About me
I am an experienced concept-driven senior designer, who relishes the craft and the process of design. My passion is branding and typography which combines my experience across print, screen and 3d environments. I have worked across a diverse range of sectors including culture, education, F&B, banking, property and tech.
Over my career I've worked on projects for:
Battersea Power Station, English Heritage, Geffrye Museum, Google, Imperial War Museum, National Trust, NatWest, NNL, Ottolenghi, Oxford Brookes University, Science Museum, Silicon Valley Bank, Snapchat, Wellcome Collection, Windsor Castle.
Over my career I've worked on projects for:
Auerbach & Steele, Battersea Power Station, English Heritage, Geffrye Museum, Imperial War Museum, King’s Cross (developers), National Trust, Ottolenghi, Oxford Brookes University, Rivermeade, Science Museum, Television Centre, Unbound, Wellcome Collection anf Windsor Castle
Projects
- National Nuclear Laboratory – rebrandNNL found that their current brand was limiting their ability to connect and tell stories – their vision of nuclear science benefiting society. The business was growing and evolving and needed a sophisticated approach that could flex for different purposes – from government to public communications. Completed as Creative Lead at Hands Down
- Identec Solutions – brandingIdentec Solutions is a B2B innovator in IIOT (Industrial Internet of Things). The brand concept was based on ‘Muda’, a Japanese word for ‘wastefulness’. The ‘productivity killers’ faced by their customers were given tangible forms through monsters and mazes. My role was bringing fresh eyes to the grounding principles and developing the brand to work beyond the initial concepts. I was part of the team at GW + Co. Winner of 1 Gold and 2 Bronze Transform Awards © GW+Co
- Auerbach & Steele – brandingA new identity to coincide with a new optical store – appealing to both long-established and newer customers. The identity is a playful take on the science of colour. We split white and black ampersands into component colours and recombined using contrast and overlays. All work and images completed at ©Holmes Studio.
- Benoy brandingRebrand of the international, architecture, masterplanning and interior design studio, established 70 years ago. Based on the lettering of the founding stone of the company – this developed into a confident, classic, refined brand that could reflect the range of work the studios produced. The scope of the project covered stationery, print, web, film, art direction, presentations and events.
- eg Magazine – redesignThe international design magazine for members of SEGD – focussing on environmental graphics. We took apart the magazine and restructured, renamed and redesigned, allowing the rich content to breathe. This design ran for 15 issues until the magazine moved online. Folio’s Gold Award Excel’s Gold and Silver Awards Winner of the Folio’s Gold Award and Excel’s Gold and Silver Awards. Completed as part of the Holmes Wood team. All images © Holmes Wood
+ View all
Work history
H
H
Creative LeadHands Down Agency
- London, United KingdomFull Time
Working as a Creative Lead for a remote-first agency, with custom teams for B2B clients such as SnapChat, Google, Silicon Valley Bank and National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL).
My long-term work on NNL's rebrand brought in more repeat business and gave them the tools to tell their stories more effectively to industry and the public.
"I have known for a number of years. He started as a freelancer in our Creative Community and quickly became a regular. I decided his brand talents were too good to share so I hired him as our lead Creative Director in January 2022 - he only left because I decided to 'sunset' the agency. Ian has been brilliant to work with. If you are looking for a creative brand expert - who really knows his craft - who can give you thoughtful, intelligent, strategic and beautiful brand execution then this is your guy. But it is not just about his great work, Ian is highly collaborative, a real team player, who is focused on the best project outcome."
Emma Sexton, Founder at Hands Down!
H
H
Senior Graphic DesignerHands Down! / The Team / GW+Co / Thomas Matthews / ForPeople / Graphicks
- London, United KingdomFreelance
Working with a variety of small talented teams in banking, education, tech, property, F&B and public sectors – with a specific focus on branding and environments. The projects were incredible varied: e-vehicle and logistics brand development, wayfinding scheme concepts for a major university and graphics for an international pizza brand animation.
+ Show more
Skills
- Branding Design
- Wayfinding Design
- Print Design
- Book Design
- Logo Design
- Editorial Design
- Typography
- Typography Lettering
- Environment Design
- Font Design
Education
MA Typeface DesignUniversity of Reading
- Reading, United Kingdom
As a part of the requirements of the course I built a functioning OpenType text typeface, with a European character set including Greek. I developed skills to create letterforms from scratch and gained a significant improvement of my typography skills.