1960s

D&AD was founded in 1962 by a group of London-based designers & art directors including David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Alan Fletcher and Colin Forbes (who designed the original D&AD logo). The group was dedicated to celebrating creative communication, rewarding its practitioners, and raising standards across the industry.

A panel of 25 judged the 2500 entries to the first Awards in 1963. They awarded one Black Pencil (to Geoffrey Jones Films) and 16 Yellow Pencils. In the early years, winners received an ebony pencil box designed by Minale Tattersfield, which contained a pencil with silver lettering. It was a thing of beauty but very delicate, so in 1966 Lou Klein designed the more durable Yellow Pencil. Its education programmes in their infancy, D&AD launched Graphic Workshops in association with the Royal College of Art in the mid-60s – they ran until the mid-1970s.

1970s

Designer Michael Wolff became D&AD’s first elected President in 1970. Six years later, then-President Sir Alan Parker gave the first President’s Award for outstanding contribution to creativity to Colin Millward of CDP.

Initiated by Sir John Hegarty, the Student Awards were launched in 1977. Bridging the gap between college and work, the awards presented students with real world briefs to tackle. D&AD’s education programmes were expanded in 1978 when Dave Trott set up the Advertising Workshops. Their aim was to inspire and broaden understanding of advertising and help prepare participants for their first jobs.

1980s

D&AD ushered in the Eighties with the first video showreel of moving image work to accompany The Annual – it would take until 1987 for the book to be produced in full colour. The Awards had already started to recognise a wider range of categories through the 60s and 70s and Photography, Retail Design (now Environmental Design), Music Videos and Product Design became part of the Awards in the 80s. The Awards also opened up to international entries for the first time in 1988.

Controversy surrounded the decision to hold separate advertising & design awards in 1986 & 1987 – a decision made for practical reasons based on the chosen venue was seen by Members as a split between industries. The Ceremony subsequently came back under under one roof – where it has remained ever since.

1990s

D&AD moved to its current location in (appropriately) Graphite Square. The 90s were a busy time for education; the first Student Expo (now New Blood) and the University Network – D&AD’s membership programme for university and college courses – launched in 1993. The first session of Xchange took place in 1996 – described as a ‘summer school’ for college lecturers; creative practitioners update participants on the latest industry trends.

D&AD entered the digital age with the launch of www.dandad.org in 1996 and introduced its first digital categories to the Awards in 1997. Not only was the media landscape changing; by the end of the decade, 50% of entries to the Awards came from outside of the UK.

2000s

D&AD celebrated its 40th birthday in 2002 with ‘Rewind’; a retrospective exhibition and book of some of the most iconic work since the 1960s at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

A new benchmark was set at the turn of the century when a double Black Pencil was awarded to AMV.BBDO’s ‘Surfer’ for Guinness. This was matched 5 years later by ‘Grrr’, Wieden + Kennedy London’s work for Honda UK. In 2006 another milestone was set as leoburnett.com won the first digital Black Pencil. Developments in the industry meant that two new categories were added in 2008 – Broadcast Innovations and Mobile Marketing.

Design Workshops were relaunched in 2006 and D&AD North, its first regional network, in Manchester the same year. The Student Awards have become an increasingly international event – entries in 2007 came from colleges in over 40 countries. Italian design group Fabrica designed The Annual outside of the UK for the first time in 2007 and the showreel moved online that same year.

Want to know more?
Rewind: 40 years of Design and Advertising by Jeremy Myerson & Graham Vickers.
Publisher: Phaidon; ISBN: 0-7148-4271-0