Our pick of the D&AD Yellow Pencil winners from last night's awards

Date
22 May 2015

As the creative world digests last night’s big D&AD winners (those that scooped Black and White Pencils), there was a host of interesting work recognised in the 44 Yellow Pencils given out at the London awards bash. In total, the D&AD juries considered 847 projects this year and so less than one in 20 made the prestigious Yellow Pencil cut. Here’s our rundown of those winners that caught our eye for one reason or another – you can see the full list of winners over on the D&AD site here.

All in all R/GA was the most awarded agency across this year’s D&AD awards, and there were two Yellow Pencils for its Hammerhead Navigation system (in Connected Products and UX, Interface and Navigation for Websites and Digital Design). Inspired by the lights-based systems that fighter pilots use to land planes on ships, this smart app-based product guides cyclists on the best route – taking into account terrain, traffic and weather – in a simple, clear, undistracting way.
www.rgaaccelerator.com
www.hammerhead.io

The only other project to scoop two Yellow Pencils (TV Commercials and Writing for Film Advertising) is this spot for the New Zealand Transport Agency by Clemenger BBDO. Making full use of dramatic irony we see two drivers share a horribly tense exchange knowing full well that their cars are about to collide. Powerful stuff.
www.clemengerbbdo.co.nz

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The New York Times Magazine Food Issue

A well-deserved pencil (and indeed the only winner) in the Entire Magazines category, Gail Bichler and co have stepped up a gear in the past 12 months, setting a thrilling new standard in weekly magazine design. The recent redesign seems to have gone down super well so don’t rule out seeing them back here again next year.
www.nytimes.com

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The New York Times Magazine Food Issue

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The New York Times Magazine Food Issue

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Magpie Studio: Dandelyan Bar identity

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Magpie Studio: Dandelyan Bar identity

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Magpie Studio: Dandelyan Bar identity

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Magpie Studio: Dandelyan Bar identity

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Magpie Studio: Dandelyan Bar identity

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Magpie Studio: Dandelyan Bar identity

London-based Magpie Studio did various identity work for the new Thames-side Mondrian Hotel, but it was their print collateral for the Dandelyan Bar that scooped the Yellow Pencil for Brand Expression in Print. Featuring vintage botanical illustrations to reflect the bar’s herbal approach to cocktail making and shaking, it’s a beautiful project that feels much fresher than some of the looks employed elsewhere in the hotel.
www.magpie-studio.com

The Martin Agency has worked with the Geico insurance company since way back in 1994 but familiarity breeds brilliance if their Digital Advert winning Unskippable spot is anything to go by. Perfectly contexualised for the YouTube generation, it’s a simple idea pulled off in style.
www.martinagency.com

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F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi: Tourists posters for Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo

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F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi: Tourists posters for Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo

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F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi: Tourists posters for Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo

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F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi: Tourists posters for Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo

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F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi: Tourists posters for Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo

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F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi: Tourists posters for Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo

Brazilian agency F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi took the Yellow Pencil for Poster Design thanks to this series which reappropriates the visual language of various international subway systems to advertise one of São Paulo’s leading art museums. It was another strong night for Brazilian creatives, the fourth most awarded country on the night.
www.fnazca.com.br

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Y&R Dubai: American garden Habanero Sauce

The Habanero pepper is famously fiery and so a small amount of this sauce can transform any dish (or so the marketing spiel goes). Playing off this idea, Y&R Dubai created ten miniature books that illustrated ten moments in history where a seemingly small event or blunder had far-reaching consequences. In the process, the agency bagged itself a Yellow Pencil for Illustration in Design.
www.yr.com

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Leo Burnett London: Karma Nirvana

Leo Burnett won big for its Always Like A Girl campaign but arguably this is a braver and more impressive creative project. To help raise awareness against so-called honour killings, the agency mocked up a Cosmopolitan magazine cover featuring Shafilea Ahmed, whose parents suffocated her with a plastic bag after she refused to enter into an arranged marriage. It’s difficult to get hard-hitting right, but Leo Burnett have managed it here with real credibility.
www.leoburnett.co.uk

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Forsman & Bodenfors: 805 Million Names

Most feted recently for making Jean-Claude Van Damme do the splits between two Volvo trucks, Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors won a Yellow Pencil this time around for this work for the United Nations World Food Programme. Football star Zlatan Ibrahimović played a match with 50 names “tatooed” on his chest, just some of the world’s 805 million people who suffer from hunger. A powerful message, a creative delivery and a strategic social media campaign came together in style.
www.fb.se

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Issey Miyake: Tymote

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Issey Miyake: Tymote

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Issey Miyake: Tymote

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Issey Miyake: Tymote

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Issey Miyake: Tymote

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Issey Miyake: Tymote

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Issey Miyake: Tymote

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Issey Miyake: Tymote

Fashion brand Issey Miyake took the Yellow Pencil for Typography for Design for its online messaging tool, produced to help launch its Message range. The typeface is created using products from the range and aimed to make sending Christmas messages to loved ones more playful.
www.tymote.jp
www.isseymiyake.com

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Makoto Azuma: Exobotanica

Tokyo-based artist Makoto Azuma sent a bunch of flowers and a pine white bonsai into the stratosphere last summer in order “to see the movement and beauty of plants and flowers suspended in space.” The resulting images are hauntingly beautiful – even when the flowers start to disintegrate – and won a Yellow Pencil for Photography for Design.
www.azumamakoto.com
www.exobiotanica.com

The Yellow Pencil for Innovative Use of Technology went to London’s AKQA and its responsive LED basketball court for the Nike Rise initiative. The House of Mamba played host to 30 Chinese teens who trained with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James on the court which was designed to react to and guide the players’ movements.
www.akqa.com

Two winners in the Direction for Music Video Category – The Directors Bureau for Arcade Fire’s controversial gender identity anthem We Exist and Division’s nudity-filled orgasmic offering for Movement.
www.thedirectorsbureau.com
www.divisionparis.com

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David The Agency: The Proud Whopper

Released during Pride Week in San Francisco, this Burger King Whopper came bedecked in rainbow colours carrying the message: “We’re all the same inside.” An interesting choice for the Packaging Design Yellow Pencil but a nice simple idea done well.
www.davidtheagency.com

One of two Yellow Pencils given in the pithily-named Branded Film Content & Entertainment – Online category, Daniel Wolfe’s exceptional Honda spot allows viewers to play out two different scenarios in an interactive and very immediate way.
www.somesuch.co

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

Rob joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in July 2011 before becoming Editor-in-Chief and working across all editorial projects including itsnicethat.com, Printed Pages, Here and Nicer Tuesdays. Rob left It’s Nice That in June 2015.

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