The creative industry’s most elusive prize, the Black Pencil, was presented to 6 creative teams at the D&AD Awards Ceremony in London last night.
The D&AD Awards’ Yellow and very rare Black Pencil, are the most prestigious prize in the world for the creative industries – benchmarking new standards in creative excellence each year. The Awards celebrate the very best work across 30 disciplines of design, advertising and creative communication and are judged by the world’s leading creative practitioners.
• Black Pencil: A piece of work or campaign that is truly groundbreaking; the kind of work that redefines a medium.
• Yellow Pencil: A piece of work or campaign that sets new benchmarks of creative excellence.
Apple won two Black Pencils for the iMac and the iPhone product designs. This makes the multi-national design company the biggest single winner of Black Pencils in D&AD’s 45-year history with 6 won since 1999.
In addition, 64 Yellow Pencils were awarded across 30 juries. Apple won a Yellow Pencil for iPod touch product design.
“Another record broken – the first time in our 45-year history when six Black pencils have been awarded,’ said D&AD President Simon Waterfall in a statement. “This goes to show the impact this diverse range of creative fields are having in pushing forward the wider industry, marketing, and popular culture.”
See all of the winners here.
What can I say…
WELL DONE APPLE!
(I fookin LOVE my iPhone!)
You think Jonathon Ive’s acceptance speech was, “I’ve got my pencil, now gimme something to write on, man!”
Sooooo, how many Black Pencils does MS have?
Oh that’s right, they have blue pencils to color over the BSD.
It may not exactly be the Nobel prize, but it IS validation for Commander John (Ive, CBE). Not so much of a surprise, though.
What about Goldstryker… they’ve launched a 24 ct gold iPhone
http://www.goldstriker.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=156
And the housing too…
http://79.170.40.33/goldstriker.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=151&osCsid=f211f929867670755f72faf3906a0182
All M$ got was a pencil eraser for the zune.
Microsoft is not on the list. No surprise.
Maybe they need to add a “Pink Eraser” category for products that should have never been designed. Then Micro$oft could be a contender for something.
Nah, MS should get the Xerox award.
They’d have plenty of those.
Microsoft should get the empty-lead pencil award. It don’t write
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
“Nah, MS should get the Xerox award.”
Actually, I think MS has been nominated for an ADHD award.
Interesting comment:
“Another record broken – the first time in our 45-year history when six Black pencils have been awarded,’ said D&AD;President Simon Waterfall in a statement. “This goes to show the impact this diverse range of creative fields are having in pushing forward the wider industry, marketing, and popular culture.”
So devaluing the brand is good? Sounds like someone in advertising who is in the ‘more is better’ camp. More Black Pencils removes some of the exclusivity, the desirability. Maybe they simply had to give two to Apple so they gave a few more so that it didn’t look too one-sided. Anyway a bit odd that.
Black pencils are only ever awarded to a product when that product is deemed to be groundbreaking. This applies to the design of the iPhone and the iMac, which is why Black pencils were awarded to these products. It in no way ‘devalues the brand’ to award more pencils when they are deserved, but it is extraordinary that Apple commands this type of recognition and respect from the international Design community. I was at the awards, I saw it happen. Johnny Ive was unable to attend but sent a message.