We bring your story to life.
Whether you’re a startup, looking for the best way to realise your vision, or an established company, ready to breathe fresh life into your brand, we have the agility and creativity to meet challenges of any size.
We know good design can transform a business. And identifying the strategic need is the essential foundation for every client and project. We observe, research, and conceive concept-driven ideas, along with intelligent designs. For progressive brands and forward-thinking clients, this adds value over the noise.
Working with us, our clients get to deal with us directly – it’s what we enjoy most. It’s also the reason we’ve kept our studio small, to allow every project to be carried out with precision and consistency. We’re not just creative for art’s sake; we’re passionate about producing work that helps our clients. Trusted for our insight and (occasionally brutal) honesty, we’ll always give a straight answer to a straight question, to get our clients where they need to be.
Established in 1999, Heat Design is led by Stephen Taylor, with support from our small team of designers and communication experts. We often collaborate with other creative specialists – strategists, photographers, writers and digital media experts – and we’re equally happy to join or build a team for a particular project.
Scroll down to learn more about our team.
–––
Our London studio sits on the edge of the Regent’s Canal. We share the space with Panos Pictures, a photo agency founded in 1986. It specialises in stories on global social issues for international media and NGOs, using photography and video. It also produces exhibitions and long-term documentary projects.
Services
Art Direction
Brand Identity
Book Design
Data Visualisation
Digital Design
Editorial Design
Interior Design
Motion Graphics
Packaging
Website Design
Clients
Arts –
Alina Cojocaru – Ballet Dancer
Arts & Business
Brian Griffin – Photographer
Hatty Pedder – Artist
Ian Teh – Photographer
Mark Fry – Artist
Olivia Pomp – Stylist
Rick & Rachel Wakeman
Charities –
Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Lokahi Foundation
The Funding Network
The Kerrison Trust
ThinkForward
Consulting –
Brochet
Fellows Associates
LUC – Land Use Consultants
Roger Steare
Seacon
UniLink
Unit Worldwide
Consumer, Retail & Manufacturing –
Energy Quote
Ronald Phillips
Hamleys
Holy Food
IES
Peaberry Coffee Roasters
Petplan
Picotech
Shelf Interiors
Swarovski
The Shoe Snob
Education & Public sector –
Campusalam
Confer Books
Pearson (including FT, Longman, Prentice Hall)
Hackney Council
Hagatas Publishing
Harriman House
ISMO Books
Karnac Books
Leaside Regeneration
London Citizens
Northgate Public Services
Financial –
Bridges Community Ventures
CBI
Close Brothers
Finsbury
FIPRA
HelmGodfrey
Highland Gold Mining Plc
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Plc
Majedie Asset Management
Oxford Asset Management
Rothschilds
Smithfield Consultants
Media & PR –
Brunswick
Chorion plc
Datasine
Nexus PR
PTC – Periodicals Training Council
Tomo Events
Hospitality & Travel –
JLA
Travelodge
Wedge & Wildlife
Wild & West
Yacht Masters
Clients we worked with before Heat Design
Ascot
Asprey
BBC
Blue Circle
Department of Employment
European Bank
Fundación Goya en Aragón
GlaxoWellcome
Inchbald School of Design
John Dickinson
London Electricity
London Stock Exchange
Losada vinos de finca
Mappin & Webb
Munkenbeck & Marshall Architects
NatWest
Nicholas Hare Architects
Turner Press
Peter Foggo Associates
Phaidon
PPP Healthcare
Prado Museum
Sibneft
Siemens
Tate Modern
The Physiological Corporation
United Biscuits
Warbugs
Core Team
Stephen Taylor
Creative Director
Graduating from Kingston University in 1990, Stephen has worked within the design industry ever since, founding Heat in 1999, where he’s director and creative lead.
Following his passion for record sleeve design, Stephen’s initial post was at AREA. The small, multi-award-winning design studio had an enviable client list: Depeche Mode, ABC, OMD, John Galliano, Koji Tatsuno to name but a handful.
“It was the dream start really, working on your favourite bands’ record covers and fashion design print pieces. Then on top of that you work with amazing photographers such as Anton Corbijn and Trevor Key.”
Next, Stephen worked at Williams & Phoa, with clients like Phaidon, Warburgs, European Bank and Siemens. He was there three years – which equated to six in design hours – this culminated in a D&AD Silver Award win, and with it of course, that much-coveted Yellow Pencil for the mantelpiece.
