STRUCTURE. PRESENT. DESIGN. Graphic design for labels, logos, packaging, brochures and communication materials, developed for clear, consistent use across print and digital. DISTINGUISH. DEFINE. REPRESENT. Logo design, visual identities, mascots and characters developed to give businesses and products a distinctive, recognizable presence across print, packaging and digital media. Clarify. EXPLAIN. SIMPLIFY. Business comics, infographics, explainer visuals and visual storytelling that make complex information clearer, more direct and easier to understand. INTERPRET ILLUSTRATE. INFORM. Editorial, commercial and corporate illustration created to interpret ideas, support content and give publications, campaigns and communications original imagery. 0{{current_slide_index}}

Graphic Design & Creative Direction

I work internationally across graphic design, brand identity and creative direction, developing visual systems that can extend from an initial idea into packaging, campaigns, interfaces, publications, products and digital communication.

My role often begins before there is a finished visual answer. I help define the visual language, establish how information should be structured, create original artwork where it adds value, and carry the system through to production-ready applications.

Based in France and working worldwide, I collaborate directly with companies, agencies, publishers and specialist teams across the DACH region, the UK, the United States and wider Europe. Projects can be conducted in English, German or French.

Senior creative direction, direct collaboration

Founder & Creative Director of Marsden Creative. More than 35 years of professional experience across branding, illustration, visual systems, packaging, campaigns, UX, information design and moving image.

First official Google Doodle artist · Wacom Featured Artist · ESMA Montpellier faculty · English · Deutsch · Français

Selected international clients of Ian David Marsden and Marsden Creative, including Google, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Wacom and other global brands.
Selected clients include Google, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Wacom, Dräger, Henkel, Samsung, PwC, VISA, Fraunhofer, Lindt and Universal Music Group.

Creative direction across brand, product & communication

I work across disciplines when the project requires it. The aim is not to add more design layers, but to make sure identity, imagery, information and production all support the same idea.

Brand identity & visual systems

Logos, identity systems and character-led branding, supported by typography, colour, iconography and visual rules that can expand coherently across print, digital, products and campaigns.

Packaging & product design

Packaging systems, labels and product graphics, including dielines and production artwork developed around real manufacturing, regulatory and commercial requirements. Projects range from Swiss wellness packaging to wine identity and collectible product design.

Campaigns & visual communication

Campaign concepts and business communication across launches, presentations, print, digital assets and visual storytelling, with one consistent idea carried through different formats rather than treated as separate pieces.

UX, information design & complex systems

Interface concepts, icon systems, diagrams, information hierarchies and visual frameworks for SaaS, executive training and technical communication. See the iShepherd / TRM360 UX system and Strategic Wealth Creator System™.

Illustration as part of the system

Original illustration, characters and visual metaphors are used when they make the communication clearer or give a brand a more distinctive visual language. For illustration-led commissions, see my Illustration & Visual Storytelling work.

Creative direction from concept to production

I stay involved from the first visual decisions through the finished applications. That continuity is particularly useful when a project expands across identity, packaging, interface, illustration, campaigns or multilingual production.

For detailed examples of how these disciplines come together, see: creative direction and visual communication case studies →

Selected international work

These projects show different sides of the same practice: defining a visual idea, building a system around it and carrying that system into real applications.

SWITZERLAND · BRAND IDENTITY · PACKAGING

Sanafort AG — a complete brand and product ecosystem

As sole Creative Director for Swiss health and wellness company Sanafort AG, I developed the visual system from the ground up: corporate identity, packaging, print-ready dielines, product differentiation, catalogues, sales material, campaigns, responsive web design and multilingual communication.

The challenge was not simply to design attractive boxes. The system had to remain recognisable across a broad range of vitamins, minerals and supplements while accommodating product information, regulatory requirements, different formats and changing commercial needs.

The work involved direct collaboration with the CEO, product managers, medical advisers, printers and production partners across the full brand ecosystem.

View the Sanafort creative direction & packaging project →

Sanafort Magnesium packaging designed as part of the complete Sanafort AG brand and product system by Ian David Marsden.
iShepherd TRM360 brand identity, UX visual system, iconography and compliance communication by Ian David Marsden.

ZURICH · SaaS · BRAND & UX SYSTEM

iShepherd / TRM360 — making complex SaaS communication usable

For Zurich-based iShepherd AG, I led visual identity and UX-system development for TRM360, a compliance and identity-access-management platform.

The work brought together brand identity, interface thinking, more than 60 original UX icons, illustration, visual metaphors, persona systems, animation and marketing communication. The objective was to make dense technical information easier to navigate while giving the platform a consistent and recognisable visual language.

This is a good example of creative direction extending beyond conventional branding into the relationship between product, interface, explanation and market communication.

View the iShepherd / TRM360 case study →

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION · VISUAL SYSTEMS · UX

Strategic Wealth Creator System™

Role: Creative Director · Visual Systems Designer · Information Designer · Illustrator · UI/UX Concept Designer

A complex executive-training methodology needed to become a clear, structured and navigable learning environment. I developed an integrated system combining visual identity, UX concepts, instructional illustration, information design, iconography, diagrams and modular colour architecture.

The value of the project lies in the connections between those disciplines. Interface structure, diagrams, illustrations and presentation material all had to explain the same strategic framework without becoming visually fragmented.

View the Strategic Wealth Creator System case study →

Strategic Wealth Creator System visual identity, UX interface, instructional illustration and information design by Ian David Marsden.
Concept art and storyboard visuals for Volkswagen SEDRIC autonomous mobility presentation by Ian David Marsden.

