D&AD run their Student Awards annually, and commissioned Airside to conceive and design a campaign to attract more entries from students to the competition. The campaign was to highlight the importance of the D&AD awards within the design industry.

We decided to find a metaphor for the significance of the D&AD awards, whilst preying on the students’ fears of what happens after they leave college. We represented the students as hares in a fantastical world, being unceremoniously ejected from their art colleges. Only those properly equipped would survive, for example the hare plummeting from the sky as the college-building flies off, is saved by his yellow pencil shaped parachute (the actual award takes the form of a yellow pencil).

The theme was continued through to the Annual of winners, depicting the hares flourishing in their various post-college careers.

We were also involved in designing the awards ceremony itself, including the exhibition, the stage, the lighting and the visuals; even supplying the music play-list.

The campaign was so successful that entries increased by 25% that year, so D&AD asked us to create another Student Awards campaign the following year. For this, we created a more abstract campaign depicting patterns of objects, only one of which stands out from the crowd by being the ubiquitous golden yellow of D&AD's coveted Yellow Pencil award.

Campaign material including posters, brochures, press ads and postcards.

Plus design of The Annual, awards programs, event design, and animation for the live event projections.

"Airside tend to throw away the rule book and replace it with something much darker... or lighter - depending on who you are or what they think you need! They're also one of the most down to earth agencies I've ever worked with. And they employ nice people."
Ian Willingham, D&AD