
In 1962, a group of designers and art directors met to celebrate creative communication and raise the standards of their industry. They called themselves British Design & Art Direction and the very next year they held their first awards competition. The judges were, and continue to be to this day, exceptionally hard to impress. From 2500 entries submitted for consideration, they selected just 16 worthy of receiving the soon to be coveted Yellow Pencil. Now known as D&AD, its members represent the creative, design and advertising communities, not just in Britain, but worldwide. D&AD exists to inform, educate and inspire those who work in and around the creative industries. The annual D&AD Awards are recognized throughout the world for setting the reference standard for creative excellence.
To demonstrate the power of graphics in advertising, we visit the pages of several D&AD Annuals over the past decade. In each of these examples, we see that a visual can indeed be as effective as a thousand words. In many cases, no words are required at all to convey the message. In others, the copy is sparse. These samples are from around the world and help prove that great design is a universal language.