Glue London sticks out at the Y Design Awards

Digital advertising agency Glue London has scooped five out of a total of 14 honours at this year’s Y Design Awards.

London Design Festival deputy director William Knight hailed the digital awards scheme, held at London’s Royal Festival Hall for its second year, as being a leap forward in the recognition of digital design.

Glue London saw off competition from consultancies including Poke, Start Creative, All of Us, Preloaded and Rufus Leonard to clinch the best application, best not-for-profit campaign, best viral, best video and best technical achievement titles.

Glue London designer Leon Ostle suggests that the group has been so successful this year because of its ability to come up with ‘big ideas’, execute them well and produce ‘beautifully crafted work’.

Consultancies Chi & Partners, Illumina Digital and Twentysix London triumphed in this year’s new categories including best ethical campaign, the community award and the young designer award.

However, Nick Cristea, strategy director at All of Us, observes that the Y Design Awards have been based largely on digital marketing, and focused on browsers and websites rather than on a wider range of interactive work.

‘I wholeheartedly welcome a set of awards that celebrate creativity through technology. It’s nice to have something like that with a clear focus but, really, technology is so pervasive these days that it should include all areas where design and technology are coming together, that is, all the new forms of interface, not just Web and marketing stuff,’ he says.

Dan Sutherland, managing director of awards organiser and chief sponsor Carrenza, agrees. ‘It’s a case of walking before you run. Last year, we focused only on Flash. This year we’ve expanded to look at the Web more generally. Next year, we’ll be looking at many more forms of digital design,’ he says.

John Allwright, Expressions product manager at Microsoft, explains that entries are judged on several criteria including user experience, consistency, whether the project achieved its objective, aesthetics, ease of navigation, ability to engage with the user and judges’ personal appreciation.

One of the challenges in judging the awards this year was comparison of projects, because of the vast difference between briefs and clients, according to Allwright.

‘It’s difficult when you’ve got a Flash site promoting a film up against a site promoting an estate agent,’ Allwright comments. ‘You’ve got to think about how well the design presents the subject.’



Y Design awards winners 2007

BEST GAME DESIGN

• Now Wash Your Hands – Robin Hood: The Outlaws’ Revenge www.bbc.co.uk/drama/robinhood/games

BEST INTERACTIVE SITE

• Preloaded – CDX www.cdx-thegame.com

BEST APPLICATION

• Glue London – Get The Message www.getthemessage.net

Best ON-LINE CAMPAIGN

• Greenroom Digital – This is England – theatrical campaign

www.thisisenglandmovie.co.uk

BEST NOT-FOR-PROFIT CAMPAIGN

• Glue London – Get The Message www.getthemessage.net

BEST VIRAL CAMPAIGN

• Glue London – Impossible Story www.impossiblestory.com

BEST VIDEO

• Glue London – Fresh Foot Work www.freshfootwork.com

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

• Glue London – Get The Message www.getthemessage.net

BEST USE OF WIRELESS/MOBILE

• Micazook – 4×4 Ultimate Power  www.micazook.com/M_Product.aspx?G1034

THE ETHICAL CAMPAIGN AWARD

• Chi&Partners – The Big Ask March www.thebigask.com

THE COMMUNITY AWARD

• Illumina Digital – Empire’s Children http://channel4.empireschildren.co.uk/index.php

YOUNG DESIGNER AWARD

• Twentysixlondon – Puppini Sisters www.thepuppinisisters.com

THE SO SUCCESSFUL AWARD

• LBi – Live life with elegance  www.lacoste-elegance.com

BEST NEW BUSINESS AWARD

• Hicklin Slade & Partners – Prospect Requalification  http://w3.honda.co.uk/lovedriving


THE JUDGES

Dan Sutherland, Managing director, Carrenza
Chris Walker, CTO, Saatchi & Saatchi Interactive
Jay Corless, Webmaster, London Design Festival
John Allwright, Product manager, Microsoft Expression
Rob Ford, Principal, FWA
Iain Patton, Managing director, The Green Awards
Adam Parker, Managing director, WebITpr
James Drake-Brockman, Event director, Internet World
John Davey, Organiser, Flash on the Beach