D&AD Writing for Design Awards 2012

In the mix: colour, film clips, tomato sauce, magic and Martini soup

On Monday this week I spent the day at Olympia judging the Writing for Design category at the 2012 D&AD awards. It was a privilege to be involved as a first-time D&AD judge and I was in great company. The jury included some of the best copywriters around, as well as Chris Doyle, a designer who created a stir by producing branding guidelines for himself back in 2008.

Beneath the great steel and glass arches of the hall, trestle tables were laid out to infinity, covered in work sent in by creative professionals from around the world. Favourites from other categories included posters for Kids Company, a watch showing Indian time (there were only four hours marked – 3ish, 6ish, 9ish and 12ish), and an extraordinary old-fashioned wooden box containing typesetting materials / branding guidelines.

We started off with 74 Writing for Design submissions – everything from posters, brochures and web content to place mats and packaging materials – and ended up with five winning entries that will appear in the prestigious D&AD Annual.

From a bloodbath to a longlist

Nick Asbury has written a brilliant description of every stage of the judging which demystifies the process, so I’ll leave it to him to explain how we got beyond the bloodbath stage and reached consensus by the end of the day.

In-book winners

So here are the five winning entries, with a quick outline of why I thought they deserved to join the best of the year’s creative output in the D&AD Annual.

• Holiday card by Pentagram Design for Pentagram Design. Writers:  Naresh Ramchandani and Tom Edmonds. This little book made everyone smile. Choose a coloured page, tear open the perforations and read a description of how that colour relates to you. Olive green is the colour of déja-vu, canary yellow denotes mindless positivity, while pink means you’re laughing on the outside, crying on the inside. The copy and design echo each other, with ‘ME’ reflected as ‘EM’ on the opposite page of purple, the colour of self-obsession. This was funny, clever copy that prodded and tickled you in unexpected directions. By the way, the last pages we opened were maroon (for long-repressed rage) and brown (for indifference). This entry is nominated for a Yellow Pencil.
• byvariousartists.com by Various Artists for Various Artists. This website was a bold move for a new Manchester-based creative agency with no portfolio to show. As a web content writer, the black cloud of SEO constantly hovers over your head, impossible to escape. So I loved this site, which dodges all keyword concerns by highlighting ‘this’ for every link, seasoned by an occasional ‘that’.  Each link takes you to a well-known film or tv clip. Various Artists promise to make you feel like Meg Ryan in the famous deli scene in When Harry Met Sally, but never like Steve Carell shouting ‘No, no, no!’ in the American Office. The pared-down editorial style is matched by equally sparse design: a one page site with plenty of blank space and just a changing background colour to alter the view. Concise copy, a daring approach and a distinctive voice were the winning factors in this entry.
• Little Chef by Venture Three for Little Chef. As a brand, Little Chef has flip flopped between appealing to truckers and snail porridge aficionados. The placemats in this submission see a return to the middle ground, aiming at families and stressing straight-ahead food credentials, such as the use of free range eggs. One mat apologises: ‘Sorry sachets – we only use Heinz bottles’ then recounts the sad tale of an exploding sauce sachet. ‘Now look what you’ve done. Don’t worry, it will wash off.’  The copy hit its target perfectly: conversational and chatty without banging on or becoming twee.
• The Great Blandini by Interbrand Sydney for Steve Bland. Writer: Mike Reed. The Great Blandini was in-book in this category last year for a series of posters and business cards, and the jury felt that this year’s entry deserved to be in-book too. This little booklet, beautifully produced with trailing hand stitching, shows how The Great Blandini can ‘unlock many fascinating phenomena of the famous Photo-Shoppe’ using sleight of hand and magical skills. The copy carries the conceit through consistently and with charm, as spidery handwritten inky text extols the merits of ‘Shadow and Highlight’ to ‘transport a subject from light into darkness’. It also features a great picture of ‘the gentleman transformed into a lion’.
• William Grant & Sons Brand Ambassador Handbook by Here Design for William Grant & Sons. Writer: Lisa Desforges. I admit I was envious when I saw this entry – both for the quality of the writing and for the lavish production of the 144 page cloth-bound book. Stylistically, the handbook takes after a Victorian etiquette guide, dispensing advice and cocktail recipes for the travelling Brand Ambassador with grown-up wit. If you want to stay sober, why not try Martini soup? ‘Order a MARTINI then order the soup. Slosh the martini into the SOUP. Leave the soup.’ The mysterious inscription on the cover – ‘Correlated courses in woodwork and mechanical drawings’ – also means you can read the handbook incognito on the bus and no one need know you’re an undercover Brand Ambassador.

