Eye Magazine

It was a tough call, but the Just Add Stock award for Printed advertising went to Why Not Associates. Their winning entry was a poster for Rupert Murray’s The End Of The Line, a documentary exposing the devastating effect of overfishing on the world’s oceans.

Setting one dramatic stock image alongside type, Why Not Associates captured the film’s stark message.

Why Not Associates were established in 1987 by Andrew Altmann, David Ellis and Howard Greenhalgh. A multi-disciplinary design partnership, their projects have ranged from exhibition design to postage stamps via advertising, publishing, television titles and corporate identity. Their current work is largely split between three mediums: print based design, moving image projects and public art. Why Not’s core team attribute their impressive range down to a ‘spirit of optimistic experimentation’, on the part of the client as much as the designer:

‘It is our skill as visual communicators which tends to lift our work beyond the various mediums that carry the message... The output is amazingly varied, but what links it all is the clients’ willingness to share a spirit of adventure and invention.’

Above: Mesmerisation: Why We Are Losing Our Minds To Global Culture, Gee Thomson. 230-page book drawing from topics of contemporary culture. Design by Why Not Associates.

Above: A set of five stamps commissioned for the Queen's 40th Anniversary of her accession to the throne. Design by Why Not Associates.

Just Add Stock: Printed advertising / Why Not Associates
Poster for Rupert Murray’s The End Of The Line, 2009
Design: Why Not Associates
Image: Rainer Jahns / Alamy

To see the winnners, plus all the highly commended entries, read our article about Just Add Stock in Eye 73, out now!

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The End of the Line on Dogwoof