Paul Currah , Poole, United Kingdom

My name’s Paul Currah — I’m an independent design director, specialising in ideas first branding, illustration and digital design.

Over 16 years of industry experience, I’ve worked with many wonderful people across design, advertising, branding, print, packaging, environmental and digital. I’ve also been lucky enough to win awards from Design Week, Cannes, New York Festivals and six D&AD pencils.

I work with clients directly as an independent designer, and with creative agencies as a freelancer.

From my Currah & Co studio near Bournemouth, here are three things I can give you:

1. Big Branding Agency Experience

After I graduated from Norwich School of Art & Design with a degree in Graphic Design in 2005, I went to work at London design studios who shared my passion for ideas (HGV, GBH, Radford Wallis, Carter Wong and Blast).

In 2006, I landed my dream job at The Partners (authors of ‘A Smile in the Mind’), and was fortunate enough to work on some of the best projects imaginable (AstraZeneca, Deloitte, Random House and The National Gallery). I co-ran The Partners’ placement programme, regularly giving talks to leading universities and mentoring students.

2. Small Brand Expertise

In 2010, I opened my independent design studio near Bournemouth, focussing my creative energy towards helping organisations in the arts, charity, conservation and health sectors.

I helped launch The Paleo Foods Co brand in 2013, which started life as hand packed product samples in health food shops, evolving into the mammoth brand that is stocked in major UK supermarkets today.

I have also freelanced at small design agencies across the UK.

I have worked with Modern Designers in Manchester since 2013 on a diverse mix of projects including brand naming, visual identities, advertising campaigns, packaging and web design projects. Clients included BBC, Hilly socks, Dig The City, Windermere Jetty and Manchester Museum.

Since 2016, I have collaborated with DutchScot London on a handful of creative projects. I created a family of brand illustrations for Arkessa, and an ideas led brand book for a new hotel in Amsterdam.

3. Extra Large Results

One of the proudest achievements of my career has been working for Macmillan Cancer Support as an independent designer between 2010–2020, on over 170 creative projects. I worked on ad campaigns, helped them improve frontline cancer environments, designed a fleet of buses … to an interactive nurse installation presented to MPs.

I was a tiny piece of a massive collective effort that saw Macmillan increase their income by 61%, reach 69% more people and raise spend on cancer services by 71% / £74.9m in the ten years I worked for them (Source: Macmillan).

EDUCATION

Graphic Design BA (Hons)
Norwich School of Art & Design (now NUA)
2005

AGENCIES I’VE WORKED WITH

DutchScot, Modern Designers, The Partners, Radford Wallis, Blast, GBH and HGV.

BRANDS I’VE WORKED WITH

Waitrose, Royal Mail, BBC, AstraZeneca, LV=, Deloitte, Random House, The National Gallery, Mr Singh’s Bangras, The Paleo Foods Co plus lots of start-ups.

CHARITIES I’VE WORKED WITH

Macmillan Cancer Support, National Association for Hospice at Home, Greenpeace and Water Sanitation for the Urban Poor.

AWARDS

Six D&AD pencils, Design Week Awards (2 x wins), Cannes Lions (Gold, Silver & Bronze), New York Festivals (Gold & Bronze), Art Directors Club (Gold & Silver), Graphis (Platinum), Clio (Bronze), The Die-Line Awards (2nd) and more.

PUBLICATIONS

A Smile in the Mind. Phaidon Press, 2016

D&AD annuals, Creative Review, Design Week, Computer Arts, Graphis, Grafik, Net Magazine, Creative Bloq, Computer Arts, Mashable and more.

TRAINING
2001 to present

Adobe Creative Cloud Software
Professionally trained in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, Dreamweaver and Animate.

HTML & CSS
Trained in all leading content management systems

User Interface Design
Adobe XD, Sketch and InVision.

B-School Program
Business development course.

STRENGTHS

Problem solving
Creative
Ideas
Adaptable
Reliable

PASSIONS

Astronomy
Photography
Conservation
Hiking
Drumming in a rock band
Running lots of marathons

RECOMMENDATIONS

“Paul is affable, able to take on challenges and ambitious. And that’s just the letter ‘a’. During his time at The Partners he was a key member of the team delivering creativity on projects big and small, able to paint with broad brushstrokes and craft with detail. Beyond the quality of his ideas, he’s a great fella to work with and would be a great asset to any team.”

Robert Ball • Creative Director at The Partners

“Working with Paul is a pleasure. He’s a true professional, who takes time to thoroughly understand a brief, provides a clear and fully costed proposal, communicates clearly throughout and, most importantly, really delivers. You can always trust Paul to hit the core of the brief, and to bring that little bit of creative flair on top.”

Nick Mackin • Manager at Macmillan Cancer Support