After submitting my second year body of work for grading, I hopped aboard a London bound Megabus and made my way down to the D&AD Festival 2019. I’ve never attended a design festival before so obtaining a ticket through my university was both exciting and quite intriguing; What would it be like? Who would be there? What would I see? What would inspire me?
The three day event had a vibrant schedule bustling with activities, talks and workshops. Among these were Print Social’s tote bag stand – where I quickly stood in line to screen print my very own D&AD tote – Flashmat’s doodlesketch booth – where I forgot how to draw for 30 seconds – and a vast array of New Blood Award Winners’ work.
Over the three days I attended a variety of talks from speakers across the world, some were artists, creative directors, designers and producers. Out of all the people that stood on stage, there were two particular speakers I remember vividly. One being Susan Hoffman, an integral member of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, and the other being artist Shantell Martin, whose signature black and white drawings act as “an artists’ inquiry into the role of artist and viewer”.
Image from https://www.wk.com/work/nike-dream-crazy/
Susan Hoffman’s talk was entitled ‘The Power of Your Own Voice’ and touched on her work at W+K , in particular the Nike advertising campaigns. Her messages related to standing out above the crowd, being yourself, fighting for something you believe in, not letting others tell you what you can and can’t achieve. She spoke about passion, commitment, defying the odds, sparking controversy and using your own voice to make a difference. As you can imagine, the topics Hoffman talked about were undeniably motivating for a young designer like myself. However, what made her particular speech so captivating was the story, honesty, success and humour behind it.
See Nike’s Dream Crazy advertisement here.
Image from https://shantellmartin.art/
Shantell Martin’s speech was about “finding your way as an artist, the responsibility of design and art in society and expanding creativity”. Her approach was playful and thought provoking, regularly shuffling a handfull of cue cards and talking about the topic that appeared at the top of the pile. The entirety of her speech was about being creative and letting your ideas flow. A key phrase that stuck in my mind was one of Martin’s answers to a question asked by someone in the audience – “the line begins where there is good intention”. This is very similar to a quotation from Dan Wieden that Susan Hoffman touched on in her speech – “that’s where excellence begins. In being true to your vision”.
The belief in yourself, your values, your talent, your creativity and your ideas is something that all successful artists and designers seem to have in common. Whilst this confidence within one’s voice and abilities occasionally hides during challenging stages of a project, it is always evident in the final outcome. This is the main thing that I have taken away from my experiences at the D&AD festival, and I hope to remember how important it is to be true to yourself during the creative process when I embark on my final year of university in September.
LILLIE PRIOR 