Our work is relevant not only for the way it used illustration to promote exhibition attendance, but also for the way it encouraged people viewing the exhibits to consider the functional purpose of advertising design.

Since D&AD award-winning works adhere to the highest standards of craftsmanship, our work also had to meet those standards.

But we went a step further, and in addition to attracting visitors to the exhibition, we encouraged them to think about the important role that craftsmanship plays in successful brand communication.

Cultural Context: The English word ‘design’ has been fully assimilated into the Japanese language as a loanword, and is used by Japanese people in many different contexts.

It is, however, generally used in a relatively superficial sense, referring only to matters of style, fashion or appearance. But design—particularly as it is used in many D&AD award-winning works— also plays an important functional role in facilitating communication.

We therefore felt it was important for the Japanese audience attending the D&AD exhibition to think deeply about the functional aspect of advertising design.

Idea: Although design is often appreciated for the aesthetic and decorative role it performs in advertising, our creative idea sprang from the insight that the true value of design lies in the the functional role it plays in message delivery.

This role is often under-appreciated, but in fact, a great deal of thought and effort is required to create designs that actually ‘work’. We distilled this insight into the phrase, ‘It works’, and as a visual symbol, we chose the towers that support high-voltage power lines.

These towers are a familiar feature of landscapes everywhere, and although their existence is often taken for granted, they are symbolic of the interconnected ways in which people use design to create a better and more beautiful world.

About Illustration: Our illustrations use the transmission towers that support high-voltage power lines as a design motif. We chose them because they are a familiar feature of landscapes everywhere, and although they have a certain geometric beauty of their own, it is ultimately the function they perform that gives them value.

We also paid particular attention to the way the power lines that carry electricity were depicted. We used a combination of silk-screen printing and offset printing to give the lines an organic, analogue appearance with slight shifts and inconsistencies in ink application.

What appears at first to be a single line, on closer inspection is revealed to be composed of multiple coloured lines overlayed on each other, with variegated gaps between the coloured segments.

This gives the transmission lines a sense of movement that represents the flow of electricity and the dynamic nature of functional design.