D&AD Awards: variable fonts that dance & more highlights from this year’s typography shortlist

09 Jun / 2020 / Scanner /

TBWA/Istanbul, NM Type, Jones Knowles Ritchie, Future Type and more creatives gained their place at this year’s typographic shortlist for D&AD Awards.

“D&AD Awards recognise and celebrate design and advertising creative and craft excellence. The 2020 Shortlists are being selected and announced” notes D&AD which was formed back in 1962 when a group of designers and art directors came together to celebrate creative communication and raise standards within their industry.

“Amongst the group were David Bailey, Terence Donovan and Alan Fletcher. Calling themselves British Design & Art Direction, the following year they organise their first Awards event. And they are picky. From 2,500 entries they select just 16 pieces of work to receive the soon-to-be coveted D&AD Yellow Pencil; the first of its kind. Today, British Design & Art Direction has grown mightily, but slimmed down its name. Now D&AD, its members represent the creative, design and advertising communities, not just in Britain, but worldwide.”

From IBM Plex Arabic through AWO’s branding campaign or Football Type, the sequel, these entries are destined to capture your attention and win a Pencil of excellence.

Typeroom highlights some of the projects featured in the Typography shortlist of this year’s event so enter the gallery and discover the projects that inspired us.

Explore the rest of the many visual pleasing entries here.

Tags/ typography, typeface, font, tbwa, awards, ibm, variable fonts, design indaba, dandad, shortlist, future type, nm type

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$Acting Identity. “Theatre Hours is a newly-opened acting school in Turkey. To create a brand identity, we designed a system that can act. The design idea is based on the notion of ‘Becoming someone else’ which reflects the real soul of theatre. In the unique alphabet created for the identity, every character acts as another character. These transformed letters and numbers create such a typographic performance that they naturally convey the message of becoming others in all brand collateral and communication materials.” TBWA\Istanbul, Theatre Hours, Turkey$ Acting Identity. “Theatre Hours is a newly-opened acting school in Turkey. To create a brand identity, we designed a system that can act. The design idea is based on the notion of ‘Becoming someone else’ which reflects the real soul of theatre. In the unique alphabet created for the identity, every character acts as another character. These transformed letters and numbers create such a typographic performance that they naturally convey the message of becoming others in all brand collateral and communication materials.” TBWA\Istanbul, Theatre Hours, Turkey $Acting Identity, TBWA\Istanbul for Theatre Hours, Turkey$ Acting Identity, TBWA\Istanbul for Theatre Hours, Turkey $Acting Identity, TBWA\Istanbul for Theatre Hours, Turkey$ Acting Identity, TBWA\Istanbul for Theatre Hours, Turkey

SP50 - Born Integrated. “In 2020 Europe's leading independent agency group celebrates its 50th anniversary. Integrated communication runs in our DNA and became the guiding principle for the anniversary. We created a logo that inspired and brought it to life with a unique arrangement. Whether it´s agency interior, exterior, stationary, gifts, digital media formats, advertisements or even the office dog – each element became part of the installation and represents one section of the anniversary logo. Therewith we involved 4.317 employees in 24 locations worldwide, partners and friends of the company.” Serviceplan Group, Serviceplan Group, Germany

SP50 - Born Integrated, Serviceplan Group for Serviceplan Group, Germany

11.50 Rediscovering Discovery. “On July 20, 2019, the Apollo 11 moon landing celebrated its 50th anniversary. 11.50 Rediscovering Discovery is an abstract, typography-driven homage to that achievement and the sense of discovery that once took the human race 240,000 miles from home. Each paper comes with a letter-pressed decoder wheel and viewfinder to help readers explore the newspaper and discover facts about the Apollo missions and the moon hidden within its pages. Packaged in a custom silkscreen-printed silver mylar bag to protect the newspaper from stray meteorites.” Doug Pedersen Art & Design, Doug Pedersen Art & Design, United States

11.50 Rediscovering Discovery, Doug Pedersen Art & Design for Doug Pedersen Art & Design, United States

The Font of Kindness. “Thousands of children with CP in Russia need to get therapy. Writing even one letter requires significant effort from them. We put together handwriting samples of 33 children with CP into one unique Font of Kindness and gave the opportunity to everyone to use this font on World CP day to support children. Every visitor of the project website could download the font, make a donation, order merch. In just a day the font spread across the entire country - outreach exceeded 30 mln. people. We raised a total of 11,5 mln. rubles and helped more than 130 children with CP.” SMETANA, Charity fund – Gift to an Angel, Russian Federation

The Font of Kindness, SMETANA for Gift to an Angel, Russian Federation

Football Type 2. “Football Type 2 is the sequel to the award winning book Football Type — a book celebrating the history of football and typography.” Face37, Face37, United Kingdom

