What Dee and Ady taught me

First off, an apology. This blog was required of me by my school, so I apologise if it comes across like one of those awful student blogs that is clearly a mandatory requirement of passing the course, complete with a clunking "what I learned" section at the end.

Last week was the deadline for the D&AD student awards. I managed to get an entry away before the deadline - with my partner Olly we've entered the "Peace One Day" brief, which asked us to find ways to raise awareness of International Peace Day, which is on September 21st. Look, I'm raising awareness even now.

The first thing that I learned is that D&AD operate with a level of control and paranoia I haven't experienced since I had a call from the Disney trademark infringement department a few years back. To be fair, their staff are lovely, but their rules and regulations are remarkably stringent. For example, you can't use any copyrighted images without permission except those of the sponsor - and as ours involved suggesting a corporate tie-in, this meant half our time was spent on the phone begging them to let us use their logo.

My belief in the strength of creative partnerships was reinforced considerably. More than any other project we've worked on, where very often the idea has been mostly down to one of us, this was one that we could never have produced without each other. The strategy - finding ways in which the themes of peace and conflict can be found in our everyday life - was mine. This then inspired Olly to have an idea - which I then researched and suggested an improvement to, including the name. And then we pushed the idea forward together.

You have to learn to be careful when asking for advice, because you can easily lose sight of the objective - winning the award. We spoke to a very helpful industry insider and used many of his technical hints, whereas the creative advice suggested was more appropriate for a business pitch rather than an awards entry.

And lastly, I learned that Olly Wood is the most talented, dedicated, and reliable Art Director in the known universe.

Thanks. I'll be gushing or sarcastic about another advert tomorrow.