Harriet Neild
Branding / Packaging / Website Designer
London, UK
Q What do you do?
“I’m a brand designer, with expertise in packaging and web design.”
I work collaboratively with start-ups, individuals and global brands. I specialize in sustainable luxury, bringing brands to life through authenticity, emotional connection, beauty and style.
Two examples of start-up brands and packaging I have created through leading projects as design director at my previous agency are: Cartografie - a sustainable chocolate brand, with a focus on terroir and bespoke flavour combinations, which has since been featured in Vogue, Forbes and The Independent; and Tinker Taylor - a luxurious vegan lip care brand founded by celebrity makeup artist and Chanel ambassador Zoë Taylor. This is now stocked in the iconic London store ‘Liberty’ and has been featured in the Sunday Times Style Magazine. An example of a larger global brand I have worked with is Courvoisier, in which I was the lead designer on many projects, the most prominent being their global brand redesign. I have also designed for many different projects such as for: restaurants, interiors, luxury skincare, perfume, high-end alcohol - cognac, whisky, wine, champagne branding, bottle structure and outer packaging, campaigns, point of sale, and lifestyle brands.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
Norwich University of Arts - 3 Year Course - 1st Class Honors Degree, D&AD Award.
A design course (well known in the UK) that focused on distilling ideas down to their core and so that they so they can be endlessly be molded into different forms retaining their message. This is really when I learnt that design was more than just liking the look of something; it developed a different way of thinking.
8 Years in Industry - Various London Design Studios - Design Director Studio Minerva
Here I learnt craft, luxury, attention to detail and visual storytelling. There was a focus on considering all the senses and the experience, from texture, to weight, fine detailed graphics - not a surface left unconsidered down to the way you open something and of course the messaging. There was also a focus on innovation, new structures, techniques, materials and how we can create things better for the planet. I learnt about structure, materials, finishes, layering, simplicity, refinement, consistency, considering whole ranges of different products within a brand or sub-brands at one time and into the future, collaborations, communicating with suppliers, visualisers, photographers, typographers, mock-up agencies, printers, 3D designers and production.
Web Design - ilovecreatives Squarespace Course.
This helped me broaden my horizons and inject more fun back into the design process, things don’t have to be so serious and nothing is clear cut, everyone is a creator - we all have different tools and the most important thing is to keep learning, experimenting and not be too precious.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
I create each design with depth, color, texture and meaning. I take the time to understand you and your brand and bring it to life in a way that's so true to you that it is naturally unique. I am a highly sensitive individual, so pay attention to the subtleties of designs and your needs which always makes a difference to the whole. It's the small details that set you apart from the rest.
Q What are you working on right now?
I have just completed the bulk of the most amazing branding, web design and apparel project for fashion designer and reiki healer Andrew Lethbridge.
For this I created a brand identity and website that would encompass Andrew’s personal reiki healing practice and clothing line. This included the shop; appointments for sessions; socials; graphics for web ( including a 3D spinning type animation); beautiful duotone radial circles and bespoke t-shirt designs that are encoded with high vibrational symbols. The brand radiates positive energy, self expression and fun.
You can check the website out here: www.healbyandrewlethbridge.com
Q What’s your style?
My perspective is that luxury doesn’t always have to mean stark minimalism. There are definite trends that are starting to become saturated - like the ‘beige washing’* I see in a lot of luxury holistic brands. I would like to show people how enriched their brands can be whilst still having a sense of calm. For example SOMA Beverages , or Gorgon Holistic.
* (just made up this term but IYKYK)
This isn’t the totality of my taste though, I have loved creating more futuristic and colourful designs like for heAL, with 3D animated typography and illustration. This is also a great example of how fun and creative a luxury brand can be. Everything has been considered, bringing texture, life and soul to the website and in each illustration.
