Keith Wilson
Creative Director | Art Director | Senior Designer
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About
Multidisciplinary creative with 25+ years' experience across brand, graphic design, digital and creative direction, combining strong ideas and strategic thinking with a genuinely hands-on approach.
Background spans major London and European agencies, international accounts and independent creative consultancy, working across brand identity, campaigns, packaging, print, websites and digital communications. Experienced at taking projects from initial brief and concept development through to finished design and production, working independently or as part of a wider creative team. Comfortable working at Senior Designer, Art Director and Creative Director level depending on the project, with strong Adobe Creative Cloud skills and practical experience using AI within creative and digital workflows.
Experience
Creative Director at Signal Studio (2010-06 – Present)
Lead the creative output of an independent multidisciplinary studio, combining creative direction and strategic thinking with hands-on design across brand, digital and communications.
- Lead projects from initial brief and strategic thinking through concept development, creative direction, design and implementation, working directly with senior decision-makers, marketing teams and specialist collaborators.
- Created the original London Design & Engineering UTC (LDE UTC) brand and website in 2015 and have led its creative development and brand stewardship for more than a decade, developing a family of related brands and initiatives including Engineering Skills College, ELFI, LDE UTC Sixth Form, Industry Ready, TEST Trust and IndEX.
- Lead the creative development of IndEX (Industry Education Exchange), a national digital platform designed to embed industry expertise into teaching and learning. Led the project from concept and naming through brand identity, UX, website and communications to the development of a new AI-powered intelligent matching platform, connecting educators with relevant industry professionals.
- Conceived and built BriefWrite, an AI-powered pre-briefing tool used within Signal's client workflow to help define objectives, audiences and requirements and improve the quality of the creative briefing process.
- Delivered international creative and digital communications for Airbus Defence and Space, including global satellite systems communications and its Welcome programme supporting deployed armed forces personnel.
- Delivered extensive brand, packaging and communications work for Wells & Young's across its beer portfolio and B2B/B2C communications, including Bombardier, Mongoose and work on Red Stripe.
- Direct multidisciplinary project teams of web developers and freelance designers, setting creative direction, briefing collaborators and maintaining creative quality through to delivery, while remaining personally involved in brand, graphic and digital design.
- Build long-term, embedded client relationships, often operating as an extension of internal teams. Many established relationships exceed five years, with several extending beyond a decade.
Creative Director at Wilson Langley Design & Art Direction (2005 – 2010-06)
Led branding, design and art direction across corporate, technology, pharmaceutical and public-sector accounts.
- Created the brand identity and workplace interiors for True Knowledge, the pioneering UK natural-language technology company later known as Evi, whose technology was acquired by Amazon and contributed to the development of Alexa.
- Delivered B2B creative work for Orange through Publicis Blueprint.
- Developed brand, packaging and art direction for Eastway Pharma's Zanaflu, including international applications produced in collaboration with Chinese translators.
- Other clients included Proceed Group, Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation and Letchworth Town Council.
Head of Design at Wheelhouse Creative (2003 – 2005)
Recruited to lead branding and digital design output and maintain creative standards across key accounts. Worked with clients including Betfair, HarperCollins and Anita Roddick, developing brand and digital creative including Betfair's typographic identity system, which remained in use for many years.
Senior Designer at Beatwax (2001 – 2003)
Led the digital design team, reporting to the Creative Director, across major entertainment and education accounts. Projects included digital work for Capcom's Resident Evil, Gran Turismo and the original Wallace & Gromit website.
- Lead designer on HM Treasury's Red Box interactive educational website, which received an HM Government award for Best Use of Digital.
Senior Digital Designer at Poolside / Deepend, London (2000 – 2001)
Senior Digital Designer within Deepend, one of London's pioneering digital agencies, leading a team of approximately six designers and developers and reporting to the Design Director.
- Led digital work including the original XL Recordings website, with the team's work subsequently featured by Taschen in its coverage of pioneering digital design.
Art Director at Kunde & Co (1998 – 2000)
Recruited into the international advertising agency to develop concepts and art direction for major European campaigns. Worked across pharmaceutical, technology and consumer accounts including Nycomed and Bang & Olufsen, collaborating across the London and Copenhagen offices.
Partner / Designer at Tidy Graphics (1996 – 1998)
Established an independent design studio after graduating, supported by the Prince's Youth Business Trust. Delivered branding, packaging and promotional design including work for Sprite and Andrex, before being recruited into Kunde & Co.
Education
BA (Hons) in Graphic Design – Southampton Solent University
Foundation Art in Art – Hertford Regional College
BTEC National Diploma in Graphic Design – Hertford Regional College