YCN briefs announced...

Was informed that the YCN design award briefs have gone live, and after casting my eye on them i'm instantly more excited about these than any of the D&ad ones. Looks like the yellow pencil will be evading me!

The one thats most caught my eye, and that i want to  will tackle, is the Roald Dahl brief. Having recently taken part in the Beatrix Potter Re-imagined competition, with a fair bit of success, this is very much in a similar vein. 

from the YCN site:

We invite you to illustrate a series of iconic scenes, featuring at least three iconic characters from Roald Dahl’s inventive, revolting, wicked, or friendly stories in a style of your choosing. None of your illustrations should be boring, safe, or predictable. All styles welcome.

The scenes can be from any of Roald Dahl’s stories for children. You’ll find a list within the project pack as well as a selection of extracts for your inspiration, but you don’t have to stick to these.

You can choose to illustrate between one and three scenes. Within this series, you should illustrate at least one child character, one villain character and one fantastical creature — whether this be a witch, a giant, an insect or an oompa-loompa!

You can select scenes from a mixture of novels, although the illustrations should appear as if part of a coherent series.

The illustrations should also compliment our logo - you’ll find some copies of this in the project pack.

In fact the more i read it, the more ideas start popping into my head about how these could all look. Excited!! Having used a winning formula (almost) with my Potter creation, i'd be able to hit the ground running with this and experiment with compositions & colours only this time featuring Dahl characters. 

Which ones to chose will be the toughest question!

The other brief in close contention is for Greenalls Gin.

From the site:

We would like you to choose quintessential British moments that have lasted through time and are still relevant today and produce a piece of creative that brings this to life in a contemporary way and has Greenall’s at its heart.

You can choose any of our Greenall’s products to be at the centre of your designs, but obviously certain products will suit certain occasions better. For example the quintessential British afternoon tea, which is still in vogue years after its conception, could be a perfect pairing for a cocktail made with our Greenall’s Wild Berry. Another example could be our premixed cans that might be the perfect addition to the infamous Great British Picnic.

Your creative could be applied across any channel. It might feature on a piece of limited edition marketing collateral, such as a coaster, a postcard, a gift with purchase or a neck tag. Or it might be shared as part of our Facebook strategy to recruit new consumers into Greenall’s or engage with our existing fans. Or it might constitute a poster campaign. We are also open to any medium — from print to photography, video, graphic design, animation, illustration etc.