Will Haywood
As an award-winning Creative Lead and designer with 14 years experience in media and publishing, I deliver high-impact visual identities and 360° campaigns that drive real commercial results.
Shortlist:
Brand Identity
Relaunch Shortlist’s digital offering with a modernised identity that honors the brand equity of the original print legacy (remembered by its millennial male demographic), while ensuring the visual system is optimised for social media growth and franchising.
Developed a premium typographic system rooted in the legacy brand's heritage, paired with an entirely new visual language of dynamic colour systems and geometric shapes to seamlessly guide users through diverse content categories.
UK Government:
Backing Business
Direct the visual strategy for a high-stakes, multi-departmental UK Government campaign (DBT, DSIT, DWP, UKEF) via a commercial partnership with Future PLC, aimed at connecting SMEs with critical funding, recruitment, and export tools.
Led cross-functional collaboration with animators, video editors, and editorial teams to translate complex public policy into an engaging, accessible visual ecosystem. Spearheaded the multi-channel creative direction across high-performing digital and print touchpoints.
Advertising Week Europe:
AW360
Establish the comprehensive visual identity, layout templates, and editorial framework from scratch for AW360—the flagship publication distributed to attendees of Advertising Week Europe.
Art directed both the premium print magazine and the digital trend report, establishing a sophisticated aesthetic that captured the forward-thinking nature of the event. AW360 was awarded the MUSE Design Gold Award in the Advertising category.
Black Myth: Wukong
Conceive and execute a high-impact, immersive promotional campaign for the blockbuster launch of Black Myth: Wukong across Future PLC’s leading gaming titles, PC Gamer and GamesRadar+.
Drove the project from initial pitch proposal concepts to final asset animation, orchestrating a complete digital homepage takeover featuring bespoke logo integrations. Designed and built an immersive, interactive editorial feature to delve into the lore of the game, resulting in an unforgettable, high-engagement user experience.
Cycling Electric:
Identity & Art Direction
Identify and capture a rapidly growing consumer market for e-bikes by creating a publication tailored to curious newcomers and lifestyle buyers rather than traditional, hardcore cycling enthusiasts.
Created a vibrant, accessible visual identity utilising "electric" gradients and clean, modern typography to engage a diverse demographic. Formally art directed the magazine launch alongside all accompanying marketing and advertising collateral.
XBOX:
The Universe of You
Transform a disparate series of sponsored articles into a unified, interactive content hub demonstrating how XBOX PC Game Pass caters to every unique gaming personality.
Conceptualized and delivered "The Universe of You," a guided, interactive user journey exploring four distinct gamer personas. Managed the design end-to-end from pitch to production, commissioning custom illustrations and engineering the digital hub ecosystem.
The campaign smashed client performance benchmarks, driving 14,700 high-intent page views.
Illustration
Harvard Business Review, Microsoft, Little White Lies, Cyclist, Creative Review, Wired UK, easyJet, The Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Canadian Business, Vancouver Magazine, RICS