Apple's entire design team recently made the trip to London to personally collect a pair of awards at the D&AD (British Design & Art Direction) dinner at Evolution in Battersea Park. The decision to bring the entire team to the UK is described as a rare moment of public unity by The Next Web.

The event was held to celebrate the D&AD's 50th anniversary. Awards were handed out across a number of different categories but it was Apple that stole the show on this particular evening.

Cupertino received two awards during the event: one for being the best brand and the other for having the best design studio of the last 50 years. Needless to say, the D&AD certainly thinks highly of Apple. Names of everyone in attendance weren't mentioned but we do know that 14 men and two women took the stage, including Apple's senior vice president of industrial design Jony Ive. Ive reportedly received a standing ovation at the ceremony.

Perhaps more telling is the fact that Apple flew the entire team in to accept the awards on the same week the iPhone 5 is being launched. It's a strange behavior from a company that traditionally has valued secrecy and staying out of the limelight. In fact, it's the first time that Apple's design team has ever attended such an event. Perhaps publicity like this will be more commonplace under Tim Cook's leadership.