If you’ve arrived here without taking a look at the Services page, you won’t have read that I work and collaborate with some incredibly talented people. I’ve known, and worked with my team and partners for the best of 12 years - and I’ve known some of them personally for a lot longer!

I cut my teeth in traditional print design. At 19 I approached a publishing company in Manchester with a business plan to take over their design and print department, as summer jobs go - this was quite epic, even having to employ a friend to help with the work load. It gave me an incredibly steep learning curve, learning about commercial design was par for the course. The experience of taking over the design department for a publishing company meant I learnt about project management, budget management and real world client needs. All of that experience has stayed with me throughout my career and has helped push me forward when it comes to creating work that both looks great and is commercially successful.

That’s not to say I haven’t learnt a lot from some remarkable people along the way (or beforehand, I was taught by some of the most incredibly inspiring and driven people in teaching) - and I’m happy to say I keep an open mind when it comes to learning. Every day and every new project is an opportunity to push the envelope and learn something new. Creative work can’t stand still, you’re only ever as good as your last piece of work and there is a constant need and desire to want to make sure my next piece of work isn’t just better looking - but more successful for clients and the end user.

Through the years I’ve worked across a range of mediums and delivery methods - never shying away from any sort of creative work. You’ll find a lot of designers will pin badges to themselves, ‘web designer’ or ‘packaging designer’. What you’ll actually find is that the mark of a truly great designer in any field is ideas, judgement and the ability to apply those anywhere. Everyone, designer or not, can seem to have an idea regarding creative direction. The creative industry is one of the most competitive in the world simply because anyone can play at being any sort of designer - the measure of whether someone is good or not can actually be incredibly hard to define. The subject of whether something looks good or not is subjective, all I know is this; in the past 12 years I’ve enjoyed a huge amount of solid and real creative success - and I’m very proud of my portfolio that’s always been faithful in backing me up as not just a genuine creative, but someone who really understands people, markets and business.

None of it comes easily and nor should it. Successful design requires hard work, it requires the investment of time and it requires creative minds that don’t stand still. Minds that are always learning, looking and seeking out better ways of doing things that have seemingly always been good. You don’t have to try and re-invent the wheel - it’s already perfect, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t understand why it's perfect, the profound effects it might have by its very nature and then try and reapply those same rules to something fresh and new.

There’s an intricacy and level of detail that comes with design thats known to me and known to my clients but should never be known to the customer or end user. Why? Because the end user should never have to confront those sorts of details. For them it should always be about experience. Whether they’re flicking through a brochure, navigating your website or tearing open your packaging the user should be so enamored by what you’re showing them that it should feel completely natural. Like it was always meant to be that way.

Since the mid 1990’s I’ve seen the internet evolve as a viable marketing medium for companies and organisations. I remember when the internet truly was new within the public domain. I was lucky enough to work on website design in the early days of the net and it’s incredible to see just how far the very nature of web design and ways of interacting and communicating has come. The web was always designed to connect people and information instantly and now we’re seeing that ethos coming of age. The internet is now truly social. My own history of the internet and web design has put me in the position where the internet has now become an integral part of my everyday life. Which means that you’ll always be sure of getting the best looking and most technically advanced web design possible because I appreciate the responsibility I have to add to the richness of information and quality of the web as a whole.

The responsibility I personally feel towards every design or piece of creative work I produce is inherent in the end product. The legacy of work, and the idea of putting something out into the world that I’ve conceptualised, designed and delivered means I never design for the sake of design. Whether it’s incorporating beautiful typography, instilling culture into design that stands on the shoulders of great design history. Or producing websites and branding that go instantly global - with finely crafted user experiences that turn users into life long customers. I will always take the approach that design should make things easier, simpler, more compelling and fun to interact with and ultimately - drive creativity, products and businesses forward.

Parb Johal (18/02/2010)

Get in touch: If you’d like to talk in more detail, or just have an informal chat about what the right solution for you might be then give me a call on 07817 171 046 or email hello@parbjohal.com