MANILA – January 14, 2014 – As the word on creativity, ad industry bible adobo magazine once again recognizes and celebrates the best in design with the 2014 adobo Design Awards.
"This year, we have opened the competition up to more artists, welcoming entries in new formats such as photography and wearable design. This way, we give due recognition to a wider range of creative pursuits," Angel Guerrero, president and editor-in-chief of adobo said during the press launch on January 14.
Now on its fifth year, the stakes are higher than ever, with the introduction of new formats and a judging panel composed of some of the top guns in the advertising and design industry.
The competition is divided into two categories: Professional, and Open/ Theme.
Philippine or foreign-based companies or individual advertising or creative professionals can submit their work under the Professional category. New formats include Photography, Video, and Wearable Design. A full list of formats can be viewed on the website.
Meanwhile, professionals, freelancers, and students of design and advertising can enter the Open/ Theme category. This year, the category’s theme, Design for the Future, calls for socially relevant design that is environmentally-conscious, sustainable, uses locally-sourced material, and reflects Filipino sensibilities. Formats can be anything from Packaging, Wearable Design, Environmental, Furniture, and Others.
Heading the jury this year is New York-based graphic designer and educator Lucille Lozada Tenazas. A design luminary, Tenazas has received countless awards for her work, including a National Design Award in Communications Design from the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum in 2002, and most recently, the 2013 AIGA Medal–perhaps the most distinguished award in the field of graphic design and communication–awarded by the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
"Our jury this year is a force to be reckoned with, ensuring that it is truly the best that will emerge as winners," Guerrero said, introducing the panel.
Joining Tenazas are some of the creative industry’s most accomplished names: Team Manila designer Jowee Alviar, bag designer and SoFA co-founder Amina Aranaz-Alunan, industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue, graphic designer AJ Dimarucot, architect Tobias Guggenheimer, TV commercial director Sid Maderazo, Rogue Magazine creative director Miguel Mari, illustrator Dan Matutina, sculptor and artist Leeroy New, animator Armand Serrano, photographer Jay Tablante, shoe designer Brian Tenorio, and design educator Dean Joey Yupangco.
Ad industry heavyweights will also be part of the jury, including TBWA\SMP assistant creative director John Ed de Vera, JWT Manila executive creative director Dave Ferrer, DM9JaymeSyfu chairman and chief executive officer Merlee Jayme, BBDO Guerrero executive creative director Dale Lopez, and MRM Manila executive creative director Budjette Tan. "I believe this will be the toughest design show in the country. You can see just from this jury how tough this design competition is going to be," Guerrero said.
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At the media launch, members of the jury shared their thoughts on the Awards, particularly on the Design for the Future category. According to Alviar, this theme would be very challenging for the entrants. "How can design help certain issues and problems? It’s not commercial anymore, it’s life changing, it’s for the betterment of the future," he said, adding that there are certain things that can be communicated or be solved through design. "We’re excited to see all the issues that the designers and creatives at looking at and how they can participate in solving these issues," he said.
Meanwhile, Jayme noted that Design for the Future does not necessarily entail high technology. "It’s not that. It’s more of it will change lives, it will change the world later on. It’s really the idea and the design of the idea that can help lives," she said.
Tenorio shared that the category was "fantastically, immensely exciting for me because the main challenge especially for young creatives is that you have them designing not for what will happen to us but designing and determining where we want to be."
New added that for him, design has always been an attempt to provide solutions. "I’ve always approached design as a type of problem solving," he said.
The jury also gave advice to entrants, such as Jayme’s practical tips to "Keep it clean, simple, and follow the rules on the size."
Deadline for submission of entries is on Friday, February 21, 2014. Winners will be awarded on March 28, 2014.
The adobo Design Awards is done in partnership with Smart, Ayala Museum, MyPhone, WYD Productions, Super Image Graphics, Inc., 1771 Group of Restaurants, Executive Decisions, PWC Isla Lipana & Co., TV5, 105.1 Crossover, Creative Voice of the Youth, Business Mirror, Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, and PortfolioMNL.
For more information, visit adobodesignawards.com, email designawards@adobomagazine.com, or call Ched Dayot at +632 845 0218, +632 507 8501, or +63906 359 9167.