Football Type 2, Face37 for Face37, United Kingdom

The Book That Grew. “AIB wanted to enable farmers to maximise sustainability, by changing how they see our greatest resource: grass. So we used grass to grow a book. A book where each word, each diagram, and even the pages themselves were shaped by real grass roots as they grew. This book contains a set of guidelines for farmers: 10 tangible lessons and 10 pieces of practical advice designed to help maximise sustainability and increase profitability. Not only does this book lay out a practical plan of action, it symbolises the power of our natural resources.” Rothco, AIB, Ireland

The Book That Grew, Rothco for AIB, Ireland

Printworks. “An augmented reality campaign for Printworks London to promote the their season of events. 3D typography based upon the cultural venue's identity and heritage as Europe's largest printing factory was applied to giant billboards installed across London and other English cities, press advertisements, posters and online graphics. When viewed through the phone camera using a custom built app, users were able to experience the 3D typographic animations come to life in immersive augmented reality where they could move through the artwork, record photos or videos and share these online.” Family Type, Broadwick Live, United Kingdom

Printworks, Family Type for Broadwick Live, United Kingdom

Universal Sans. “Universal Sans is a variable typeface that allows for an extensive range of customisation and unique variations. The typeface seeks to connect the related yet diverse styles of sans serif, building on pioneering typefaces with similar intent throughout the 20th century, while innovating for the 21st century with a unique form and function enabled by the use of new technology and automation. The result is a highly variable typeface that provides far greater flexibility and control to the end user and makes customised type available to a wider audience.” Family Type, Family Type, United Kingdom

Universal Sans, Family Type for Family Type, United Kingdom

Kanazawa ADC Awards Winners. “The poster and flyer Art Directors were made from the names of the winning Art Directors. And then displayed at the Award Winners Exhibition.” Dentsu West Japan, Kanazawa Art Directors Club, Japan

Kanazawa ADC Awards Winners, Dentsu West Japan for Kanazawa Art Directors Club, Japan

SVA Masters in Branding. “An unparalleled program deserves an unparalleled identity. We created a brand identity for the SVA Masters in Branding (MIB) program that continuously evolves, reflecting the unique program structure and the symbiotic flow of brand and culture. We designed a first-of-its-kind regenerative typeface and curated a dynamic color palette to capture provocative objects and moments of our time. We also created a campaign using iconic brands to dramatize what it means to be a Master in Branding, a dynamic website and a launch video that occupies the mind of a student in the program as they embark on it.” Jones Knowles Ritchie, School of Visual Arts (SVA), United States

SVA Masters in Branding, Jones Knowles Ritchie for School of Visual Arts (SVA), United States

Movement, a variable font inspired by dance. “We were commissioned by Design Indaba, a design conference in Cape Town, to design an experimental typeface that could be inspirational for their audience. Movement is a variable font where the art of dance is brought into type design. We worked together with a South African dancer using his movements as a reference when finding the shapes of the letters. We were also the opening speakers of the conference and the dancer performed his choreography on stage. The typeface was given away for free so that the story of Movement carries on in other people’s designs after the conference.” NM type, Design Indaba, Sweden

Movement, NM type for Design Indaba, Sweden

A.W.O — Think of Your Data As... “AWO is a data rights agency of lawyers, experts, technologists and applied ethicists, including those who worked on the Cambridge Analytica case. What power knows and what power intends to do with what it knows is a defining issue of our time. A branding partnership between Accept & Proceed and Tom Sharp, A W O , is a redacted version of ‘All Watched Over’, taken from Richard Brautigan’s 1967 Caltech-written poem about the ambiguities surrounding the idea of a technological utopia. This poetic influence goes on to shape the brand language and typography.” Accept & Proceed + Tom Sharp, A.W.O, United Kingdom

A.W.O — Think of Your Data As..., Accept & Proceed + Tom Sharp for A.W.O, United Kingdom

WTFold. “For the launch of Samsung’s first foldable, high-tech smartphone, the Galaxy 5G Fold, we developed a typography that is unfolded just like the smartphone. In collaboration with the Swiss typographer Thomas Hirter.” SiR MaRY, Samsung Electronics Switzerland, Switzerland

WTFold, SiR MaRY for Samsung Electronics Switzerland, Switzerland

IBM Plex Arabic. “Plex Arabic was designed to complete IBM’s corporate font families. Inspired by the Paul Rand IBM logo, the design echoes the company’s design ethos: an organic mix of engineered and humanistic shapes. The design of the Arabic translates centuries of calligraphic conventions to a modern typographic context. The family is published as an open source project and is available for free on Github.” Morcos Key, IBM, United States

IBM Plex Arabic, Morcos Key for IBM, United States

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