Volunteering at #DANDAD17 – judging days
Posted by Raluca Turcanasu on / 0 Comments
After 1.5 months of creative entrepreneurship fidgeting, drifting, navigating unfamiliar waters… here I am at the awe-inspiring D&AD Festival.
I decided to volunteer while I was still working at a local Romanian agency, in the rush of the moment. I was then contacted by Ian Lowe, the volunteer manager and a super skilled, hands-on event manager, and I got accepted, being one of the first applicants. I decided to volunteer for 3 days: before the festival – during the judging days, and on the second festival day – as a stage volunteer.
It’s super exciting, not only because I am around the best of the best creatives and brand people, but also because it’s my first time doing a large event. The rush, the energy, this alert vibration reminds me in a way of large shooting days. But it’s actually more.
+ MORE warm, kind people who appreciate your work, no matter if you’re just getting some lanyards ready, restocking a fridge or taking some coffee orders up to the jurors.
Thank you Ian, Maureen, Michelle, Bernard for this opportunity <3
+ MORE fairness at work, people actually insist that you leave when your shift ends and go out enjoy the day+ menial but important tasks – as my first Account Manager and mentor used to say
God is in the Details
+ I got to “judge” some branding work with the 2 super smart kids of @MarinaWiller. They are around 10 and they totally had that child-like ingenuity and wit: we were looking at some comm materials from some creative group and one of the executions was this pocket knife, in which the “knives” were cardboard people (because people are mind openers). And the little guy asked me: but how is this a good design if it’s a knife I cannot use? And it really got me thinking, that we often go so deep in the „communication materials” paradigm that we forget simpler things. Of course the purpose (the function) of that object was to communicate the creativity of those “mind-opening” people but..it still reminded me of this famous @cameronmoll qoute:
+ got to see the work before all other guests – even though without a brand context I could not „judge” it. But I must say it does look amazing and I am really honored to be around all those people. Also, I got to see the entire backstage of the festival, including bringing in the GoT Throne and building the Hasbro and Instagram playgrounds.
Here are just a few pics I managed to snap with my phone.
Will come back shortly with stories from #dandad17.
