John Dowling, one of our partners based in the UK, has decided to stand for election again to the D&AD Executive Committee this year. John has been nominated and put forward by Vince Frost, Frost Design and John McConnell, ex Pentagram partner. There are two ‘design’ seat up for grabs, so please read through all nominees manifesto’s carefully and vote for who you think can add value to the current committee and help voice your opinions about your D&AD.

Visit D&AD to see who is running and read their Q&A’s. You can only vote if you are a member so please log in to cast your vote. The deadline is Wednesday 31 August 2010 at 5.30pm and voting starts on Tuesday 2 August. To keep up with news please follow John on twitter @votefordowling and @dowlingduncan.com

—

D&AD Q&A

—

John graduated from the University of Northumbria in 1995 with a BA Hons in graphic design. Since then he has worked for some of the UK’s most respected design companies beginning his career at innovative London studio Area, where he achieved a coveted D&AD yellow pencil. In 1998 he joined internationally acclaimed agency Pentagram working with partner John Rushworth. Following a brief spell at Sea Design, John joined Frost Design in 2001, leaving in 2003 to set up Dowling Design & Art Direction. In 2010 John and former Pentagram designer Rob Duncan established Dowling Duncan, an independent graphic design studio based in Newark, Nottinghamshire and San Francisco, California.

John’s work has garnered awards from the Art Directors Club of New York, Design Week, the Cream Awards, the Tokyo Type Directors Club and D&AD. A lecturer on the BA Hons graphic design course at the University of Lincoln, he has given talks on graphic design and has sat on judging panels for Polaroid UK and D&AD’s Global Awards and Student Award Schemes.

—

What years do you appear in the annual?

1995, 1999, 2001, 2006 and a few other times when my name was missed off for one reason or another.

—

Indicate your key areas of interest in the creative industries and how you want to support D&AD’s aims and ambitions:

I am a graphic designer who runs his own studio and is actively involved in education (part time lecturer at the University of Lincoln). I have seen first-hand the positive impact D&AD has on young designers, the confidence it gives them to keep moving forward is invaluable. I have set up and run initiatives that has helped raise the profile of the course and it’s students (raising money along the way). Working alongside young designers, placing them in industry and watching them grow is incredibly rewarding and satisfying and is something I would like to develop and continue if elected.

By having a voice on the committee I’m also hoping we can broaden our audience, encouraging a more expansive cross-section of the creative industry to engage with D&AD, its educational programme and awards scheme. If we can increase the number of first time entries year on year, I believe we can achieve a more representative organisation and awards.

—

Why should I vote for you?

I first encountered D&AD through the student award scheme back in 1995 and have been a member ever since. Now I want to be more than just a member, I want to be able to influence and propose change, put forward ideas and implement them. I want to show how passionate I am about our industry and express this through my role on the executive committee. I want to help maintain support for D&AD’s excellent educational programmes by emphasising the need to support D&AD itself.

I want to become a voice on the committee for the ’smaller, more creative design studios’ and those that ply their trade inside and more importantly outside the big major cities. There is a feeling that the awards are not a true reflection of the years best work and they don’t really represent what our industry has to offer. People argue that the same people always enter, the same people always judge and the same people always win. Why do we only have graphic designers judging graphic design? The jury should be more diverse, a range of people from different disciplines. We must ask ourselves why so many new, young designers (and some well established ones as well) do not enter the awards? D&AD has to continue to engage and support the next generation of talent, encouraging younger creatives and the design community as a whole to champion D&AD and its causes. I would like to be given the opportunity to work with the executive committee to make this happen.

—

Which piece of creative work do you wish you’d done and why?

There are so many. I’ve seen work produced by students whilst lecturing and remember thinking I wish I had done that. But if I had to pick one thing it would be a book designed by Richard Smith for Schirmer Mosel in 1994 about the work of Cecil Beaton. I remember seeing it around the studio, it was such a beautiful object, with fantastic images and extraordinary typography crafted with love, care and attention. I’ve still not managed to get my hands on a copy.

—

Who has inspired you most in your career?

When I left university in 1995 I sent out 1 letter and received about 40 rejections. The one acceptance letter I got back was from Richard Smith at Area, offering me a placement and ultimately my first full time job. Richard gave me a tremendous amount of confidence and taught me about the fine art of detailing, the importance of craft and the structure and handling of type. He forced me to look at things in a different way and continues to be an inspiration and mentor to this very day.

—

What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your career

How stressful and challenging it is to work for yourself, but at the same time very rewarding.

—

What has been the biggest challenge of your career so far?

Waking up in my room the day after leaving Frost Design and stumbling over to my desk in the corner to start working for myself.

—

Can you tell us about the best moment of your career so far?

Winning a D&AD pencil in 1999 (at Area) not long after starting work at Pentagram, then being asked to judge (in that order).

—

Recommend a book, a film and an artist that you think every creative should experience?

Book — Simon Patterson, Published by Locus + 2002. The first comprehensive study of the artist’s work, truly inspiring.

Film — Take it Or Leave It, Madness, 1981. A classic docudrama about Madness played badly by Madness. You have to love them to love it.

Artist — Simon Patterson