Champions of the small screen

The great triumph for design in this year’s D&AD Awards has to be the tribute paid to TV graphics pioneer Martin Lambie-Nairn. In giving him the 1997 President’s Award, British Design and Art Direction president Mike Dempsey is not just honouring a lifetime’s achievement, he’s looking forward to much more to come from this prolific star. Lambie-Nairn didn’t stop with the seminal BBC2 idents, though that’s what everyone remembers best; his style and influence is travelling well and gracing many a TV screen at home and abroad.

Dempsey probably didn’t realise it when he made his choice, but the honour bestowed on Lambie-Nairn reflects the mood of this year’s 16 D&AD design silvers. The two new categories covering interactive media have yielded three winners in Duffy Design, Antirom and Hyperinteractive (a cheeky choice for D&AD). But what of more conventional graphics work?

A glance down the list reveals no packaging winners, only a nomination for Pentagram Design’s structural work for Superga. There’s no prize for brochure design per se – Aboud Sodano’s silver is for image manipulation – and no poster campaign or annual report silvers. Even Johnson Banks has had to settle for nominations for its Connex South Eastern poster series and annual report for PolyGram International, which won a Design Week award in March.

The other thing about this year’s D&AD is the number of US contenders. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you can’t help noticing names such as Apple Computer and Duffy Design. Even Anglo-American groups like Ideo and Pentagram have fielded their US teams successfully this year.

Things are changing at D&AD. Design has strong champions within the adcentric organisation that does more than most to support the notion of creative excellence. But designers are going to have to try much harder at the awards if they are to creep from under the ad world’s shadow.

D&AD DESIGN SILVERS

Individual CDs, tapes and record sleeves

Muzik Masters

Farrow Design for Deconstruction/Muzik

Typography

Listen

Simple Productions for National Assembly Against Racism

Image manipulation

R Newbold: Autumn/winter 1996 brochure

Aboud Sodano for Paul Smith

The Berkeley Hotel stationery

Pentagram Design for The Savoy Group of hotels and restaurants

Corporate identity programmes

The Type Museum identity

Cleaver et al for The Type Museum

Stationery ranges

Cow Lane Garage stationery

John Hughes and Thomas Moulton for Cow Lane Garage

Canna Kendall stationery

Johnson Banks for Canna Kendall

Complete books

Starck

Taschen for itself

TV sponsorship credits

Doritos idents

BMP DDB for Walkers Snack Foods

Design for the workplace

Prospect Pictures’ offices

Buschow Henley for Prospect

Pictures

Products for work

Apple E-Mate

In-house team at Apple Computer

Products for health and leisure

Nike V12 and V8 eyewear

Ideo Product Development for Nike

Products for industry and transport

Eurostar exterior form

Jones Garrard for Eurostar

Internet design

Tidy Cat

Duffy Design for Ralston-Purina

D&AD website

Hyperinteractive for D&AD

Interactive kiosks

Levi’s in-store kiosk

Antirom for Levi Strauss & Co Europe