RAW DESIGN TALENT ALIVE AND KICKING

Tunbridge Wells agency JDO continues annual creative competition RAW

Amelia Cherrill, a graphic design graduate from Norwich University has scooped first prize at our JDO RAW 2019 awards – an annual competition designed to celebrate the UK’s best emerging design talent.

JDO launched RAW in 2013 with the aim of identifying and celebrating the next generation of graphic design talent. With this year’s brief tasking the entrants to create a no/low alcohol brand from scratch – it was a tough but enticing challenge for hundreds of students from across the UK.  

“It was a challenging, provocative brief that clearly resonated with this year’s graduating design talent” explains Fiona Florence, Managing Director at JDO, and chair of the judges. “An opportunity for the students to flex some creative muscle and get their work in front of the creative industry’s most influential talent”.

The judging panel, including JDO creative directors Paul Drake and Ben Oates, also featured the musician Felix Buxton of Basement Jaxx and David Marchant, PepsiCo’s Head of Design for Western Europe. Following a rigorous judging process, Amelia Cherrill who created a premium distilled, no alcohol spirit called Hoodwink was announced the winner.

 “Amelia showed such passion, drive and professional maturity, it’s hard to believe she has only just graduated. With dedication and creative direction, she will continue to flourish in her chosen career path.” said Paul Drake, Founder and Creative Director, JDO.

Further commenting on the winning entry, Ben Oates, Principal and Group Creative Director, JDO said: “We judged all the work on the candidates' ability to tell a strong compelling visual story and their ability to craft and style that story. We looked for single-mindedness and an end result that evocatively touched us -Amelia's work demonstrated all of this alongside a very confident and inspiring use of colour. When trying to remember all the pieces it was Amelia's work that was burnt into our mind's eye. For these reasons she was our clear winner.”

Other notable zero-alcohol submissions included cero – Spanish for “zero” – a pink grapefruit tequila by Suzy Brewer from Kingston University; a raspberry infused spirit by Martha Grant from Nottingham Trent University; a colourful trio of cocktails by Emma Flintham from Plymouth University and an evocative dandelion flavoured spirit entitled Déjà Vu by Norwich University student Elliot Hartley.

Winner Ameila Cherrill said: “This competition was a great opportunity to create an innovative product for a really engaging brief. The support and feedback given by the team throughout was incredibly valuable. I think I speak for everyone when I say we had the best time.”