We received 11,819 entries to this year’s Design Annual, down just slightly from the previous two years. That said, this was still a sizable show that impressed the judges in its variety. “I was pleasantly surprised by the wide array of styles of work,” said Drew Davies of Oxide Design Co. in Omaha, Nebraska. “The entries displayed a great showcase for the huge number of visual ways in which you can go about conveying a message.” “I was happy to see quite a few pieces outside of the editorial category using illustration,” said David Plunkert of Spur Design in Baltimore, Maryland. “Illustration tends to warm up an otherwise cold piece of corporate communication.” When asked about innovations this year, most judges were in agreement that economic conditions are still making clients cautious, although David Bates of BC Design in Seattle, Washington, saw new directions in motion graphics. “This was the stuff that I felt design was made for... pure, visual stimulation,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what the future brings to this segment of design. It may be that we (designers) will all need to offer this in order to be considered true designers.” How can the design profession improve its image with clients? Jurors’ responses were forceful. “This will only happen when designers can put forth better ideas than they are doing currently. Most designers now are only business decorators not collaborators,” said David Stoyan Wooters of Stoyan Design in Costa Mesa, California.