Background

“STILL UNKNOWN” is a visual design created for the D&AD Awards 2018 Exhibition in Japan. While the D&AD Awards are well-known within the Japanese advertising community as one of the world’s most prestigious awards, the D&AD organization’s role in fostering the growth of new creative talent is not widely recognized. As a result, one of the key challenges was to develop a design that would effectively communicate D&AD’s role in discovering and fostering “still unknown” creative talent.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

Our creative solution employs cross-section diagrams of volcanos as a design motif. We deliberately chose not to show erupting volcanos, focusing instead on the pent-up magma—representing untapped creative potential—trapped underground. The images evoke the “still unknown” creative force the D&AD organization helps discover, while the quasi-scientific appearance of the diagrams reflects the spirit of intellectual curiosity that D&AD successfully promotes.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

Each visual depicts a volcano on the verge of eruption—tranquil on the surface, but bursting with the energy of red-hot magma below. The tension between these contrasting elements is heightened by placing the copy line, “STILL UNKNOWN,” directly above the vent where the magma will emerge. The variously colored and textured “geologic” layers contain pockets of gold, beautifully representing the accumulated history of design expertise and ideas that the D&AD Awards celebrate.

List the results (20% of vote)

The work helped Japanese public understand the broader role that the D&AD organization plays in promoting commercial creativity and discovering new talent, and successfully communicated a sense of the D&AD Awards’ value as an aspirational goal for the young creators who are shaping the future of design.