Pearlfisher, RAPP, Interbrand, Missouri Creative: Meet The Drum Design Awards jury 2020

"The definition of design and its increasingly changing role in the worlds of business, the environment and social enterprise can sometimes be difficult to pin down," said Mathers. "What is clear is that there is an ever-growing understanding of its importance and the crucial role that its practitioners play, in making the world a better place.

"However, at its heart, the very best examples of design embrace the simplest and most powerful of mantras brilliant ideas, beautifully crafted."

On the judging roster for 2020 is Missouri Creative, Bow & Arrow, RAPP, Start, B&B studio, Coley Porter Bell, Innovate UK, Design Bridge, Pearlfisher, Clear, NB Studio, Forpeople, Suisse Design, Reckitt Benckiser, Here Design and Interbrand. The jury will come together with their knowledge and expertise to asses the most innovative, creative and effective work in the sector.

Below is a breakdown of 12 jury members:

British Design Fund

John Mathers

director and consultant

John has been working for forty years in the brand and design industry, leading a number of marketing, brand and design consultancies in the UK and Internationally including WPP’s flagship Brand Consultancy, the Brand Union.

At its heart the very best examples of design, be that design thinking, UX, product, graphic or any of a multitude of other descriptors, embrace the simplest and most powerful of mantras: brilliant ideas, beautifully crafted. Tell us about how your submissions meet these two simple criteria and watch the awards flow in.

Missouri Creative

Stuart Wood

founding partner

Wood founded Missouri Creative in 2013 with his creative partner Paul Brennan. Prior to this, he worked as creative director at Fitch, a global brand consultancy for 14 years. He set up Missouri to get closer to clients and to create multi-dimensional brand worlds that have the power to motivate and move consumers. In his career, Wood has worked across a variety of different categories from sport, to F&B to hospitality with clients including Pernod Ricard, UK Sport, TUI, Footlocker and Asics.

Fashions come and go and design tricks are often trotted out, but I’m always looking for the same things in the work we judge in a dark basement in Aldwych as we do when critiquing projects in the Missouri studio; great ideas, beautifully executed that are right for the audience.

Bow & Arrow

Natasha Chetiyawardana

creative partner

Chetiyawardana co-founded Bow & Arrow in 2009, with Ben Slater, former business director of BBH New York. Working with clients such as Google, AmEx, O2, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and MINI, Bow & Arrow have established their unique proposition in White Space Digital Innovation. Bow & Arrow was acquired by Accenture Interactive in 2019 who say “Bow & Arrow’s client-centric approach and novel operating model fit perfectly with how we approach all of our work.

I would like to see a manifestation of action, drive and ownership of the future. To make that tangible, I want to see work that drives a sense of change, purpose and social good from both small and large organisations, and the sense that design can help drive a positive future.

RAPP

Hiten Bhatt

creative director

Bhatt is the ‘creative director – Design’ at RAPP, heading up a team of 12 experts in digital, print, motion, 3D and branding. During his 20 year career, he's worked on integrated projects for some of the world’s most prestigious brands, including American Express, British Airways, Mercedes-Benz, Montblanc, IBM, Ralph Lauren and Virgin Media.

I’m looking forward to seeing this year’s retail entries too. It’s been a challenging time for this sector, so brands have had to stretch themselves, increasingly using innovative design solutions to get customers through their doors.

Start

Chris Bennett

creative director

Bennett is a creative director at Start Design with 20+ years experience developing and overseeing multi-channel brand identity projects in the finance, luxury, travel and leisure sectors. His work has spanned everything from the creation of comprehensive global brand identity programmes to highly effective retail design experiences for the likes of Barclays, Virgin and Adidas.

I'm hoping to see a project that surprises me and makes me say, "that's brilliant, I wish I'd thought of that!". It needs to be an amazing creative idea, backed by strong strategic insight and executed with simplicity and precision. I'm all for simplicity and reduction, stripping away the noise to the absolute minimum in order to benefit the end user.

B&B studio

Claudia Morris

creative director

Morris is creative director at independent branding agency B&B studio. Her experience includes creating award-winning challenger brands from scratch – including LoneWolf for BrewDog and alcohol-free craft beer Infinite Session – as well as reimagining the visual identities for existing brands, including Toast Ale, Signature Brew and Higgidy. Before joining B&B in 2009, Claudia worked at Pearlfisher.

