Dog’s Bollocks Student Awards 2012: Call for Entries

Here at Design Bridge we started our own internal awards way back in the 90’s as a bit of fun called ‘The Dog’s Bollocks’. As the group blossomed with offices in Amsterdam and Singapore it was time to take the awards more seriously, to judge the quality of the work and to create a benchmark, constantly encouraging self improvement. We created a judging system that allowed the truly big ideas to be recognised.

The Dog’s Bollocks lives on in our student brief, for final year university students, which we have set for many years encouraging the highest creative standards. The DB Student Awards runs in parallel with our internal awards and will be judged by our creative directors and guest judge.

This is your chance to enter and win the opportunity of a paid work placement within our London studio.

Many of our designers were offered a position through this award and are now working and developing their careers with us here at Design Bridge. So if you want to be the Bee’s Knees or the Cream of the Crop enter this year’s DB Awards.

Brief: Reinterpret a Category

Design projects sometimes follow established category norms, but often the best work breaks these rules. ‘Breakthrough’ is one of the judging criteria for all of the design work produced at Design Bridge.

Does a Pot Noodle really need a picture of noodle at the front? Does it need to be in a tub?

Can the pack convey functionality or the emotional side of the brand?

Why can’t a sophisticated chocolate brand be spontaneous and vibrant? Should a premium alcohol be minimalist?

We want you to choose a brand, product or service and redesign it in a breakthrough way. Everything is up for grabs; logo, colour, shape, texture… but what we are really looking for is a big idea!

Deadline 28th May 2012 6pm
Download the 2012 brief here.

New Design Bridge designers from 2011 awards

A quick chat with our new designers who are now part of the Design Bridge studio through the Dogs Bollocks 2011…

“Hi, I’m Sapphire and I studied at the amazing Norwich University College of the Arts.

I entered a chocolate bar, named Breakaway, that I believed was in desperate need of a rebrand and to be brought back to life!

The ‘big idea’ was based around the name Breakaway, the idea of getting away.  It was an exciting product to rebrand as it gave me many routes and ideas from just basing it around the name, however, in the end I settled on the idea of tickets for travelling, as I thought this could lead onto exciting ideas! I was influenced by many different tickets used for transport ranging from airline tickets to everyday bus tickets. This idea produced a range of different styled, bold coloured tickets, and to reinforce the idea more, you had to literally  ”breakaway” a ticket from one another within the pack.  The ticket inspired chocolate bars gave me the scope to do the outer packing for the multi-packs, to create advertising, and also design the shelf trays.

If any of you are thinking about entering the competition I’d say, definitely go for it! I’m so happy I did, because of entering the competition it meant I got to show Design Bridge my portfolio which then lead me to land a job.

Can’t wait to see all of your ideas and finally, good luck!” Sapph

“Hello! I’m Dan Bloomfield and I studied at University College Falmouth in Cornwall.

I entered a re-branding and re-packaging of Schwartz Herbs & Spices. The ‘Big Idea’ I guess was to allow people to use their herbs / spices as they liked, pinching some herbs and chucking them in or measuring out a level teaspoon. The previous spice jars pretty much told the user what to do with it, which was a restriction and sometimes a bit silly (found a jar of whole nutmegs with a shaker lid).

The branding takes all the elements that have been used throughout the history of Schwartz, but re-assembled them into a logo which I think sums up the quality and history of the brand. The packaging is a nod to the spice jars of old which where white ceramic with cork stoppers as lids, the shape tessellates well and each side of the packaging has a different way to read it. I wanted people to start leaving their herbs / spices out on the kitchen counter or shelf and use them much more often instead of burying them away in the back of a cupboard.

I recommend taking part in the competition to everyone. It’s such a good opportunity, and ultimately led me to work here at Design Bridge!” Dan

We will be updating the blog with all news on the awards, winning design from previous years and uploading entries. Follow us on Twitter for all Design Bridge and DB Awards news.

For students / lecturers / course leaders:
We have prepared a special pack which we will be sending out soon, which will include books, posters and briefing materials. To get your hands on one, contact us at dbawards12@designbridge.com. Created for lecturers and student bloggers.

Further reading:

Last years winners and runners up
Design Bridge D&AD Lecture: How to become a Junior Designer

3 Responses

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  1. Written by Marwah El Kamil
    on March 3, 2012 at 6:24 pm
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    I am in love with anything that has to do with branding. And i love the process of creating a brand. It somehow inspires me the way a branding agency does. I was wondering if this competition is brought internationally. And if it is, for a person form Sudan and on her final year with a motivation to work in such field, am i capable to participate?

  2. Written by Christian Bird
    on March 6, 2012 at 9:49 am
    Permalink

    Hi Marwah, the competition is definitely open to international entries – we are an international company! We have offices in London, Amsterdam and Singapore. Just make sure to have your entry with us by 28th May

  3. Written by Design Bridge blog
    on June 19, 2012 at 9:34 am
    Permalink

    [...] Last year we employed two people that we met as a result of the Dog’s Bollocks Awards. You can read their stories here. [...]

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