Student wins D&AD Silver

29 July 2008

Ravensbourne Moving Image Student Wins Silver at D&AD Awards

Level 3 Design for Moving Image student Paul Leach beat four other category nominees to scoop the Yellow Pencil (formerly known as the Silver award)  at the D&AD Global Student Awards. Paul received his prize onstage at the awards ceremony in June, along with the winners of all 30 categories ranging from Environmental Design to Music Videos.

“The quality of work across the board was the best I have ever seen.  College standards have risen to such a height that the judges agreed that much of the material exhibited by these students should have contended at a professional level,” said D&AD Education Chairman, Al Young.

The D&AD Student Awards have been taking place for 30 years, recognising new talent emerging from colleges and universities across the globe. Hopefuls can win a Black Pencil (Gold), Yellow Pencil (Silver), or a Commendation, and all judged work will earn a place in the D&AD Student Annual, a showcase sent to over 5,000 industry professionals and creatives worldwide. All winning students are also eligible to take place in D&AD’s graduate scheme offering paid work placements at leading design or advertising agencies.

“D&AD is all about ideas and conceptual thinking,” says Subject Leader Liz Friedman. “Most of the briefs are fairly open, and therefore extremely difficult. A successful idea needs to work across all media, to be translatable to various formats such as TV, web, or print, but at the same time it needs to work as a whole. You also have to be able to communicate the idea concisely and effectively.”

This was the challenge facing Paul as he began work on his chosen brief. “There were lots of trendy briefs to choose from, like MTV, but I wanted to do something more adventurous. Having just read a book about guerrilla marketing, I wanted to apply those ideas to a more broad campaign that wasn’t locked into one medium, which is why I was drawn to the open briefs.”

Paul chose to brainstorm for Virgin Atlantic, producing ideas for a brand presence. “Reading through the brief I had lots of ideas occur very quickly – most of them came from my own negative experiences of air travel. The challenge was thinking of the best way to bring those ideas into reality. I had the raw idea but I had to take a machete to it and whittle it down to its purest form – if that doesn’t sound too pretentious!” he laughs.

Moving Image students tackle a brief from either D&AD or Young Creatives Network (YCN) as part of their third year at Ravensbourne, with guidance from the Subject Leader and Senior Lecturers. “We have around 25 students on each level per year, which is much smaller than other design colleges who could have up to 400-700 students,” says Liz. “You know everybody’s name, it’s quite personal. That’s why students come to Ravensbourne, for the one-to-one tuition that they’re unlikely to get somewhere else.”

Having a small number of students doesn’t stop Ravensbourne producing award winners, however. Joining Paul as a D&AD winner is James Dennington, whose solar energy web campaign won him a Commendation. “We’re competing with not only UK but international colleges as well. So other larger colleges may win ten awards in a year but we have fewer students, so to win any at all is a real achievement for us,” says Liz. More of this year’s Moving Image high achievers include 1^st and 2^nd prize winners of the Promax UK awards, an annual competition focusing on promotion and branding, and a place in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards semi-finals for a level 3 student.

Paul’s achievement echoes last year’s, when three Moving Image students won Gold, Bronze, and a Commendation respectively. “A D&AD Yellow Pencil is highly sought after and respected in the industry,” he says. “It stands out on my CV and gives me an advantage. It’s an important opportunity – if you don’t win in the commercial awards, you can always try again next year, but you only have one chance as a student, so you have to go for it.”

The key to good ideas, Paul believes, is to let your imagination run free. “Don’t be hampered by the rational voice in your head saying an idea is too crazy to work. The great thing about D&AD is that nothing is too crazy for them – blue-sky thinking really works for their briefs. It makes sense while you’re a student to try out the more adventurous ideas that may not work in real life.”

Thrilled with the level of support and dedication he received on his course, Paul is quick to praise his lecturers. “I have to thank Liz, Steve and Ethan. They were always able to fit me in at short notice or difficult times when I needed help.”