting, different and perhaps did make me double-take came from outside the UK – from the Far East in particular. The internationalisation of D&AD entries in that respect is only to be welcomed.”

While four Packaging entries were recognised with a nomination, just two entrants have been awarded Nominations in the Typography category including Hakuhodo for Dai nippon Printing for “Reconstructed kanji” (Ice, Snow) (Japan) and Eric Chan Design for CO-1 School of Visual Arts 10th Anniversary Poster (Hong Kong).

Erik Spiekermann, founder of Fontshop and Foreman of the Writing for Design Jury at D&AD 2012 said: “I’ve been disappointed by the work that I’ve seen this year entered by the big names. We’re in a time when safety rules. The interesting typography is moving to digital and that’s where the talent is going.

“The world of print – with the exception of books, which are once again becoming cherished objects where typography skills are valued – is becoming risk-averse and I’ve seen a dearth of courage in the work I’ve judged. There are 150,000 fonts in the world and yet I have seen no more than ten in the entries. And I have seen a lot of “pseudo-craft” – work made digitally that tries to appear hand-written or handmade.”

Eight Nominations were given out in the Radio category.

ALSO from D&AD 2012:

WATCH video interviews with Tim Lindsay, Terry Hunt, Agnello Dias and Scott Seaborn from the D&AD judging sessions