What’s next?

Yellow Pencil winners and details of all the writers will be announced tonight – Thursday 19 April. Meanwhile:

• Read a manifesto for writing for design by Jim Davies, foreman of the jury.
• See the Writing for Design jury.
• Discover 10 things that John Weich of Lemon-Scented Tea learned from the 2012 D&AD awards.

Oh, and do add a comment if you like.

Glitter, goals and getting ahead in business

Here’s some advice for entrepreneurs that you probably won’t read in the Harvard Business Review. You have to know when to hit yourself on the head with a rolled-up newspaper.

More of that later. But first, here’s what people said when I asked them for their best business tips.

Have a big hairy goal and beware of glitter

“Futerra, the sustainability communications company, advocate having a Big Hairy Audacious Goal goal’ in their Santa Sustainability Report,” says Jenny Searle of Jenny Searle Associates. “I love this idea, and their Rules of the Game are well worth a read too.”

Jenny also mentions the perils of being distracted by shiny things. “When I was at college Graham Clarke, the etcher and engraver, told me to ‘reject 90% of what comes your way in life’. In today’s multi-information world this sounds a bit unfeasible, but I think he was right. It’s easy to lap up too much and drown with a gurgle as your hand reaches up trying to click on another link….or even back in the 80s to be influenced by too many glittery things at the expense of the one pure goal.”

Know when to go… and stop

“Generally, I’d say ‘You reap what you sow’ and ‘If at first you don’t succeed…’”, says Fred Rutter of Spring Communications. “But on indecisive afternoons, I follow Mark McCormack’s advice – ‘If in doubt, delay!’”

A positive attitude draws in new business

“With 25 years of working for clients in the management education and consultancy sector, I’ve read more business advice than any entrepreneur has the right to receive,” says Victoria Jebens of Jebens Design.

The two best bits of advice she’s received are:

• Don’t fret about starting a new business in a recession – it’s often a great time to start.
• Don’t be afraid to expand. For a micro business, taking on those first one or two extra team members seems like a huge step, but you won’t regret it.

And the advice she’d give is:

• Success breeds success – it’s remarkable how much new business a positive attitude brings in.
• Always give your clients solutions not problems. Don’t explain to a client why something won’t work – give them something that will.

Be useful and know your value

The first, succinct piece of advice from Andrew Waller of Remit Consulting is: “Be useful.”

His second piece of advice could be summarised as ‘Know the value of your experience’.

Andrew tells the story: “A man retires from a factory where for many  years he has looked after the big machine that runs the production line. After a few months the machine stops working and, having exhausted all other avenues, his old boss rings him to ask if he would care to do some consultancy to fix it. He looks at the machine for 10 minutes, scratches his head, walks around again and then carefully places a cross on the machine with a marker pen. ‘Look there – that’ll be the problem.’ Sure enough, they find the problem in that precise spot and fix it; and the factory returns to making money again. Then his bill arrives and his old boss rings him up in a lather. ‘What’s this bill for £10,000? All you did was walk around and mark a cross on the machine – the least you can do is give us a breakdown of the costs.’ The man obliges with a revised invoice – ‘For marking the machine with a cross: £10. For knowing where to put it: £9,990.’”

Read the ‘E-Myth’ book

For Madelyn Postman of Grain Creative, the best business tip she’s ever received was to read ‘The E-Myth Revisited – Why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it’ by Michael E Gerber. “This led to me signing up for a year of coaching from them – a real game-changer,” says Madelyn.

Buy time in presentations

Mark Johnson, the manwith3heads, shares this advice about presentations.“The ideal is to get beyond any sense of acting and performing. Just be yourself.  My aim is to try to talk to people as if it were a relaxed conversation rather than a presentation.”

But what if you get that heart-stopping moment when your mouth dries up and you completely forget the subject or why you’re even there?

“If you’re in doubt – as in, it’s not going well in your head – read the slide out slowly,” says Mark. “Then ask: ‘Has anyone got any questions or comments?’ It will calm you down and buy you some time.”

Don’t wait for opportunity to knock

Helen Fisher of Fisher Consulting advises: “You don’t get new work by staying in the office. Get out and about.”

