D&AD

Evolving the most famous brand in design and advertising

Brand strategy
Brand identity
Brand campaign
Brand assets
Brand guidelines
Brand activation
Event branding
Signage and wayfinding

Client

Founded in the early ’60s, D&AD is a UK-based charity, originally created to champion excellence in British design and art direction. More than 60 years on, the D&AD yellow pencil is one of the most coveted and recognised awards in the creative communities around the world.

Brief

D&AD wanted to expand their remit worldwide and were eager to sharpen their global profile. But their brand recognition had eroded and was holding them back from realising their ambitions. They wanted to regain the brand recognition they had been losing over a number years, by building more consistency in the D&AD brand identity and its assets, to strengthen the brand.

Solution

Rose designed the D&AD brand identity in response to the organisation's needs. As D&AD are most renowned within the creative industries for their yellow pencil award, we recommended an intelligent brand evolution which leveraged the equity within their most recognised asset. Conscious of working with a revered design icon, Rose used a yellow hexagon to represent the yellow pencil, and centred the D&AD monogram (originally designed in 1962), as the lead in the pencil, acting as the core of a new multifaceted, global organisation.

Result

Following the launch of the new brand strategy and identity, D&AD saw a rise in brand recognition which enabled them to develop stronger links with the international creative community. In the year following the launch of the evolved brand identity, D&AD received a record breaking 24,000 entries from around the world and saw their membership increase by 48%¹. The brand identity has continued to help the organisation’s growth, and in 2024 D&AD received over 30,000 entries from a record-breaking 78 countries.

¹ D&AD Consolidated Report and Financial Statements

D&AD

Evolving the most famous brand in design and advertising

Client

Brief

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