A UK creative team have designed, printed and published a 542 page knock-off of the 2020 D&AD Annual, following its move to an exclusively digital format.
The Bootleg Annual 2020 is the unofficial dodgy knock-off of the 58th D&AD Annual. In print. It comes following an online campaign to persuade D&AD to #PrintThe58th, which picked up the support of some big industry names.
It’s a 542 page book, roughly the same size as a normal annual, containing all of the pencil-winning work from the 2020 D&AD Awards, along with a few added touches and a foreword written by Sir John Hegarty.
The book leans heavily into its ‘bootleg’ nature, in terms of tone of voice, materials and design aesthetic, with a fluted cardboard cover, bad photocopy textures and a questionable take on D&AD’s new typographic style.
The creative team behind the book, Rhys Hughes and Barret Helander featured in the official D&AD Annual for the first time for their campaign, The Illegal Blood Bank, and were “gutted” to discover the annual was going to be exclusively digital.
“The digital annual is fantastic. It connects creatives all over the world with an infinitely inspirational archive. But do the book and the website have to be mutually exclusive?” said Hughes.
Helander added: “The printed D&AD Annual is one tradition we think would be sad to lose to technology. This is our tribute to the book we can’t bear to let go, and all of the outstanding creative work within it”
The team have received the advice and support of industry legends Sir John Hegarty, Nick Worthington and Paul Belford all of whom share the sentiment that the book should stay.
Sir John Hegarty said: “Since its beginning D&AD has championed creativity, showcasing that work in an annual. A permanent record for all to see. The Bootleg Annual follows that vital tradition in a year that no one will ever forget. Our future is creative and this annual showcases it.”
The Bootleg Annual 2020 goes on sale today with a super limited print run of 100. The books cost £58 (it is the 58th annual after all) with any money left over being donated to D&AD’s education fund
