The 2005 Adobe Design Achievement Awards

July 26, 2005 12:14 PM

The 2005 Adobe Design Achievement Awards, which "celebrate student achievement that reflects the powerful convergence of technology and creative arts." You can also browse past winners from 2004, 2003, 2002, and 2001 [via]...
posted by tpl1212 (9 comments total)

The winning stuff for "Self Expression" is really neat.

Thanks, tpl1212.
posted by Espy Gillespie at 12:20 PM on July 26, 2005

Neat, but don't they all seem a little generic? There's obvious mastering of the technical aspects of design but it all seemed that I have seen it before, nothing inspiring or innovative. Perhaps I am being too harsh.
posted by geoff. at 12:33 PM on July 26, 2005

The ADA is pretty conservative with their choices. At the end, it's just a promotional for Adobe, and they're careful with what they choose to represent themselves.

That said, I have an honorable mention somewhere in the competition. (hint: the project title is the same as my user name here.)
posted by still at 1:06 PM on July 26, 2005

Very interesting to browse through their selections. Too bad they don't provide full-views, a lot of these don't get any justice at such a small scale. Nice work, still!
posted by prostyle at 1:10 PM on July 26, 2005

Neat stuff. Too bad that they're such tiny screens (especially the posters, which are meant to be seen large). Still, if you want good technical design, this is it.
posted by klangklangston at 1:23 PM on July 26, 2005

I think it's a bit "meh" myself. Bland and without much passion. Hey look, I traced a photo of a fish in illustrator.
posted by zpousman at 1:26 PM on July 26, 2005

This is shit.
posted by fleetmouse at 2:29 PM on July 26, 2005

I note the self-expression winner features an anthropomorphic coily-shit standing atop a building.
posted by five fresh fish at 2:59 PM on July 26, 2005

The ADA is pretty conservative with their choices. At the end, it's just a promotional for Adobe, and they're careful with what they choose to represent themselves.

I was an ADAA judge in 2002, so I can say from experience that this isn't true. Other than their selection of the judges, Adobe had no influence whatsoever over what was selected. We just picked work that we thought was good.

An example: Poop Them Out by Akiko Ito is a beautiful (and funny) anti-war poster that could have been done with crayons--in fact we didn't care what software was used at all, just that it was a great poster.

If there was any limitation on the work included, it's that there weren't as many entries as there could have been--especially considering the big cash prizes they gave to the winning students. I encourage all of my students to enter every year.
posted by notclosed at 4:48 AM on July 27, 2005