I'm really excited to see bold and original ideas that push category conventions forward. And I’m looking forward to seeing design that truly communicates, allowing the brand to become a real agent of expression for the positioning it encompasses. Design that creates aspiration for new kinds of consumer behaviours is going to be key as we move into the future.

Coley Porter Bell

Sam Stone

creative director

Stone has worked on many major packaging, retail and identity projects throughout her career, which allows her to think strategically and holistically about business and brand challenges, to cross design disciplines when required. With nearly 25 years’ experience, Stone has worked on brands such as Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Flawsome, Sharwoods, Muller Light Amore and Britvic – as well as Sony, Apple and McLaren.

What I'm looking for is creative that clearly demonstrates an idea born of an insight relevant to its audience.

Innovate UK

Ben Griffin

innovation lead

As innovation lead for design at Innovate UK, Griffin is responsible for the development and implementation of the organisation’s national design strategy and support programmes. He works to promote excellent design practice across national innovation programmes, including the Healthy Ageing Challenge and other Industrial Strategy Challenge Funds.

I'm looking for design that is purposeful, progressive and impactful. Purposeful, because the best design starts with a nuanced understanding of context, a clear vision of what’s needed and of why it matters. Progressive, because in a profession that routinely challenges assumptions and questions the norm, designers should always be asking “where next?”. And impactful, because whilst peer recognition might give us a welcome glow on these winter nights, the acid test of any design is its tangible impact.

Pearlfisher

Sophie Maxwell

futures director global

Working across Pearlfisher's studios in London, New York, San Francisco and Copenhagen - with clients including Seedlip, Cadbury Dairy Milk, TRIBE, Blue Bottle Coffee and Cawston Press - Maxwell leads the futures team to bring together a picture of macro global insights. This approach to insight and innovation ensures their clients stay ahead of the curve and ready to lead the changes in their categories rather than follow them.

We are living in a time of fast-paced, seismic cultural change where design can play a truly important part in rethinking our current, perhaps outdated behaviours. At this year’s Drum Design Awards, I’m excited to see the brands that consider our changing lives and how we can create connection, inspirational solutions and ultimately a better future.

Here Design

Kate Marlow

creative partner

Marlow has art directed design, identity and innovation projects for some of the worlds most revered brands including Campari, Fortnum & Mason and Hauser & Wirth and Hendricks Gin. She continues to direct the design teams across some of the most creatively exciting platforms including immersive brand worlds, photography and film.

I am looking for design which shows it has purpose as well as being executed with beauty. All good work will have considered an approach to sustainability, and that will be obvious. There is so much opportunity for innovation in the field of sustainability because now more than ever before we need to question why and how we use materiality, so a standout entry for me will be a fresh approach to an old challenge.

Reckitt Benckiser

Jos Harrison

global design strategy director

Harrison is global design strategy director at Reckitt Benckiser where he champions the role of human-centric design and creative business leadership, providing strategic tools and creative direction as well as connecting design to other vital functions within the company. At RB, Jos curates global brands including Airwick, Vanish and Harpic.

I’m keen to see how the combination of design and strategy is used to bridge the gaps between touchpoints - I would love to be able to highlight work that creates a broad experience to solve a problem or fulfil a need taking account of the user’s everyday life - and integrates seamlessly with it.

Clear

Stephen Haggarty

board creative director

Haggarty is the board creative director of Clear. He has over 30 years in the creative industry working for Fitch, Enterprise IG (Superunion) and running his own business HuntHaggarty for over a decade and has worked across multiple sectors with a multitude of global brands creatively directing brand programmes and creative work that connects with people.

Something with real meaning that comes from a real piece of strategic research and strategy which has allowed the creative to flourish and find itself in that perfect place of not only surprising the consumer or user with its craft but that truly answers a current frustration they are facing. Today as designers, more than ever before we have a responsibility to deliver on this.

Make sure you submit your amazing entries before Friday 28 February.

For 2020, a new category has been created, Effective Ageing by Design. This category is designed to look at products and services which have been effectively created and marketed to reach an older ( 55+ ) target population. It recognises the need to design for them in a way which does not patronise or sympathize but celebrates, empathises, engages and resonates.