Hi guys,
We’re thrilled to share with you a Talk on Creativity with Marina Willer – Partner at the legendary design firm Pentagram and one of the most respected creative voices in the design world. Marina leads brand identity projects for iconic institutions such as Tate, Amnesty International, and Rolls-Royce. Beyond design, she is also an accomplished filmmaker – her documentary Trees premieres at the Cannes Film Festival, telling a deeply personal story of exile and resilience.
In this talk, Marina shares her insights on the intersection of design, creativity, and cultural identity. She explores how her Brazilian roots shape her creative approach, the art of building systematic brand identities, and the power of collaboration within design teams. She reflects on nurturing creativity, balancing business acumen with creative vision, and the evolving role of AI as a partner in the creative process.
Talking about her design process, Marina explained that for her, designing a brand identity is never about producing a single static logo. It’s about building a living system — a cohesive yet adaptable framework that can grow and evolve. She blends strategy with experimental methods to create systems and visual languages with a clear narrative, while keeping them open and flexible enough for others to contribute to, ensuring they uniquely capture and express the essence of each client.
She begins the process with a deep dive into the client’s strategic needs, then allows the design to evolve through a variety of experimental methods — from analogue experiments with ink, light, and projections to cutting-edge digital tools. The goal is always to keep aesthetics fresh and unique, avoiding the trap of chasing the “latest trend” instead of creating something timeless.
“You need a vision. Without it, you just have stuff.”
When discussing leadership, Marina spoke passionately about the role of a creative director, which she likened to conducting an orchestra — holding the vision for the whole while encouraging each individual’s contribution to shine. For her, the job goes far beyond managing tasks: it’s about inspiring, guiding, and creating the conditions in which great ideas can flourish. Imagination and lateral thinking, she explained, are crucial for her teams to produce original, relevant solutions that truly reflect the client’s identity.
She sees herself as both editor and enabler — someone who knows when to let ideas run free and when to step in to curate, refine, and focus them into a coherent outcome. This requires both empathy and decisiveness: understanding each person’s strengths, giving them space to explore, and then synthesising their contributions into a unified vision. For Marina, this balance between openness and selectivity is one of the defining qualities of effective creative leadership, ensuring that experimentation leads to purposeful, impactful results.
In describing the environment at Pentagram, Marina emphasised that its structure is designed to prioritise creativity over hierarchy. Each partner runs their own team, and the company is led by designers rather than corporate executives. This, she noted, keeps the work rooted in creative practice.
Creativity is nurtured through collaboration and open-mindedness. The studio also invests in activities that keep curiosity alive — from workshops and 3D experiments to an in-house gallery space and regular talks by inspiring creatives. Many partners pursue personal projects in art, film, writing, and exhibitions, which feed fresh ideas back into their commercial work.
Continue reading the story on our website & watch the full episode on our YouTube channel ✨
