The impact of global environmental crises and a shift in consumer mindsets towards more conscious habits has positioned honesty and transparency as essential values for many brands. ‘Clean’, holistic lifestyles where people are encouraged to be more mindful about their health, wellness and what they consume have been advocated by Instagram influencers, athletes and Netflix documentaries alike in recent years. Consumers now desire to know more about the provenance of goods, production practices, and supply chains, and seek out products that use natural ingredients and materials.

Given this context, it is no surprise that much of the 2020 shortlisted and winning work has seen nature as not just an inspiration but also as a tool in the creative, craft and design process. The natural world has infiltrated design and also the materials, as the medium becomes a way to solidify the message. And digital design methods, such as composited digital imagery and animation, have been a vehicle to produce hyperreal takes on organic forms in order to tell stories about stewardship of the natural world.

This fearless approach stopped people in their tracks with striking imagery and sparked global debate. It took a huge risk that could have alienated consumers, putting them off their burgers for good, but instead acted as a radical separation from the image of fast food of the past and the contemporary appetite for cleaner ingredients. Ali Gee, Deputy CEO and Senior Partner at FleishmanHillard Fishburn and D&AD PR Jury President said: “It’s a brave thing to tamper with the product, to show how it would look at its worst, but this campaign showed that bravery pays. Not only did this totally pull the rug from under Burger King’s competition and land the ‘no preservatives’ message, it was a work of art and the talk of the earned media town all over the world.”

It's not recycling, it's reincarnation by agency GSW New York is a poster series that celebrated International Composting Awareness Week 2019. The digitally manipulated photography shows mutant combinations, such as chicken bones and mushrooms, a fish skeleton and a radish. Again demanding attention with a shock tactic that borders on the repulsive, this campaign stops people in their tracks, presenting them with an uneasy image that provokes further thought, and encourages people to compost rather than throw food waste into landfill.

Made in Fukushima by agency Serviceplan Germany again used natural materials to aid the design process and channel the message holistically. By crafting the book using rice from the decontaminated fields in Fukushima, and illustrating the pages with the scientific data behind the process, the medium itself became proof of its message that the material was safe, boosting consumer confidence in purchasing the product.

Grey Tokyo's Hankograph for WILDAID also channeled its message through the specific choice of natural materials. In calling for people to use a kinder and more sustainable alternative to ivory, a material often used in Japanese hanko, they created a film using the wooden alternative. Most of the public are unaware of the animal suffering that takes place to source ivory, so the urgent requirement to find a more environmentally friendly solution fed directly into the design process itself with this campaign.

To increase public participation in the Environmental Dreamer Festival, agency LiaoDesign needed to help people reconnect with nature. This campaign invited people to submit stories about environmental protection accompanied by self portraits, using natural elements such as sun, leaves and water to do so. These creations became a vital visual display at the exhibition, highlighting the importance of audience co-creation as a means to increase engagement, whilst encouragement of the use of natural elements in the design process connected participants to the natural environment.

Organic forms have also inspired concept and style in design work. Jia Hui is a beautifully produced book about plant art paintings and records the innovation and inheritance of four generations of plant painters over 100 years. The green cover symbolises vegetation, using natural texture, gliding dots and impressed filaments. Designed by Nanjing Han Qing Tang Design for Phoenix Science Press, it was awarded a Yellow Pencil in Book Design. Speaking with D&AD earlier this year, Donna Payne, Creative Director at Faber & Faber said, “Every turn of the page was a delight and it took what could have been a dry, serious subject, which was this history of botanical art, and turned it into something fresh and original.”

Also tapping natural form and channeling into the design concept, Hair Calligraphy and Painting by Dentsu West Japan for NICCA Chemical combined the ancient art of calligraphy with the organic form of human hair to amplify its message of hair health within the striking graphic lines of the design.

When the craft, materials and design also embody the message itself, it provides a through-line of authenticity to communicate messages rooted in the natural. By incorporating organic form into design and even natural elements into the craft, this work not only tells but shows.

Theme Report by Neighbourhood, commissioned and edited by D&AD for the 2020 D&AD digital Annual.