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2021 D&AD Annual

posted by Emily Gosling October 1, 2021

We all learned a lot in 2020, and that’s not always a bad thing. Certain alternatives we were forced to turn to in light of the pandemic turned out to be solutions that can last far beyond. Take the D&AD Annual, for instance: last year it made its debut as a free-to-access digital book, and the 2021 Annual takes the same approach.

Naturally, this makes the whole thing more democratic: the 2020 Annual has reached more than 75,000 users to-date, 12,000 of whom are aged 18-24. The format also means that there’s scope for new features such as personalised and interactive curatorial features including a new curate function which enables users to collate and share their favourite works.

Once again, renowned Dutch design agency Studio Dumbar was brought in to create the annual, which presents this year’s D&AD Award-winning work and invites wider conversations around issues such as the future of the sector.

The new ‘My Curations’ feature enables users to save their favourite projects and articles which are shareable via email and social media and “serve to stimulate dialogue around inspirational creative work,” according to D&AD. The feature sits alongside D&AD Judges’ own curations which highlight work that stood out to them.

A new addition for the 2021 Annual is a series of 10 editorial pieces offering the perspective of some of this year’s Pencil winners, offering insights based on their professional careers and lived experiences. Topics include the cultural production of the Black diaspora, Gen Z’s relationship to media and branding, the rise of gaming (penned by The Guardian’s video games editor Keza MacDonald) and the role of typographical craft in cultural inheritance.

Writer and podcaster Shon Faye discusses how creativity can meaningfully support trans people and other minorities; mag Culture founder Jeremy Leslie ,writes about print as a document of time; and Sulaiman Khan, co-founder of disability-led justice business ThisAbility, writes about “worldbuilding and joyful Disabled creativity.”

Taking advantage of its new digital home, there’s also a series of video interviews with D&AD Award winners, including advice from those who’ve won Black Pencils to do the same; and a chat with the Collaborative Award winners on what makes a great creative collaboration. There’s also a video featuring D&AD’s first student winner of the Side Hustle Award on designing a system for prisoners to communicate meaningfully with their families.

Studio Dumbar’s aim with the design was to make the digital experience new feel engaging while also capturing the more evocative qualities harnessed in previous years’ physical versions.

“Last year’s Annual proved the unmatched potential of the digital form in providing a source of inspiration and stimulation for creatives across the globe,” says Studio Dumbar. “Our aim was to build on the dynamic qualities of the 2020 Annual and create a more personalised and ultimately engaging platform for 2021. The result is a more bespoke user experience that encourages creative conversation and collaboration, which really embodies everything D&AD stand for.”

New features and updates for 2021 include endless scroll functionality “to further replicate the serendipity of flicking through a physical book,” as D&AD puts it; an enhanced discoverability of New Blood work; and statistics and figures on this year’s awards and judges.

Perennial features remain, such as the letters from D&AD Chairman, Tim Lindsay and the 2020/21 D&AD President, Naresh Ramchandani.