From typography campaigns for climate refugees to soap that fosters body autonomy, this year’s D&AD New Blood winners prove there’s no shortage of fresh thinking or ambition among tomorrow’s talent.
The D&AD New Blood Awards have long been a launchpad for emerging talent, and this year’s cohort is no exception. At a time when the creative industry is wrestling with seismic shifts – from AI to changing audience behaviours – the 2025 winners offer a glimpse of the ingenuity, empathy and sharp thinking that the next generation is ready to deliver.
A total of 184 Pencils were awarded this year across White, Black, Yellow, Graphite and Wood levels, honouring standout responses to 18 real-world briefs set by top brands, including Google Cloud, Depop, HSBC, Xbox, Monotype and Giffgaff. In a fiercely competitive field, nearly 6,000 entries poured in from 65 countries, judged anonymously by a panel of over 150 creative experts.
Paul Drake, foundations director at D&AD, summed it up neatly: “D&AD’s New Blood Awards brings a burst of creativity, a powerful reminder that new talent is the lifeblood of our industry.
“At a time when graduating students are navigating uncertain first steps, the showcase of New Blood winners provides a chance to celebrate the creatives behind the work and for our industry to support their rise with opportunities and jobs.”
The winning ideas addressed some of society’s thorniest challenges, from sexual health education to climate migration, all while spanning disciplines such as UX, animation, typography, experiential campaigns, and advertising.
One of the most striking projects came from a team responding to a brief by 21 Grams, which invited emerging talent to support people with Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome. Awarded a White Pencil, Consent Soap turned the everyday act of bathing into an educational moment about bodily autonomy.
Colour-coded soap bars – red for private areas, orange for trusted help only, green for safe to touch with consent – offered an accessible way to teach boundaries, a simple but powerful tool for communities with higher risks of sexual assault. As its creators put it, “We often overlook the bathroom as a learning space, but for individuals with Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome, routine and repetition make it ideal.”
Elsewhere, the Monotype brief led to Up to Our Necks, another White Pencil winner. By 2050, 1 in 7 Bangladeshis will be displaced by flooding, yet current refugee laws offer them no protection.
Using type as activism, this campaign transformed Linotype Bengali into a modular font where falling squares represented real-time climate displacement, urging world leaders to recognise climate-displaced individuals as refugees. The idea was to take the conversation all the way to COP 30, proving that typography can be more than letters on a page – it can be a catalyst for change.
The top Black Pencil winners showed equally fearless creativity. Ads for Rats flipped New York City’s infamous rat problem into an opportunity, proving that even the most unloved spaces can become advertising goldmines.
Meanwhile, Silent Shake explored Parkinson’s Disease through a typographic lens, drawing attention to early, subtle changes in handwriting captured in a custom typeface sourced from birthday cards written by individuals with Parkinson’s disease. It aimed to make early detection the norm by preserving a piece of human identity before it fades.
Also earning a Black Pencil was Second Serve for Depop, which subverted the world of professional tennis sponsorships. When Australian Open player Destanee Aiava stepped onto the court without a sponsor, the team saw an opportunity to rewrite the rules.
The second-hand fashion marketplace stepped in, dressing Aiava in vintage tennis gear sourced from its community. In a world of glossy brand endorsements, the move stood out for its authenticity, positioning second-hand clothing as a legitimate and even aspirational choice at the highest level of sport.
Across the board, this year’s work demonstrates how New Blood continues to push creative thinking beyond the obvious, tackling both commercial and cultural issues with a fresh perspective.
The awards ceremony took place at Leake Street Arches in London, marking the close of this year’s New Blood Festival, which ran from 30 June to 2 July at Protein Studios in Shoreditch. Over three days, more than 40 university courses showcased graduate portfolios alongside talks, workshops and portfolio reviews designed to help students and emerging talent build confidence, contacts and skills.
Highlights included a panel exploring the rise of in-house creativity, featuring Debbie Dillon (BBC Creative), Emma Sexton (Inside Out® Community) and Nitya Thawani (Google), as well as a session on the evolution of phone photography with Mr Whisper (Balwinder Bhatla). A panel on the fusion of design and technology, led by D&AD President Kwame Taylor-Hayford alongside Adobe’s Kladi Vergine and Monotype’s Tom Foley, underscored how creative work increasingly straddles art, technology and culture.
Adobe returned as headline partner for 2025, bringing a playground of AI-powered tools, including a preview of Photoshop for mobile. BBH also continued its support for emerging talent, offering portfolio surgeries and insights from ECD Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, while Little Black Book partnered with D&AD to provide student memberships for all participants.
The New Blood programme continues to stand out not just for celebrating ideas but for connecting graduates with genuine industry opportunities. Brands setting the briefs are able to take winning ideas forward into live projects, collaborating directly with the emerging creatives behind them. It’s a rare and valuable opportunity for graduates to see their conceptual ideas become tangible work and to build professional experience from the outset.
In an industry often fixated on experienced voices, New Blood reminds us of the power of new perspectives. From type-led protests to sponsorship subversion, 2025’s winners show that fresh talent isn’t just thinking about the next campaign; it’s thinking about the world and its place within it.
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