Slam a newspaper on a table

And finally, the newspaper tactic. This comes from Choiyen Leung, who draws on many years’ experience of working in London design firms. “My tip comes from someone I used to work with – Simon Carter.  Immediately before making a difficult business call, he recommended getting a rolled up newspaper, slamming it on the table three times in quick succession, then doing the same to your head even harder. Then call your client.  I don’t know if it worked, but I liked doing it!”

Watch your eyes

The last word comes from Simon Carter of One Three Four Ltd. “When you’re slapping a newspaper against your head, mind you don’t poke yourself in the eye. It’s hard to concentrate on a client phone call through a veil of tears.”

Fiona Thompson, Wordspring

www.wordspring.co.uk

How we reveal ourselves through metaphor

Apparently, we use a metaphor every seven seconds. Unless, of course, you’re Dr Gregory House, the embittered anti-hero of the US tv series, whose speech consists almost entirely of metaphors. House is a one-man metaphor factory who spits out pithy phrases for every possible ailment and situation. Here are a few of my favourites:

• “I’m a very high-strung little lapdog.”
• “Infections are criminals; the immune system’s the police.”
• “There is not a thin line between love and hate. There is in fact a Great Wall of China with armed sentries posted every 20 feet between love and hate.”

The dictionary definition of a metaphor is “a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable”. Clearly, House is not literally a little lapdog, infections are not criminals and there is no Great Wall of China between the emotions of love and hate.

The language of the unconscious

Sometimes we consciously use metaphors to make our language more vivid and striking. However, more often, they spring automatically from our lips.

“Metaphors are fascinating because people use them subliminally,” says Martin Lee, co-founder and strategist at Acacia Avenue, the qualitative research company. “People don’t consciously understand the extra layer of meaning that they add, but the metaphors they use are a choice. They reveal a great deal about what a person really thinks and feels.”

Acacia Avenue uses ‘discourse analysis’ to uncover the deeper meaning behind metaphors and analyse the implications for clients who want to connect with their customers in a more authentic way.

Chaos overhead: one man and his bank

Martin gives the example of a businessman interviewed about his relationship with his bank. A discourse analyst identified the metaphors in the transcript of the conversation, which included the businessman talking about ‘seeing chaos overhead’, ‘taking a chaotic road’ and not wanting to ‘let people down’.

“You don’t literally see chaos above your head, a road can’t be chaotic and you don’t actually let a person down,” says Martin. “All these metaphors reveal the underlying concerns of this customer. Also, it’s typical that so many of his metaphors are about position, direction and space; we understand the world in relation to ourselves.”

The customer wanted a “beautifully constructed” business relationship with his bank, some kind of order and solidity to counteract the chaos he perceived overhead. However, he said that his bank manager gradually became more “distant” and eventually he became disillusioned. “The story is more powerful in the metaphor than in the bald text,” comments Martin.

What’s your cultural anchor?

When people use metaphors, patterns emerge which reveal their ‘cultural anchors’ or ‘area of discourse’ – the way they see the world. House frequently uses the language of battle and control to describe his fight to diagnose unusual medical problems. His chosen metaphors underline his combative nature and approach to life. You’re left in no doubt that this is one little lapdog with a nasty bite.

The marketing profession is also known for its use of military language: it’s all about targeting, battles and campaigns. Meanwhile, other people or professions might choose metaphors that reflect the discourse of friendship, sex, science, medicine or education.

Listen to Gordon Ramsay, who surfs between the discourses of manual labour and sport in this interview for The Daily Telegraph, thereby reinforcing his hard-man reputation. “I’ve been at the coalface for 20 years now,” he says, adding: “I’m back in the ring now. The gloves are off.”

Equally, it is little surprise that Nigella Lawson borrows from the language of seduction when she describes a fruit cake as “the fruity blonde sister to the brunette temptress overleaf”, or that Jamie Oliver draws on rebellious rhetoric to inspire people to follow his ‘Food Revolution’.

“In my field,” says Martin, “I’ve noticed that sometimes when researchers are dealing with the messy stuff of human motivation and psychology, they might feel the need to prove themselves and use scientific discourse, such as ‘the spectrum of opinion’.”

Understanding our hidden emotional relationships with companies

So what are the implications for companies? “By analysing the metaphors that people use when they talk about organisations, we can see where the public position that brand emotionally,” says Martin.

