New president for D&AD

Taking over from Simon Waterfall, Hamm will be D&AD's leading ambassador and spokesperson for the next 12 months. . He will also work closely with the chairman, executive committee and directors to oversee the affairs and set the objectives for the organisation. The title rotates on an annual basis and the president is always a highly regarded leading creative practitioner who acts as an ambassador and spokesperson for D&AD. Eligible candidates must be D&AD members and have already served on the executive.

Comments Hamm, “When I first joined the D&AD executive four years ago, I was in awe of the amount of other work D&AD does. I had thought it was about three people running the awards - I had no idea about the education side, and I think many others still don't. Every year about £2millon is ploughed back into programmes that wouldn't exist without the time and energy spent by experienced creatives. The next generation is our creative lifeline and the work we do to support them is what makes D&AD special and different.

“Yes, D&AD has work to do - putting even more of our content online will be a positive step. Shaking a Yellow Pencil out of the Graphic Design jury, even better. But D&AD does a lot right and a lot of good and I'm very proud to be its next president.”

"Most amazing energy"

“D&AD deserves Garrick Hamm,” says outgoing Waterfall. “Over the last four years, he has shown the most amazing energy and enthusiasm for the education side of D&AD, which is our reason for being. He is a champion amongst men with a quiet and self-deprecating manner, basically everything I am not and aspire to be.”

Hamm is creative partner at London-based brand design consultancy Williams Murray Hamm. The award-winning agency's work includes branded packaging, identity, film, retail and exhibition both in the UK and for international markets.

Hamm graduated from Somerset College of Art in 1989 to join Michael Peters and Partners. He left after four years to join Tuttsels/Lambie-Nairn, where he worked across a variety of different design disciplines. He joined Williams and Murray in 1999 where, amongst other projects, he has been the creative director of the Fortnum & Mason brand re-launch, worked with BBH on the Barclay's Bank re-launch and is the creative director of one of the UK biggest property developments, One New Change, for Land Securities. He has won numerous major awards, including a D&AD Yellow Pencil and two DBA Grand Prix Awards.

Hamm is also a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) and has a keen interest in design education, recently running workshops in the UK, Beijing, Singapore, and Hong Kong. He has been profiled in the Financial Times and Communication Arts and has just completed his first short film ‘Lucky Numbers'.

For more information, go to www.dandad.co.uk.