I would like to experiment with more design styles as I am forever collecting images and references, here are some things I am loving at the moment:
lunchconcept.com
madremezcal.com
wildflowers.garden
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
It’s not a skill as such but definitely a lot of work - spiritual / personal development in all aspects is a huge part of my life and I have a keen interest in anything that aids in living the best life I can or that changes my perspective to gain new understandings of the world - whether this is through women’s groups / plant medicine / meditation / reiki / embodiment / somatic practices / breathwork / generally stepping into what is uncomfortable - for good reason! I am always learning and trying out different things with an aim to enrich and improve my life for me and therefore those around me. In the future I would like to help people in their healing to create the best life for themselves. I have come such a long way and really empathize with people's struggles!
Q What is frustrating you right now?
I feel like a lot of designers may give this answer, but honestly self-promotion - all my focus goes into my client projects and it's easy to slip behind on actually communicating to people what I can do myself! This questionnaire will do a good job of it though hopefully.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Plan and run my social media / marketing, continuing from before I find this so easy to do for other people, but difficult for myself. I think because I am the client and I haven’t got a contract with myself it falls by the wayside. Maybe I should write a contract for myself?
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I would travel back to tell my teenage self that art and creativity aren’t pointless. The school I was in really hammered home the message that the only subjects worth doing were ‘academic’ and if you do anything else you will struggle in life. So I shut down what I was naturally good at and actually enjoyed - to do what would be ‘useful’ to people or get me to a ‘good’ university. So that could have saved me a lot of time and a real struggle if I had known different back then! Art and creativity are what we live for.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
I would like to talk to an expert about how best to communicate how much value and creativity I can deliver! There is so much that goes into the creative process to get to the most amazing and effective outcome visually and strategically.
Some people I find either ‘just want a logo’ or to have an image they have in their mind printed out of me like a machine - with no creative input from me whatsoever! This is a shame as I know I can give so much more in terms of a brand. So yes maybe talking to an expert about this, as I know the process inside out - but to people who don’t it’s often a hard, but vital thing to explain to get the best out of projects.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I love brand creation projects, particularly for sustainable fashion, health, wellness or spiritual businesses that are looking to stand out with a contemporary luxury edge. Part of the joy of this job is getting to know different founders and the intricacies of their brands, bringing this to life stories and visually telling their story. It is great when the businesses align with my passions so there is instant synergy on the project and ideas can flow! I have listed a few below:
Health / Wellness Practitioners / Healers e.g Yoga, Breathwork, Reiki
Holistic Skincare, Haircare, Make Up, Supplements, Health Drinks, Health Products
Artisan Jewelry
Wellness Spas
Fashion Brands
Interior Designers
Retreat Centres
Restaurants
Florists
Hotels
Lifestyle Stores
Coaches
Artists
As an overarching theme my expertise is in sustainable luxury branding.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
My ideal client would be to create the branding, packaging and a website for an artisan jewelry brand - or perhaps a florist! I would love to create something colorful and rich that compliments the products, but feels unique, striking and ownable in its own right. I think these would both be super interesting start points to create exciting designs and websites for, even without knowing the specific clients at this point.
Q What is your rate?
This all depends on the scope of the particular project. If you head to my contact page and share a few details on your project I can make an estimate for you. I also offer a 10% discount to healers.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
You can use this form on my website: harrietneild.com/contact
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Con McHugh - Good friend and amazing illustrator and animator, I like to work with him on branding projects.
Henry Sugden - Also a good friend and amazing copywriter, I work with him for creating engaging and SEO nailing content for brands and websites.
Andrew Lethbridge - Friend, client, fashion designer and reiki healer, highly recommend if you want to book an energy healing session - can check out my designs on the way!
Kamiya Chirodian - Friend, illustrator and textile designer, Kamiya creates vibrant and inspiring drawings depicting strong and underrepresented women.
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Set aside time to create for me, not answering to any brief but experimenting! Also traveling, walking about seeing different things, meeting people!
This member profile was originally published in November 2023