Paul Pateman
Paul Pateman Paul Pateman, is a graphic artist, designer and art director with a quick wit and a strong, simple aesthetic. Based in London, he creates conceptled image and type compositions for a diverse collection of personal and commercial projects. His visual irreverence and sharp eye for the perfect pun has seen many high-profile commissions. Pâté’s innate ability to convert concepts into colourful and visually arresting images was honed over his successful thirteen-year career as a creative and creative director at two of London’s largest advertising agencies, work that earned him over 130 industry awards, and the coveted D&AD Yellow Pencil.
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
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The Sound and the Fury
Paul Pateman
Paul Pateman
Do you intentionally try to create humorous ideas? Yes. It’s not always possible, but the ideas I love, mine or other people’s all have a level of wit or a humour to them. My work is an expression of my personality, I like to make people laugh and so I seek the same reaction from my work. Humour is a great way of disarming people, making people laugh or smile can break down barriers leaving them more ready to engage with your
Do you believe in a difference between funny design and Graphic wit?
Hammer time
I’m not sure I understand the distinction but for me I always aim for a level of intelligence in my work. A blogger once called my work ‘Smart Cheek’ which I quite like. The work I’m most proud of always utilises visual portmanteau which could be described as graphic wit.
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
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Paul Pateman
Paul Pateman
How do clients engage with your proposed ideas? Most of the time very positively. On the odd occasion not so positively. It is important for me to make clients happy, but not at the expense of a good idea. So I will do everything in my power to satisfy them, but if they are unable to buy a good idea I will walk away from the project. Being able to laugh at yourself is extremely important, or else you’re a Donald Trump! I’ve never had a problem with it, I try to make people laugh on conference calls, or in meetings, it’s disarming and fun. I take the job seriously but not myself.
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Discovery Channel
The work you do, is the work you will do. My clients come to me because they are already in a place where they think humour is a good fit for their brand. Good clients understand the power of humour.
The Importance of Graphic Wit
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Paul Pateman
The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
Financial Times Weekend
Paul Pateman
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Paul Pateman
Stay stupid
Paul Pateman
With humour you can sneak an idea into someone’s heart. Graphic humour is everywhere, some artists use it, David Shigley’s ‘Really Good’ fourth plinth sculpture is a good example, It’s also funny. Humour in advertising, art, design etc is a valuable and conversely serious discipline. I try to make my ideas as seamless as possible. If an idea requires a circle in order for the visual portmanteau to work, you can’t use something square. That’s cheating and strained.
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Bum Ble Bee
Humour is a problem for many clients. They will need to understand the visuals I’m using, which is sometimes a problem. In school we are all taught literacy, but not visual literacy or semiotics. Sometimes I come across clients that are visually illiterate and that can be tough. But on the whole I like ideas that are close to the surface so I try to make sure they are as ‘readable’ as possible.
The Importance of Graphic Wit
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Paul Pateman
The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
Play on words
Paul Pateman
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Paul Pateman
The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
Play on words
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Paul Pateman
Paul Pateman
Your series of Places in Print are great examples of visual puns. How did this idea come to fruition?
Places in print
I worked in advertising for 13 years, during which puns were always considered a bit naff. So partly in an act of defiance I decided to produce an on going body of work of puns when I became an illustrator full time. They came to fruition when I was approached by Place In Print to do a series of location based posters for them. I looked at lot’s of location based art and it all seemed to be pictures of the oxo tower or the Gherkin etc. The London Puns series is a reaction against that, an effort to do something different in the market that’s witty and a little clever.
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
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Paul Pateman
The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
Which?
Paul Pateman
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Paul Pateman
Paul Pateman
Virgin media
How did you come to create graphic wit for Virgin Media? I was commissioned by BBH London through my agent Blink Art. The idea was already created by the agency so my task was to bring it to life in an amusing way. I play football so I was very familiar with the subject matter. I simply looked to create the funniest dives, or goal celebrations etc that I could and where possible we threw in little Easter eggs that football fans would understand, like the robot that represents Peter Crouch.
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
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Paul Pateman
The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
Virgin media
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Paul Pateman
The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
Virgin media
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Paul Pateman
The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Importance of Graphic Wit
The Telegraph
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Paul Pateman
Vet-riloquist
Paul Pateman
Your work can sometimes be very rude, as seen with ‘coarse pate’. At what point does it become too much?
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The Importance of Graphic Wit
Coarse pate
Never! I don’t believe in boundaries in Art. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, but nobody has the right to not be offended. You must always be true to who you are and what you believe else your work will be inauthentic.
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