Bringing into Focus
National Trust — Strategy Visualisation & Digital Editorial Transformation
As Design Director on the National Trust account, I was part of the successful pitch team and worked closely with stakeholders through early workshops to help shape a more contemporary way of communicating the organisation’s evolving priorities. The work focused on translating strategy into lived editorial experiences — evolving traditional formats into more immersive, digital-first expressions while remaining true to the National Trust’s heritage and voice.
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Design Director
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Creative direction · Editorial design · Strategy visualisation · Digital-first expression
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2025
The Starting point
National Trust was rethinking how it connected with audiences — moving beyond traditional print formats toward richer, more engaging editorial experiences. Alongside this shift, the organisation needed to communicate its future direction with greater clarity, ensuring its strategic priorities could be understood across teams and audiences.
The challenge was not to redefine the brand, but to evolve how it showed up — bringing a sense of focus, rhythm and contemporary expression while maintaining familiarity and trust.
The thinking — Bringing into Focus
The organising idea, Bringing into Focus, centred on clarity. With a wide range of initiatives and messages to communicate, design played a crucial role in helping audiences understand what mattered most and how different priorities connected.
My focus was on shaping a visual language that could carry both editorial storytelling and strategic messaging. Through hierarchy, pacing and art direction, the work balanced heritage with modernity — creating space for richer narratives while maintaining a strong sense of purpose.
A digital-first editorial experience
The transformation of the National Trust magazine into an immersive online experience formed a central part of the programme. Working across workshops and concept development, I led the art direction and oversaw the visual evolution of the publication — helping to shape how video, interactive moments and animation could sit alongside long-form storytelling.
Rather than treating digital as a separate channel, the work explored how editorial design principles could extend into a more fluid, contemporary format. The result was a cohesive visual approach that elevated storytelling while remaining accessible and recognisably National Trust.
Strategy visualisation
Alongside the digital work, I led the creative direction for the organisation’s strategy document — translating complex priorities into a clear and engaging visual narrative. This work became a foundation for how the broader identity could evolve, introducing a more confident, digitally minded expression while staying grounded in the existing brand.
By aligning editorial storytelling with strategic communication, the project created a unified visual language that supported both internal clarity and outward engagement.
Outcome
The combined programme helped National Trust move toward a more contemporary and cohesive way of communicating — bringing its strategy into focus while expanding how its stories could be experienced across digital and editorial platforms.
The result is a visual approach that balances heritage with evolution, supporting the organisation in connecting with audiences in a clearer, more engaging and future-facing way.
