Creativity Is Dead: Noma Bar and D&AD 2026 Challenge the Industry to Prove Otherwise

Awards and RecognitionNoma Bar
Written By Dutch Uncle

Noma Bar and the Creative Pulse Behind D&AD 2026

D&AD has launched its 2026 Awards programme by announcing, with a perfectly straight face, that Creativity is Dead. Very cheerful. The point though, is not all doom and gloom. It’s a prod…well, a polite shove. A reminder that maybe we’re not being crushed by AI overlords after all. Maybe we’re spending too much time scrolling and not enough time actually making anything which is the polite way of saying we’re all sat around admiring everyone else’s “genius” while doing nothing about our own.

The danger isn’t robots stealing our jobs or some big tech conspiracy. The real threat is simple inaction, good old-fashioned procrastination dressed up as “research.”

According to Nils Leonard’s D&AD manifesto, creativity isn’t being stolen; it’s being abandoned before it starts. The industry has become fantastic at watching, analysing, saving mood boards, and talking a big game… but a lot less impressive at actually making anything.

The provocation couldn’t be clearer: Stop scrolling. Start creating.

[Explore Noma Bar’s Portfolio]

 

Creativity doesn’t show up like some magical delivery from the universe saying “Hello mate, here’s your brilliant idea for today.”

No. It survives through doing, messing up, failing, doing them again, and then doing something so weird you laugh at yourself - before realising “you know what, that actually works”.

It’s about trying odd angles, connecting dots that probably shouldn’t be in the same room together, and following a hunch even when it feels ridiculous.

Creativity only lives if someone picks up a pencil, opens a blank file, scribbles, hates it, erases half of it, erases all of it, erases someone else’s masterpiece just to see what happens, ruins it, fixes it, ruins it again, and keeps going. That’s the whole game.

And if anyone gets this, it’s Noma. People look at his award-winning images and assume he sits there, halo glowing, effortlessly producing genius with a thought and a deft stroke, like he’s channeling some higher power.

But have a peek at his sketchbooks. Beautiful, organised chaos. Random drawings, half-finished shapes, scraps glued together, little visual experiments that look like he’s trying to invent a new language. And that’s exactly the point: the miracle isn’t divine inspiration — it’s the messing about beforehand. It’s the ten things that don’t work before the one that finally hits the nail on the head with that classic Noma “say-everything-with-almost-nothing” clarity.

The new manifesto,shaped with the team at Uncommon, carries the fingerprints of Nils Leonard, who has never been shy about calling out creative complacency. The campaign asks the world’s makers one straightforward question: Is creativity dead or alive? And the answer depends entirely on whether people decide to shut the laptop for a minute and actually do something.

Noma Bar Takes the Lead for Illustration

Noma Bar has been named the 2026 Illustration Jury President and honestly, it’s a no-brainer. He makes images that work harder than most full campaigns. Simple. Sharp. Cuts straight to the point. His whole thing is crafted intention, actually thinking about what you’re saying before you slap it on a page, which is exactly what illustration needs right now.

And yeah, once you get a bit further into the story, he naturally becomes Noma, because once the job title and awards fall away, you’re left with the person who actually does the work.

And in a year where AI is spitting out pictures like a firehose with no off switch, the difference really shows. Anyone can generate an image these days. Press a button, boom: “art.” But very few can make an image that actually means something. That’s the gap Noma protects, the human bit. The experimenting, the choosing, the editing, the cutting, the refining, until the picture finally says what it’s supposed to say.

Illustration stays alive because illustrators actually show up and do the graft. Not half-arse it. Not repeatedly trying to prompt a bot churn out nonsense, but really get stuck in and get their hands dirty.

And if you want proof of what that looks like, you point to Noma. He’s practically the mascot for doing the work properly.

The 2026 Jury Presidents

The full list of 2026 Jury Presidents spans agencies, brands and independent outfits from around the world:

Dentsu Tokyo
Airbnb
FCB Global
72andSunny
Havas Health & You
Dutch Uncle

Full Jury Line-Up (with Companies)

Below is the fully expanded judging roster for 2026:

  • Animation — Marilena Vatseri (NOMINT)

  • Art Direction — Yoshihiro Yagi (Dentsu Tokyo)

  • Book Design — David Pearson (Type as Image)

  • Brand Identity Refresh — Teemu Suviala (Landor)

  • Casting — Claire Catterson (Claire Catterson Casting)

  • Commerce — Till Diestel (Serviceplan Germany)

