Harland & Wolff
Repositioning the world’s most iconic shipbuilding brand.
OVERVIEW
Background
Founded in 1861 by Sir Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff, Harland & Wolff is one of the world’s most storied shipbuilders — celebrated for vessels including the RMS Titanic, RMS Olympic, HMHS Britannic, the SS Canberra, HMS Belfast, and the Myrina: the first supertanker built in the UK. With a rich heritage of engineering excellence and maritime innovation, the brand became synonymous with ambition, scale, and craftsmanship.
The Challenge
By 2019, the business had suffered decades of decline, financial instability, and strategic drift. Under new ownership, Harland & Wolff faced the urgent need to rebuild — not only operationally, but reputationally. The brand was fragmented and inconsistent. A patchwork of dated logos and improvised assets, lacking any coherent system, strategy or sense of identity.
The Work
We developed a comprehensive brand identity and supporting design system that balanced respect for the past with vision for the future. Our new visual identity is modern but heritage-aware — rooted in pride, resilience, and engineering precision. It was designed to bring cohesion across every touchpoint: from uniforms to industry events, signage to brochures, digital platforms to internal comms, investor decks to sales presentations.
The Impact
The new brand has helped re-energise internal culture, communicate renewed purpose, and re-establish Harland & Wolff as a confident, credible force in the UK maritime industry. In 2023, the business was awarded a £1.6 billion contract as part of consortium, Team Resolute, to manufacture the vessels providing munitions, stores and provisions to the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates. This wasn't just a rebrand. It’s was a signal of revival — for a business, its people, and the legacy they continue to build.
In early 2025, Harland & Wolff was acquired by Navantia UK.
CLIENT
Harland & Wolff
Shipbuilding and maritime engineering company
DISCIPLINES
Brand strategy
Brand architecture
Visual identity
Brand guidelines
Editorial design
Print design
Digital design
Wayfinding
Exhibition design
Vehicle design
Motion design
Employee communications
Advertising
H&W Monogram. The iconic H&W monogram has appeared in various forms across ship hulls, scaffolding, signage and even Belfast murals for over 160 years. Though interpretations vary — a ship’s hull, dockside gantry cranes, or simply the initials of Harland and Wolff — its roots run deep in maritime history and local pride. Given full creative freedom, we chose to retain and refine this historic mark. Redrawn with care and paired with a custom wordmark, the new identity balances strength, heritage and craftsmanship — with subtle nods to Belfast’s cranes and the character of the ampersand reinforcing both legacy and modernity. We researched and selected a new colour palette — investing in finding the perfect depth of black and a yellow hue that felt both industrial and optimistic. These choices helped ground the brand in authenticity while projecting confidence and cohesion across every touchpoint.
From Titanic to Tomorrow. To mark Harland & Wolff’s 160th anniversary, industry 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.
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
Annual Report & Accounts — concept, design and template.
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.
Rules and tools. 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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chris@aesthetic.works
+44 (0)20 8242 1509
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studio@aesthetic.works
+44 (0)20 8242 1509
ABOUT US
Aesthetic Works is an independent branding and design agency based in East London. We help transform ambitious brands and businesses with work that brings clarity, character, and connection — from strategy to branding, print to pixel, concept to campaign.
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