December 2012 (208)

Whatever your take on them, it’s no secret that winning awards can do great things for your career. In some cases they lead directly to a commission; in others they can raise your profile and add an extra shot of kudos to your creative practice.

Of course, designers rarely approach a live brief with a particular award scheme in mind – but as this month’s cover feature attests, there are some common factors among projects that have attracted recognition from D&AD, the AOI and beyond. Through a series of inspiring case studies, we explore how art directors and illustrators worked in tandem to get noticed in all the right places.

This issue also bears the fruits of a productive day at Reasons To Be Creative in Brighton (which many of you will remember as Flash On The Beach). Sara Blake discusses surviving on snatched hours of sleep and juggling a day job with a busy second life as a freelance illustrator, and we also caught up with responsive web design expert Mark Boulton Design.

For those with a passion for the smaller screen, the creatives behind Partly Cloudy reveal how they made the weather more beautiful with interactive iPhone infographics; plus your usual healthy crop of tutorials includes everything from layering up a vintage collage to creating scalable pop-art-style vectors.

Phew, December already – where did the year go? We’ll see you next month for our January 2013 issue...

Nick Carson Editor