  • Creator Content — Akanksha Goel (Socialize / We Are Social)

  • Cultural Influence — Geoff Edwards (GALE)

  • Digital Marketing — Tara McKenty (AKQA)

  • Digital Experience Design — Teo Connor (Airbnb)

  • Direct — Danilo Boer (FCB Global)

  • Direction — Gabriel Moses (DIVISION)

  • Editing — Yorgos Lamprinos (Cosmic)

  • Entertainment & Sports Entertainment — Matt Murphy (72andSunny)

  • Experiential — Youri Guerassimov (Marcel)

  • Film — Brent Anderson (TBWA\Media Arts Lab)

  • Gaming & Virtual Worlds — Claudio Lima (WOW Gaming Ventures)

  • Graphic Design — Naomi Hirabayashi (PLUG-IN GRAPHIC)

  • Health — Eric Weisberg (Havas Health & You)

  • Illustration — Noma Bar (Dutch Uncle)

  • Impact — Ali Rez (Impact BBDO)

  • Luxury — Priya Matadeen (Mulberry)

  • Magazine & Newspaper Design — Birthe Steinbeck (Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin)

  • Media — Resh Sidhu (Snap Inc.)

  • New Brand Identity — Cat How (How&How)

  • Packaging Design — Gush Mundae (Bulletproof)

  • Photography — Prashant Godbole (ideas@work Advertising)

  • Press & Outdoor — Reed Collins (Ogilvy)

  • Product Design — Tom Lloyd (Pearson Lloyd)

  • Production Design — Dulcidio Gutierrez Caldeira (Boiler Films)

  • Radio & Audio — Mandie van der Merwe (Saatchi & Saatchi)

  • Sound Design & Use of Music — Gilvana Viana (MugShot)

  • Type Design & Lettering — Veronika Burian (TypeTogether)

  • Typography — Liu Zhao (another design)

  • Visual Effects — Louise Unwin (JAMM)

  • Writing for Design — Holly Kielty (Holly Kielty Limited)

Creativity Needs a Pulse — Not a Eulogy

OK . Cool. The manifesto for this year’s D&AD awards lands with that perfect mix of humour and blunt honesty. Creativity isn’t lying in a hospital bed waiting for the priest.

It’s sitting there, tapping its foot, waiting for someone to actually do something with it. Sure, tools are faster, and AI is buzzing around with enough enthusiasm to make you wonder if it knows something we don’t.

Yes, the whole creative landscape looks different, but creative work still needs a person who’s excited enough to have a go… and god forbid, have some fun in the process.

With Noma leading the Illustration jury, that whole message suddenly has a face you can point to. Someone who understands clarity and makes choices with confidence and purpose. Someone who keeps the craft alive, one tiny, deliberate decision at a time, not through smoke and mirrors, but through doing the work.

If creativity were properly dead, we’d all be reenacting the 1985 B-movie Re-Animator, jabbing it with a neon serum, screaming “IT’S ALIVE!”, and then running for our lives when it inevitably goes feral.

Further Reading

Dutch Uncle

Dutch Uncle is an award-winning international illustration and animation agency founded in 2006 by Helen Cowley. With offices in London, New York, and Tokyo, we operate across every major timezone, connecting the world's most ambitious brands with exceptional global creative talent.

Over nearly two decades, Dutch Uncle have built one of the most decorated artist rosters in the industry. Our artists have produced Gold Clio and Cannes Lions award-winning work for clients spanning fashion, luxury, fintech, tech, healthcare, and publishing. We have collaborated on prestige illustration and animation projects for global leaders, including Hermès, Burberry, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Rimowa, as well as Apple, Google, Mercedes, Netflix, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, The New York Times.

We represent illustrators and animation directors who lead their fields in conceptual thinking, visual intelligence, and craft. Artists whose work cuts through algorithmic sameness to deliver genuine cultural impact.

Beyond our core roster, we also draw on an international network of talent across five continents to meet the scale and complexity of any brief.

Dutch Uncle operates as a full-service creative production partner, managing everything from artist sourcing and briefing through to licensing, copyright, animation production, and final delivery.

We specialise in complex, multi-market projects that demand creative precision and seamless execution. Whether that is a single editorial commission, a suite of high-impact social media assets, or a global animated campaign.

For nearly twenty years, the world's leading agencies, publishers, cultural institutions, and brands have trusted us to bring their most ambitious work to life.

https://www.dutchuncle.co.uk
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