“Designing the Past, Present, and Future” with Duffy and Partners
Photos by Katherine Rountree
Joseph and Joe Duffy discuss visual briefs with students.
“There is no single path to creativity and design,” said founder of the Duffy and Partners Joe Duffy. “There are no rules along the way.”
Although there were no rules, the father and son team were more than eager to share their advice on design with their presentation “Designing the Past, Present and Future” at the Student Center last night. The design company was no stranger to students; Duffy had visited several classes that day and will hold workshops later on Friday.
The first advice of the night was “seize opportunities,” followed by “be inspired but go your own way.”
Next, Duffy encouraged students to “develop your own process.” “The beauty of what we do is simple,” Joe told them. “It requires creativity, it requires craft, and it requires thinking.” He and Joseph explained their company creates a visual brief for their client, which is a mood board containing different layouts, packaging design, posters and typefaces. Joseph added that their visual brief also serves as a “filter.”
One example was the Summit Brewing Company whose brand was “pretty typical” and had the “same old crafting” as every other liquor company. Duffy and Partners aimed to find the balance for the brand’s familiarity as well as their freshness.
Their visual brief contained a lot of research on the client’s company, their competition, the audience and even the product. They scoured through imagery and narrowed it down to a collage that represented where the company had been and “where they wanted to be.”
Another successful venture was for Nice Ride Minneapolis, a public bike sharing company. According to Joseph, what made this city different from the other cities with public bikes was that there were no traffic issues and therefore not much need for transportation.
Duffy and Partners decided to use the bicycle’s uniquely bright green color to their advantage. Since green is “associated with summer coming,” the company had three bikes encased in ice blocks and were placed in different areas of the city with the tagline, “grab summer by the handlebars.”
As a result, the ride went up by 300 percent in three years and in 2011, Minneapolis was voted as the number one bike city in America.
“Design yourself” was the last advice for the presentation.
“You are the most important brand you will ever work on,” said Joe. “Show people how unique you are.” He used his company as an example. Every time they did something new, they updated their website to share with their audience. “Make sure your work is front and center,” Joe added.
Joe explained when it comes to hiring, he looks at two things: creativity and personality. “It splits down the middle,” he said. “We’re a small firm, so one bad apple can screw up.”
