Peter Roth conceptual design

I’ve been working as a professional designer for some years now. As a trained graphic designer my skills focus on communication with text and images. But I never wanted to be limited by discipline and preconceived job descriptions. I still tend to create conceptual work — I do basic research, to create small individual experiences and unknown/unseen images. During the last five years some kind of “values” have emerged, and I would like to mention them here:

Emptiness, moments and richness

I prefer to focus on the creation of emptiness. Empty vessels are offering countless possibilities to be filled. Structures that do not give definite answers and involve the viewer/user. Thus I aim to create small poetic moments, small individual experiences in our everyday life. I believe these small moments are what makes our days so rich.

Irritation, expectation and question

Coming up with questions is also creation. Questions create leverage and momentum. They challenge the status quo. That’s because many people intuitively block them. And that’s the reason I resist, and keep asking. There’s a scarcity of questions.

Time, serenity and error

The interesting things happen inbetween (A and B). You start to see things you haven’t been able to think off before. Inside the process, when you just trying something, exploring something. And its usually the mistakes that take you somewhere you haven’t been before. These are the exciting moments. I need to be able to respond to that.

Filter, meaning and value

I like being involved with work that I can relate to. I like to do projects where I can use my own judgement. I use myself as the filter: how do I feel about this. I do work that means something to me, and creates value for my client.

Less, naturalness and profundity

The world urgently needs reduction. We urgently need focus. I miss a certain degree of profundity in the creation of everyday communication. An appreciation of naturalness. Profundity and suggestion rather than revelation.

As you can see I approach my work somewhat like an artist does. And yes, I deeply believe in the leverage of authorship and ‘Eigensinn’ (a term that only exists in German language, approx.: wilful obstinacy). Some may think this a no-go for a service contractor. But I guess it is a requirement in order to create something new and authentic.