D&AD Student Awards 2009: “Student of the Year” winners

Last night, our friends at D&AD presented their Student Awards 2009, a raucous affair held at Kings Place in the Kings Cross area of London. ihaveanidea was fortunate enough to be there live last year, but this time around we’ll just have to live vicariously through the press release.

This year, two student teams were awarded top honours as “Student(s) of the Year”. First up, Petra Muda and Harri Leppala from the ridiculously hot Berghs School Of Communication in Stockholm. Muda and Leppala blew everyone away with ‘Find It’, a mobile phone app for eBay. They didn’t stop there; the team also came up with a way to promote the app virally.

The other Student of the Year winner was Micheline Mannion of London ad and design school powerhouse Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Mannion won for her Typography work, where she designed a solution to the Faber & Faber book cover brief, incorporating the publisher’s new Print on Demand (PoD) service.  It’s a quirky take on the old-fashioned highlighter pen combined with cutting edge technology to create a personalized cover.

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This is only the second time in its 31-year history that the Student of the Year has been awarded jointly. “When I see a great idea for the first time, my brain asks a whole series of questions: Is it original? Is it even possible? Is it the right solution for the brief and client? If the answer is ‘yes’ then that’s first part of what I call ‘the wow moment’. Then I move onto: Why hasn’t it been done?; and the killer: Why the bloody hell didn’t I think of it first? And all this happens in a wonderful ‘wow moment’,’ said Greg Quinton, D&AD Education Chairman.

He continued, ‘The D&AD Student of the Year judging panel enjoyed the wow moment not once, but twice this year, firstly with Petra and Harri’s ‘Find it’ idea for the Ebay brief. So simple it was instantly and unanimously loved. We all want Ebay to launch it – now.  Micheline’s idea for the Faber and Faber brief was quieter but no less compelling. It answered a very real issue – is it possible to create beautiful books using new print on demand technology? Micheline found the solution within the problem and then crafted it elegantly.  A beautifully crafted idea will be a ‘wow’ moment every time – so thank you both teams – and many congratulations!

All of the work, including the additional eighteen First Prizes and 36 Second Prizes can be viewed over here.

 
Left photo: Petra Muda and Harri Leppala    Right Photo: Micheline Mannion
Photos by Noah Da Costa