Visiting Professionals - Peter & Paul

Peter & Paul are a design communications studio 'on first name terms with anyone who wants to talk about ideas.' The team, actually a team of 6 (not just Peter and Paul) based in Sheffield, approach briefs based on the individuality of a business, product, service or place - finding its unique selling point to generate ideas that will connect to their given audience. Clients of the studio range from big to small, from new ventures that need establishing to hugely successful clients who are looking for

something different.

'Great ideas and clear thinking work for all shapes and sizes.'

Peter and Paul create works in all of the following fields:

• Branding and Strategy
• Creative and Art Direction
• Spaces and Places
• Digital and Online
• Moving Image and Film
• Print and Editorial 

Having worked across all fields for Leeds College of Art as a client, Dan from Peter and Paul came in to talk about the studio's practice and process when designing - providing invaluable points of consideration and advice.

Firstly, Dan spoke of the importance of knowing the location/point of delivery for designs before beginning to generate ideas. Without knowing all the information and research prior to idea generation, resolutions become purely aesthetic with limited functional concepts.

A point stressed by Dan was the importance of generating a range of distinct, differentiating ideas before pitching to a client. When producing concepts for LCA, he noted there was around 16 alternating ideas in the beginning, which were then refined and shortlisted until the most appropriate/effective were selected - including a timeline of the College's history and

alumni amongst much more.

Perhaps the most valuable piece of information given by Dan from Peter & Paul was how to find the right balance between content and design, something they discovered the hard way when starting out.

He says when designing for 'content rich' pieces, the design element should be 'light' and minimal, whereas when designing aesthetic-driven pieces, the content should be 'light' and the visuals 'rich.'

This is something I will always keep at the forefront of my mind when considering ideas and given briefs.