Punch Creative

Director

Co founder of Punch Creative, Dave has been in the industry for, politely put, 'EVER'. His early memories saw him running down to the local graphics shop to replenish Letraset sheets because he didnt have any S's left for the layout his Creative Director was working on. At this time Apple was just a fruit that kept the doctor away!

Dave has seen an enormous amount of changes over the years that have revolutionised the design world, not least, the amount of information that is instantly available. "It never ceases to amaze me at how an initial thought can be visualised quickly, but equally importantly, with accuracy. Artistic licence played a huge part in visuals in the early days and the problem came when we tried to replicate it in the finished job. But today, the internet allows us to 'see' exactly what is available" "The boundaries of whats available are there, but we can choose to cross them whenever we want, we've have the best of both worlds" he added

Print plays a large part in Daves day. "There is no point in our designers coming up with the most incredible ideas, just to be let down by poor quality print" Print management is something we take very seriously and where many agencies have made press passes a thing of the past, Dave can often be seen on the end of a press ensuring we get the very best out of every piece of print we buy. "Some may call it being over critical" he said, "I call it caring about what we do, right to the very last detail"

Creative Artworker

Where many designers consider artworking a necessary evil, Helen understands the importance of creative, but accurate artwork. "When Dave is about to press the button on a million sheet press run, he needs to know that the job is Bang On'" she said A stickler for detail, she places the same level of importance from the largest job to the smallest one. "You can't change the way you work just because one project may be smaller than another"

Helen has been with punch from day one and her way of working has become the standard for Punch Creative, ensuring that newcomers to the company continue the exacting standards we currently promote.

Digital Director

Ian, also a graduate from Leeds, is our most recent addition to the Punch Bunch and brings with him a wealth of experience within the ever growing digital side of our business. Having worked for some of the largest agencies in the area, we felt Ian was the 'missing link' with regards to our client offering. He had become disillusioned at the way the larger players were always looking at the bottom line at the expense of quality and so took no persuading to join us. "After chatting with David and Richard about the whole ethos of Punch, I could see that their ambition and ethics matched mine" Ian joined us Director of Digital services and the rest as they say is history.

The digital side of our business is growing at an amazing rate and Ians enthusiasm for all that is digital is rubbing off on the rest of the team. After saying that, Ian cut his teeth like the rest of us in the days of design for print. This has proved invaluable to us when we need to include multiple disciplines within a project.

Graphic & Web Designer

Julie is the baby of the team, but like the rest, graduated from Leeds. We are great believers in giving younger people the opportunity to experience the workplace and regularly provide work placements to local schools. We decided to take this one stage further and invited graduates to come and meet us with a view to coming onboard. The response was overwhelming and with a plethora of incredible young designers and many interviews behind us unanimously agreed that Julie stood head and shoulders above her peers.

Three years into her chosen career, Julie is still as motivated as the day she joined us and is like a sponge when it comes to learning new things. "Being allowed to become a designer as my first job was a dream come true. Many of my student friends were not as lucky as me and had to take anything they could find to make ends meet. I attribute my success to not shutting up all the way through the interview. I think they gave me the position so they could go home for their tea!" She may have a point, although after three years, she must be doing something right!

Creative Director

Co founder of Punch and head of creative, Richard graduated at Leeds after moving south from his family home in the North East to seek fame and fortune. He's still looking for those, but what he did find besides his lovely partner, was a desire to be responsible for his own future and to be true to himself and his aspirations.

For Richard, it's all about the way we communicate with our clients. "Too many agencies ignore what their clients need and the way they may want to work in favour of making life easier and utilising the design sausage factory. The first thing we do, is listen. Not just to a design brief, its goes much deeper than that. We want to know everything about our clients, their beliefs, their desires, their ambitions, their motivation. It is only when we know all of this and more that we can make suggestions to them that will ultimately change their future" Our open house way of working sets us aside from our competition and has become a firm favourite with many of our clients. Being able to sit alongside our designers and have their say as we embark on the initial stages of a project ensure that we are always on track, saving time and of course, budget.

Being from the North East, most of us can't understand a word he says most of the time. But being a great illustrator allows him to get his point over in picture format (only joking!)