D&AD’s Black and Yellow pencils are design icons and the industry’s most coveted awards. However, the importance of other award levels in the program was misunderstood and less valued, so it was time to demystify the award hierarchy. The new awards line-up introduces two new pencils, but rather than rely on cliches of ‘gold, silver and bronze’, a neutral colour palette starting with natural wood for the first award level is in-keeping with the unique spirit of D&AD. The famous Yellow and Black pencils are still the heroes while the new pencils are desirable objects in their own right.