We popped over to Urbis yesterday to have a look at this year’s D&AD exhibition, and have to say, it gets two Thoughtful thumbs up. We really liked the way Urbis has laid everything out, it feels a lot fresher than last year’s exhibition.

Oddly, the first thing your eyes are drawn to when you arrive, isn’t the great work on show, but a collection of giant-sized stationery items.

We’re not sure why they’re there, but we’re guessing they’re meant to compliment the huge yellow pencils dotted around the exhbition.

Each of these pencils doubles as a workstation that lets children come up with their own designs through a set of small design briefs on each pencil. We like the idea of getting kids interested in design and ideas because from a kids point of view, design can be misunderstood, taken for granted, unachievable, not relevant, and maybe a bit boring. If exhibitions like this can spark the next generation of Beattie’s and Sagmeister’s, then we’re all for it.

It’s great to see work in the flesh too. You couldn’t appreciate how good the lenticular cover is on the Draft magazine until you see it for yourself.

The Artois campaign makes a good impact when placed together.

And here’s one of the fantastic posters by McCann Erickson Singapore seen through, you guessed it, the handle of a giant pair of scissors.

Wayne Rooney also makes an appearance. Is this how you feel when you win a yellow or black pencil?

As we were saying before, the exhibition feels fresh. We think this is due to the fact the work isn’t laid out in a consistant way. There are pieces framed, hanging, in lightboxes, pasted on big hexagonal stands and in cabinets.

Well, we had more pictures, but we didn’t want to spoil it for you. The D&AD exhibition is on until February 2008 so there’s plenty of time to see it for yourself before it closes, and it’s free entry.

Let us know what you think.

We finally made it to the 25 year Haçienda exhibition at Urbis today (having found an hour when we were all free at the same time). You’d be forgiven in thinking it was an exhibition purely about design, rather than the club, due the the massive amount of great posters, flyers, T-shirts, and other pieces of print there. You can see how important it was that the era-defining music went hand in hand with era-defining design, to make the Haçienda one of the world’s most famous nightclubs.

It’s easy to see the influence Peter Saville’s work has on today’s designers. This poster below, was designed in 1978, but looks as though it could’ve been done yesterday.

One piece that really stood out for us was this poster, designed Mark Farrow in 1997.

It’s only when you get some light on it, that it really comes alive. (Imagine it on a busy road at night, with all the headlights from cars going past...)

Another thing that caught our eye, was a written piece by David Crow, Head of the School of Design at Manchester Metropolitan University.

He talks about how Factory Records has left a lasting mark on contemporary design, and in a nice surprise to us, he mentions Thoughtful.

It’s safe to say, at only 9 months old, we can only dream of having our work talked about in 25 years time.

The exhibition is on until February, and it’s free to get in. In case you can’t make it, Tom from TDC has taken lots more shots which you can see here.