Harland & Wolff
Repositioning the world’s most iconic shipbuilding brand.
Harland & Wolff — founded in 1861 by Sir Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff — is one of the most storied names in shipbuilding, famous for building iconic vessels including the RMS Titanic and the first UK-built supertanker, Myrina. By 2019, however, decades of decline and strategic drift had left the business fragmented and in need of urgent revitalisation.
Our work introduced a new visual identity and design system that honoured Harland & Wolff’s proud heritage while looking to the future. The updated brand brought cohesion across every touchpoint — from marketing and signage to digital platforms and pitch presentations — it re-energised the company’s culture and reputation. The impact was transformative: Harland & Wolff went on to win a £1.6 billion contract as part of Team Resolute to support the Royal Navy, a clear signal of its revived strength and enduring legacy.
1800-1900s - Evolution of H&W monogram
2019 - Refined wordmark and interaction with 1990's era monogram
Construction
Primary logo - Stacked variant with our iconic yellow and black design scheme applied
From Titanic to Tomorrow. To mark Harland & Wolff’s 160th anniversary, creative colleagues at Engage created this exceptional video — concepting, scripting, and producing a powerful narrative that pays homage to the shipbuilder’s rich heritage while firmly looking to the future. It sets the stage for new horizons, new technologies, and a renewed sense of purpose. It also acts as a celebration of the brand identity and design system we crafted: highly adaptable and cohesive across digital, print, and beyond.
National Flagship. To support Harland & Wolff’s bid to design and build a successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia, we created a highly considered presentation system with maximum visual and tactile impact. The £250m National Flagship competition called for a response of the highest calibre — one potentially reviewed by the UK Prime Minister and senior members of the Royal Family. Our approach combined timeless craft with strategic presentation: a weighty, high-spec A3 landscape pack featuring a bespoke book, premium design boards, and a custom-engineered case. Every element was purposefully designed, right down to the texture of the materials and the weight in hand. While the programme was later scrapped by the incoming government, the project stands as an example of storytelling through detail, gravitas, and craft.
Renders: SMC
Print: Gavin Martin
Corporate brochures to Exhibition Stands. From the outset, we conceived and crafted Harland & Wolff’s corporate brochures to reflect the scale, precision and legacy of this iconic industrial brand. The launch edition featured a detailed plan of the Belfast shipyard folded into the inside cover — a tactile nod to the company’s engineering DNA. As the business expanded, so too did the assets: later editions evolved to include newly acquired sites, extended capabilities, and sector-specific versions tailored to key events and business development needs. Every detail — from paper stock to binding — was selected to echo the craftsmanship and credibility at the heart of Harland & Wolff. Each given pride of place as a key handout at events including DSEI, Seatrade Global, and CNE.
Annual Report & Accounts — concept, design and template artwork.
Brand guidelines. Like any enduring brand, Harland & Wolff’s identity needed guidelines that could flex and grow with it. We took a modular approach — covering all the essential rules and tools — and brought them together in a comprehensive online brand portal to support internal teams and partners.
From typographic systems to the precise hue of yellow, depth of rich black, and Pantone references, every element was intentionally crafted. The introduction of the H&W ‘mast’ and ‘angle’ motifs — bold devices to help the brand stand out — were no accident. Every detail of the identity and wider design system was rigorously tested, evolved, and documented by our team before being included in the final guidelines and rolled out across applications.
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