Last week, the ADC Gallery played host to a phenomenal level of talent and wisdom, as the Design and Motion juries of the ADC 95th Annual Awards met to select the very best work of the past year. And while we can’t quite share with you who will be bringing home a highly coveted ADC Cube from the awards galas this June, we can give you a little taste of the experiences of the various Jury members who studied, debated and eventually choose which entries will be immortalized in ADC history.

NATHALIE KIRSHEH
Design Creative Director
Design Jury
nathaliekirsheh.com
New York, NY

Follow @nathaliekirsheh

I will start this post-experience write up with one note: this judging was among the most seamless, well-organized and principled competitions I have experience thus far in my 15 years of participating in such events. Not to mention, there was also a fantastic jury that really did include perspectives from around the globe. There were folks from the US, Japan, Norway, Ireland, Germany and Greece ready to curate what they thought was #rareforareason for this year’s show.

“…this judging was among the most seamless, well-organized and principled competitions I have experience thus far in my 15 years of participating in such events.”

I can’t reveal the work that made it in, (stay tuned for the big reveal) but I will say that whether it was a detail of a book cover, or an entire exhibit design, there were pieces that had surely left an imprint in my creative mind.

A level above us where the motion design entries were being reviewed, we would hear belts of laughter and enthusiastic clapping. Now what was that all about? I can’t wait to find out in the coming months. I heard that some of the student entries were mind-blowing!

The first day was about marking the pieces I liked, and on the second day I was able to give a score of 1 to 10. Day three was the most intriguing to me because that’s when the dialogue came into play. We discussed each piece and voted by a show of hands as a jury to decide what level of award it merited, if at all. I was surprised as some of the difference of opinions, (and at times the one devil’s advocate in the room!) but was really pleased with the outcome.

At the end of the three days and by the time we were wishing one another goodbyes and safe trips, I felt like I was more in tune with the larger design community globally and I feel that has inspired my creative thought process. I also felt those final minutes at ADC could have had the soundtrack from The Breakfast Club playing as we all walked away back to our separate paths in our (in some cases newly shaped) design worlds. 😉

The ADC 95th Annual Awards Advertising and Digital judging takes place April 11–15, 2016.