Richard Turley brings his visually-arresting design to the 57th D&AD Annual
Selected by D&AD president Harriet Devoy, Turley was given creative licence to develop a design that would stand out on a shelf of D&AD Annuals of previous years.
Doubt and vulnerability
He commented: “Previous iterations of the Annual have excelled in graphic design as precision engineering. I wanted this one to feel warm and human. Vulnerable maybe. And a bit dumb.
“I spoke to Harriet. We had a chat about the awards, the industry and what we do. I don't remember all that much about that talk other than bonding over a few of the themes that I guess we developed in the book. The neediness. The doubt and vulnerability associated not just with the awards but with working within the creative industries as a whole.
“The craving for reassurance and validation all the time. The need for likes on your Instagram post. For views on your video. For a website to write about your work. And if none of those things happen...then what does that mean? Does what I do have value? Is what we do actually important? A lot of that bubbled around. That and the paradox of a lot of socially-minded left of centre creatives providing the (often rather successful) communications for multi-national corporations whose motives they are entirely at odds with.
“I don't mean to imply all of that exists in the design of the book but – without sounding too pretentious – for me, the scrawl is trying to find an equivalence for that; the ghost in the corporate marketing machine.”
Every year, The D&AD Annual curates the best creative work across the design and advertising industry – showcasing all D&AD Pencil winners from that year’s awards. The 2019 Annual shines a light on work with real conviction that shifts culture and shapes global narratives.
Devoy says: “Richard is an obvious choice for the cover. He’s a prodigiously talented designer, who comes armed with a phenomenal portfolio of challenging editorial covers for magazines and periodicals. He’s the guy that made Bloomberg Businessweek a must-read and revived MTV. The D&AD Annual feels like where his work belongs.”
Reflecting on what she hopes creatives take away from the 2019 Annual, Devoy continued: “Take risks. It’s our job.”
The Annual is available at www.dandad.org.
