Contest to Create 27th Letter

The challenge is open exclusively to members of the Art Directors Club's Young Guns.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 2/1/2008

Confounding kindergartners everywhere, a new charity contest is seeking to create the 27th letter.

Sponsored by the Art Directors Club and Moleskine, the competition is open exclusively to the Young Guns, a group of the visual communication club's members under the age of 30. The deadline for the contest is March 3. Finalists will be announced April 1, just as the club begins accepting entries for the sixth Young Guns class.

Participants can create the letter through any media, from type design and websites to video and photography. The results will be evaluated by a jury that will select 27 finalists to feature in a virtual exhibition on the ADC website, and in a limited edition Moleskin publication which will be available for sale to benefit Lettera 27, a non-profit literacy advocate.

"The undiscovered letter is an opportunity to find the intersection between analog and digital and determine how oral and written communication work in the future," says Ami Brophy, executive director of the Art Directors Club.

The Art Directors Club is a 87-year old non-profit organization whose membership includes some of the biggest names in design and media. Members include renowned graphic designers Ivan Chermayeff and Milton Glaser and avant-garde Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto. The Young Guns, admitted into the club through a biennial competition established in 1996, includes young talent in advertising, publishing, illustration, and packaging and environmental design.

Moleskine is the iconic notebook that was used by the likes of Vincent van Gogh, Picasso, and Ernest Hemingway. Instantly recognizable by its black cover, rounded corners, and elastic closure, it was a favorite of writers and artists for two centuries before ceasing production in the 1980's. The notebook was re-released in 1998.

"Both Moleskine and Lettera27 believe that by working with ADC Young Guns we can push unique literacy solutions to the forefront and motivate new activist networks," says Marco Beghin, president of Moleskine's U.S. office. "The ADC Young Guns represent a highly creative collective of forward-thinking individuals--the kind of thinkers who can push ideas forward through concepts and communication tools that ultimately activate resources."