Creative Director

D&AD _ 2015 Title Sequence



This year Mill+ continued their collaboration with the prestigious D&AD awards, creating the concept, design, art direction and animation for their 2015 ceremony.

The team, led by Mill+ creative directors Carl Addy and Nils Kloth, worked to bring the project to life from initial creative concept to the final execution, ensuring that the ideas worked across multiple touch points in an intriguing and striking way.
The designers worked in close collaboration with D&AD to develop all animated and static design elements for this year’s show, including the opening title sequence, ceremony teaser, tickets, direct mail, digital assets and book of the night.
The team set out to develop an idea that not only brought to life the core brand values of D&AD, but also conveyed the extraordinary tenacity and perseverance required when creating the world’s best work. Creative determination is a tireless pursuit, which is personified in the ‘ASCEND’ concept.

The concept takes five of the iconic D&AD pencils and visualizes them as individual mountains, each constructed from the materials represented in each award. From the Wood through to Yellow and Black pencils, we see the range depicted in varying heights, mirroring the levels of challenge associated with winning each one of these coveted accolades.

Mill+ designers created a bespoke headline font based on the classic Times typeface, as well as constructing the mountain graphics using Cinema4D, in conjunction with custom textures created by the Mill+ matte painting team. These print elements were then paired with a dynamic moving image title sequence, in which we see the mountains of creativity brought to life, paired with a gripping and emotive soundtrack designed by Grand Central Studios.

For a more in-depth look at the project, check out the D&AD Ceremony 2015 behind the scenes.




Creative Director: Carl Addy, Nils Kloth
Director: Carl Addy, Nils Kloth
Executive Producer: Luke Colson
Producer: Oana Anghel

Art Direction & Typography: Alexandra T, Pelham
Art Department: Charles Bigeast

3D Lead Artist: Fred Huergo
3D Artist: Anthony Fieldsend, Stephanie Dewhirst, Daniel Fitzgerald
Matte Painting: Can Y. Sanalan, Alex Caldow, Marie Tricart, Melanie Climent
Colourist: Timothy Smith
Editor: Hugo Vaughan Hughes, David Toba

Copyright Nils Kloth, 2023