The D&AD Design & Art Direction Awards in the UK is a prestigious award that garners attention from creative people worldwide. Each year, the organizer recruits top designers and masters in the field of creative advertising to serve as judges to select high-level outstanding works. Associate Professor Ken-Tsai Lee from the Department of Design at Taiwan Tech, who has received the symbolic D&AD Pencil Award several times, has been selected this year as the Jury Chairman for the “Typography Application Category”. He is also the first Taiwanese to be invited to serve as the Jury Chairman in this category in recent years.

Associate Professor Ken-Tsai Lee from the Department of Design at Taiwan Tech.

The British D&AD Awards, which began in 1962, attract thousands of submissions annually, with only about 5% of works receiving nominations. The selection criteria are extremely strict, earning it a reputation as one of the most prestigious awards in the global creative advertising and design industry. Each year, design teams, illustrators, and advertisers from around the world participate, making it one of the most representative creative design competition indicators of the contemporary era.

The awards are divided into different categories in fields such as advertising creativity, design, and interaction. These categories include the Wood Pencil Award, Graphite Pencil Award, Yellow Pencil Award, Black Pencil Award, White Pencil Award, and the New Blood Award for students. The Black Pencil is the highest honor, with the works selected by the category's jury chairpersons. Only a few works with breakthrough creativity receive this honor each year, and sometimes, the Black Pencil is not awarded for several years, highlighting its high prestige and value.

This time, Ken-Tsai Lee was invited to serve as a jury chairman representing an opportunity for Taiwanese participation in the selection of Black Pencil-winning works. This breaks away from the traditional role of Taiwanese designers as merely “being decided upon” in international contexts, demonstrating that the performance and opinions of Taiwanese designers are gradually gaining recognition. Professor Ken-Tsai Lee received the Wood Pencil Award in 2021 and has served as a judge for several international design competitions, including the Type Directors Club in New York, the IF Awards in Germany, and the Communication Arts in the USA, distinguishing himself in various fields such as graphic design, typography, advertising creativity, and contemporary art.

Associate Professor Ken-Tsai Lee organized the annual exhibition of the New York Type Directors Club at Taiwan Tech in 2020. The visual design from that exhibition received the Wood Pencil Award at the D&AD Awards in 2021.

Associate Professor Ken-Tsai Lee expressed his honor at being invited to serve as a Jury Chairman for D&AD, stating, “Serving in this role not only means leading various category judging panels but more importantly, showcasing fair and just judging standards to select high-quality works. At the judging event to be held in London at the end of May, I look forward to selecting this year's most outstanding works together with judges from various countries.”

Professor Ken-Tsai Lee pointed out that in recent years, there has been an increasing number of designers from Chinese-speaking countries serving as judges in international competitions related to typography design. This signifies the considerable influence of the Chinese-speaking world in international competitions. He said, “The Typography Application Category focuses on the application of fonts in design, not necessarily redesigning fonts. The emphasis lies in the integration of fonts with design themes and the close relationship with media applications.”

Professor Ken-Tsai Lee has been teaching in the Department of Design at Taiwan Tech for a decade. He introduced exhibitions such as the annual exhibition of the New York Type Directors Club and the touring exhibition of the D&AD Awards from the UK. Many award-winning works from international heavyweight design competitions have been showcased at Taiwan Tech, broadening the horizons of students and Taiwanese designers. Through the excellent performance of these works in international competitions, Taiwan's design strength and influence on the international stage have been demonstrated.

This year, there are more than 350 creative experts from over 50 countries serving as judges. They will travel to London in mid-May to judge various categories, including graphic design, advertising creativity, product design, and typography applications.

Associate Professor Ken-Tsai Lee's design work “I am Ken-Tsai Lee” received the Design & Art Direction Award from D&AD in 2004.