Vote B for D&AD

Here at GBH, we’ve decided to persue our passionate desire to affect and help shape the policy and initiatives of the Executive Committee of our industries most important creative and educational charity, the world famous D&AD. (Design and Art Direction). Known globally for its Yellow Pencil award for creative excellence in advertising and design, D&AD exists to support and inspire the next generation of creative thinking around the world.

Vote right ‘here’ right now!
Voting for new Executive committee members is now active and is open until August 31.

The simple online voting form takes a second or two to complete. Just two nominees from design can be successful, that’s 2 from 12. I would relish the opportunity to be one of those who can make a difference — I won’t let you down.

Here’s my Manifesto for election to the 2010-2013 D&AD Executive Committee (reproduced from D&AD’s website), and you can also read the thoughts of my eleven fellow nominees by clicking ‘here’ for D&AD.

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Executive Elections 2010:

Mark Bonner, Founder and Creative Director, GBH
Nominated by Dick Powell, D&AD Chairman/Seymourpowell
and Michael Johnson, johnson banks

Manifesto
D&AD is the best award scheme we’ve got, bar none. It’s properly judged by people who passionately care about getting it right (but it could still be better). It’s as organised, efficient and inspiring a judging process as you’ll find anywhere. It’s one of the best ideas our industry ever had… it puts our collective need to know ‘is my work the best? ’ to good use, by helping to fund and inspire the development of the next generation of creatives. It’s brilliant… most of the time.

But… how the money is raised and used is where the debate really starts: The glamourous awards night itself… Is it too hard to get in the book, or to win now its ‘gone global’? Is it too expensive? Isn’t it a bit ‘them and us’, Advertising v Design? Is it really necessary at all… couldn’t we just do it all online? What about the Annual, wasn’t the cover crap/great? Are the President’s Lectures still good? Then there’s the Student Awards… what’s happened to the Student Annual? Has New Blood got a long-term future? What’s that ‘Xchange’ programme anyway? Fancy a ‘Workout’? ‘Design Roulette’, anyone? Need a ‘Sharp’ner’? The list goes on…

D&AD has never suffered from a lack of ideas, not from its entrants, not from its organisers. I think D&AD could simplify. It can’t be all things to all people, it simply can’t afford it and nor can many of its members. I think D&AD could focus on a core set of widely-known activities, and in doing those vital things, sensationally well.

As someone from one of the ‘new’ Design Groups, I know from our designers that there’s a feeling that D&AD has become complicated. Most know only a fraction of what it does. It’s our mainline link to the next generation of creatives, and I think we’ll achieve even more in sharing our passion, if we avoid trying to do too much.

I want D&AD to do less, cost less, but to BE more.

CV
Mark graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1993 and worked at The Partners, Carter Wong & Partners and SAS before co-founding multi-disciplinary graphics group GBH In 1999. Now 14 strong, GBH works internationally across disciplines solving communications problems for clients such as Puma, Royal Mail, Land Securities, Flos, Gatwick Airport, Starck Network, SBE Entertainment, Virgin Galactic and Yotel. Mark won a Student Yellow Pencil in 1991 and a Professional D&AD Yellow Pencil in 2005 and has received five D&AD Silver Nominations, five Design Week Award wins including Best of Show in 2003 and a Silver Award at the New York Art Directors Club. Mark is a regular judge in industry awards schemes—six times at D&AD—including a stint as chairman of the Donside Awards in 2004. Mark is also a regular visiting lecturer at Kingston, LCC and New Bucks Universities. Selected by The Independent Newspaper as a ‘Top Ten British Graphic Designer’, Mark was listed in Who’s Who from 2007.

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Please note: You can only vote for a candidate if you are a current member of D&AD and have had work published in the D&AD Awards annual to date.

We would welcome your suggestions and views on D&AD at GBH.
Email mark@gregorybonnerhale.com or post your comments right here on the site,
and we can begin the debate. Follow markbonnergbh on Twitter for more.