At the recent Wordstock festival for fans of the written word, Martin ran a metaphor masterclass. “I asked people to talk for 30 seconds about two different companies – Tesco and Apple – and transcribe what they said word for word,” he says. “Strong patterns of metaphor emerged. When people talked about Tesco, the language of mythological monsters came out clearly, through words such as ‘behemoth’. Whereas they used the language of love to talk about Apple, such as ‘beautiful’.”

Acacia Avenue has used discourse analysis in various projects to help companies understand the hidden relationships that customers have with their brands. “With a well known package holiday company, quantitative research suggested that customers perceived the company as very efficient,” says Martin.  “But even when customers were talking favourably about them, there were clues as to how people really felt about them. Customers would say “They’re geared up”, “It’s a well-oiled machine”, or “It runs like clockwork.” Much of the metaphorical language was related to the discourse of engineering. People were using a stripped-down mechanical language to describe a good service, but they felt no warmth or emotional connection towards the brand. We recommended that they should keep the efficiency, but also engage with customers at a more human level.”

In another project, Acacia Avenue analysed the language that a cruise brand was using to sell its holidays. The conclusion was that modern-day travellers were alienated by cruises with names such as ‘Jewel of the Nile’ which evoked an archaic ‘golden age of travel’. Unconsciously, the language of the brochures betrayed a deep bias towards a rather stiff, old-fashioned attitude.

Speaking your brand’s language

“It’s all about choice,” says Martin. “A purist would say there’s no such thing as neutral language.” But in practice, some words are more neutral than others.  If you use the word ‘nose’ to describe the smelling organ in the middle of your face, you are not drawing attention to the choice of word, but if you choose an alternative word such as ‘conk’, ‘schnozzle’ or ‘proboscis’, they all have additional layers of meaning and convey subtle additional messages to the listener.

“People are very susceptible to the discourses they read,” Martin adds. “By being aware of the discourse you’re using, you can help influence people’s impressions of your brand in a positive way. Equally, by listening to the way that customers talk about your brand, you can understand the authenticity of your relationship with your customers.”

Appropriately enough, his final thought involves metaphors. “The voice of the brand has to be conscious, and the best brand writers have an intuitive feel for the discourse that their brand is swimming in. They can deliberately evoke a metaphor that suits the brand and literally speaks the brand’s language.”

 

Fiona Thompson, Wordspring

www.wordspring.co.uk

 

26 Treasures live in Scotland

The 26 Treasures exhibition went live at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh on St Andrew’s Day and will stay up until Burn’s Night 2012. See ‘my’ treasure – Alexander Peden’s mask and wig – here:

http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/exhibitions/26_treasures/the_treasures/alexander_pedens_mask_and_wig.aspx

You can also read an article about the show in The Scotsman:

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/historic-sites/26_treasures_an_in_depth_look_at_a_historical_project_with_a_difference_1_1989235

A bouncer, a cat and a dog lead

The odd couple

Why is this dodgy-looking bloke holding a cat on a dog lead outside what looks like a club in Berlin in the 1980s?

As part of an ‘archive dive’ project, the D&AD asked people from the 26 writers’ collective to write about previous award winners. I could choose any winner that began with ‘F’ (a very fine letter).

I chose this intriguing picture which won a photography award for a brand called Fressnapf. Here’s the blog piece I wrote for the D&AD about my discoveries.

An historical treasure trail

Take a look at my article on the History in an Hour site – which gives historical snippets for busy people who are passionate about rediscovering the past. It’s about how writers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are reinterpreting historical treasures in just 62 words for the 26 Treasures project.

Meet my scary mask

I’ve been working on a fascinating project where writers are paired with historical treasures and asked to respond to them in just 62 words. It’s a follow on from a V&A project last year.

Hairy scary mask of Alexander Peden from the National Museum of Scotland

This year, 26 Treasures is joining forces with the National Museum of Scotland, the Ulster Museum and the National Library of Wales. And my object is the very wonderful wig and mask of Alexander Peden from the National Museum of Scotland.

Peden was a renegade Covenanting minister who gave illegal sermons on hillsides in Scotland during the ‘Killing Times’ of the 17th century. Apparently, he wore this mask and wig as a disguise, and was one of the lucky few to evade capture.

My 62 word response will be on show at the National Museum of Scotland from St Andrew’s Day (30 November 2011) to Burn’s Night (26 January 2012).

See the 26 Treasures blog for more.