GERMANY · MOBILITY · CONCEPT COMMUNICATION

Volkswagen SEDRIC — visualising autonomous mobility

For a Volkswagen Group presentation developed with CMV Cross Media Verlag in Hamburg, I created storyboard-led concept artwork for the SEDRIC autonomous-mobility platform.

The project required clarity and technical credibility while remaining accessible enough to support a press-facing presentation. Scenes were developed for the launch narrative and supplied at high resolution for presentation, motion, print and press-related use.

Although illustration was the production medium, the task was fundamentally one of visual communication: translating a future mobility concept into a sequence an audience could understand immediately.

View the Volkswagen SEDRIC project →

UNITED STATES · ENTERTAINMENT BRANDING · CREATIVE DIRECTION

La Toya Jackson / Ja-Tail Enterprises — Beverly Hills

As Creative Director for Ja-Tail Enterprises LLC, I worked across branding and entertainment-related communication connected with recording artist La Toya Jackson.

The scope included identity and crest design, album and CD packaging, posters, flyers, illustration, print production and the complete design and build of LaToyaOnline. The role combined visual direction with hands-on execution across both print and digital media.

It remains a useful example of how I work when a brand needs to function across different formats without losing its visual character.

View the La Toya Jackson / Ja-Tail project →

Creative CD cover design for La Toya Jackson – Just Wanna Dance album
Creative direction and CD cover design for La Toya Jackson — Just Wanna Dance.

Design that moves between disciplines

RITZENHOFF KitchenFarm collectible product designs by Ian David Marsden.

RITZENHOFF — product design, Germany

From 2013 to 2018 I created original designs for the RITZENHOFF Designer Collection, applying illustration and graphic thinking to manufactured glassware, ceramics and collectible objects. The work required an understanding of form, surface, print placement and commercial product presentation.

View the RITZENHOFF collection →

Top Source Washington State wine label and brand identity redesign by Ian David Marsden.

Top Source — wine identity, United States

For Washington State producer Top Source, I redesigned the visual identity across three wines, combining a new wordmark, individual illustrated identities, typography, composition and print-ready label systems into one coherent family.

View the Top Source project →

International creative direction — DACH, UK, US & Europe

DACH

I have longstanding professional experience in Germany and Switzerland, including creative direction, editorial, technology, packaging and product-design work. Projects can be discussed and developed directly in German or English.

Selected work includes Sanafort AG, iShepherd / TRM360, RITZENHOFF and Volkswagen SEDRIC.

UK & United States

My work includes US branding, publishing, corporate communication and product projects as well as UK educational and communication assignments. Remote international collaboration has been part of my practice for many years.

Examples range from creative direction for Ja-Tail Enterprises in Beverly Hills and Top Source wine identity in Washington State to visual communication and publishing projects for international organisations.

Multilingual production

International design often involves more than translating copy. Text length, hierarchy, production standards, regulatory information and regional communication needs can affect the structure of the design itself. I work directly in English, German and French, which is particularly useful when a project crosses markets or requires multilingual rollout.

Where illustration and design meet

Some projects sit neatly inside graphic design. Others do not. A product identity may need an original character or mascot. A SaaS platform may need a visual metaphor system. A packaging range may need custom illustration. A technical presentation may depend on sequential images rather than diagrams alone.

That crossover is one of the most useful parts of my practice. I do not have to decide in advance that a problem is “graphic design” or “illustration.” The form follows the communication problem. Illustration is used when it clarifies, differentiates or gives a system a distinctive visual centre; typography, layout, UX and information design structure everything around it.

For commissions that are primarily illustration, character, publishing or narrative work, see my Illustration & Visual Storytelling page.

From visual idea to finished application

The scale of a commission can vary enormously, but the working principle is consistent: understand the problem before designing the surface.

01 — Direction

Clarify the brief, audience, market, applications and visual problem. Establish what the system needs to communicate before deciding what it should look like.

02 — Development

Develop the visual language through identity, typography, illustration, iconography, layout, information architecture or interface concepts as appropriate.

03 — Application

Extend the chosen direction across packaging, campaigns, products, print, presentations, websites, digital communication or other required formats.

04 — Production

Prepare technically correct files for the real destination: printers, packaging suppliers, developers, presentations, digital platforms, motion production or multilingual rollout.

Sometimes the result is one carefully resolved object. Sometimes it becomes an extensive system across several markets. In both cases, the objective is the same: the idea, design and production should belong together.

Working directly with me

Strategy and execution stay connected. I work directly with the people commissioning the project, from the initial discussion and visual direction through design development and final production.

That is particularly useful when a project grows. A logo becomes a product range. An illustration becomes a campaign. An interface needs a complete icon system. Packaging expands into catalogues, sales material and digital communication. Decisions can be made with the larger system in mind rather than solving every new application independently.

The studio is intentionally small. I produce the work personally rather than passing it through outsourcing layers, and I do not use AI-generated imagery as a substitute for commissioned artwork.

“He’ll think things through together with you and understand what you are aiming for. He’ll point out what works — and more importantly, what doesn’t — and then execute it as agreed.”

Tom Geudens — Graph Database Expert, Neo4j

Discuss a graphic design or creative direction project

If you are developing a brand identity, packaging range, campaign, product, UX-related visual system or international communication project, send me a short outline of the brief, intended markets, applications and timing.

[email protected]

Projects can be discussed in English, German or French.

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