Marina Willer is a graphic designer and filmmaker with an MA in Graphic Design from the Royal College of Art. Before joining Pentagram as a partner, she was head creative director for Wolff Olins in London.
During the course of her career, Willer has led the design of major brand identity schemes including Rolls Royce Motor-Cars, Tate, Amnesty International, Southbank Centre, Serpentine Galleries, Oxfam, Nesta, Second Home, Moholy Nagy Foundation, Opera Ballet of Flandres, and Brazil’s Oi and Nubank among many others. Marina also lead the rebrand of Battersea (one of Britain's most famous animal rescue centres), Sight and Sound magazine, and Maggie's cancer centres, and was also one of the designers behind the brand for Macmillan Cancer support.
Willer’s first feature film, Red Trees, premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and was released worldwide by Netflix in 2018. Her films have been shown at Fondation Cartier in Paris, the ICA in London and prestigious film festivals worldwide. Marina has made several films for iconic British architect Richard Rogers, including “Exposed” — a film to introduce Rogers' exhibition at the Pompidou Centre and the Design Museum—and “Ethos”, which was screened at the Royal Academy of Arts. The films are the result of a longstanding collaboration with Rogers and his architectural practice RSH+P, for which Willer created the visual identity.
A multi-faceted designer, Willer has designed major exhibitions for the Design Museum including ‘Ferrari: Under the Skin’ and ‘Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition’. Both were the most-visited exhibitions in the history of the Museum.
She has been an examiner at the Royal College of Art and is a member of the AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale) the most prestigious graphic design association in the world. She has been chair of the D&AD jury on numerous occasions.
Awards include best Brazilian short film at the São Paulo Film Festival, 2004, Best British Promotional Film at Promex 2000, Grand Prix for Oi at the 2002 Design Effectiveness Awards and Gold for Macmillan 2007. Her Serpentine Galleries identity was among the 2014 nominees for the Design Museum’s ‘Beazley Designs of the Year and her brand identity for the Moholy-Nagy Foundation was shortlisted for a Dezeen Award and received a D&AD Wood Pencil in 2021.
Consistently recognised as a leading figure in UK design, during the course of her career Willer has been the recipient of a variety of industry honours including Creative Review’s Creative Leaders 2017. In 2018 she was inducted into Design Week’s Hall of Fame, and in 2021 she was honoured with the title Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) by the Royal Society of Arts.