Stephen then joined Torch Design as senior designer, going on to win the Consort Royal Graphic Design & Print Award (the company’s first design gong, and the much-coveted Gold, no less). Finally, in 1996 he joined Smith & Milton, another award-winning agency. There he worked on multiple branding projects, such as Asprey, PPP Healthcare, NatWest and John Dickinson.
Stephen originally co-founded Heat Design with Tiago Figueiredo, who at the time was working with John McConnell at Pentagram. Tiago relocated to Brazil in 2002; Stephen remained to continue running Heat.
Firmly believing design can solve any problem, Stephen’s clients have been won through his love of the craft. His real skill is listening, then interpreting their communication requirements intelligently – before applying the relevant creativity. He’s passionate that design be integrated with content, or words; the two elements have to work in complete harmony.
Stephen lectures graphic design at Kingston University and is also a governor of his local Primary School.
Awards
Silver – D&AD Pencil
Gold – Consort Royal Graphic Design & Print Award
Catalogues & Manuals
Bronze – Consort Royal Graphic Design & Print Award
Sean Rafter
Commercial & Creative Development
Sean's journey in business began in 1990, when he embarked on his initial entrepreneurial venture within the niche insurance sector. It was during this time that he first crossed paths with Stephen Taylor, a fortuitous meeting that would shape their ongoing business relationship.
Their collaboration was the foundation for a partnership that would span several successful ventures and culminate in Sean's integral role at Heat Design. Drawing upon his background as a former professional sportsman, Sean brought a unique blend of strategic acumen and business development expertise to Heat's creative strategy.
A conceptual thinker and a serial entrepreneur Sean approaches business with a creative mindset, always seeking innovative solutions and novel approaches to challenges. This approach underscores his strong emphasis on design excellence and business strategy.
His career is marked by a relentless pursuit of excellence, an unwavering belief that success is achieved through a combination of strategic foresight, creative thinking, and an unrelenting commitment to the finer points of execution.
In his current role at Heat Design, Sean applies this unique blend of skills and attributes to further the company's goals and ambitions.
David Pike
Strategist
Initially obtaining a First in architecture, David moved into the design and communications field after gaining an MBA at London Business School. He’s since worked in corporate communications for over 36 years.
David is responsible for developing brand positioning and architecture (no longer in the physical sense) and the overall direction of a project.
David met Stephen Taylor in 1996, when he was a partner at Merchant, the design arm of the financial PR firm, Brunswick. He joined Heat in 2002, bringing a wealth of strategic experience and insight to the team.
David has taken on substantial projects, often at Board level, in the corporate and financial arena. His career includes work across Majedie Asset Management and EnergyQuote JHA; annual reports for United Biscuits and the BBC; defence literature for Blue Circle and the London Stock Exchange; and brand identities for Ascot, Glaxo Wellcome, the Department of Employment and Sibneft (Russia’s second largest oil company).
David is also the founding director of Brochet, a company creating innovative templates for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Simplifying the complex, Brochet makes it easy for users to create consistent, accurate and professionally branded documents. We’ve partnered with Brochet on numerous projects – the solutions they implement are so user-friendly, they can be rolled out across an organisation with minimal training.
Dorien Brouwers
Senior Designer
Dorien holds a first-class BA Hons degree in Graphic Design from the University of Lincoln. Originally hailing from the Netherlands, she’s worked at Heat for 19 years and currently manages the studio’s day to day projects.
Dorien cut her teeth working at the Studio Fernando Gutiérrez in London. At the time, its rich roster of clients included Tate Modern, Prado Museum, Fundación Goya en Aragón, Losada Vinos de Finca, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Nicholas Hare Architects and Turner Press.
In tandem with her graphic design skills, Dorien is a talented artist and picture book author and illustrator, working predominantly with watercolour, pen and ink; a distinctive style rich in texture and detail.
In 2018, Salariya Publishing released her debut children's book, "The Remarkable Pigeon." Shortly thereafter, in 2022, "Wild Beings and Sail," published by Little, Brown Young Readers, a part of the Hachette Book Group, garnered acclaim by being shortlisted for the esteemed Bologna Illustrator Exhibition and receiving the 2022 World Illustration Award. Her most recent work, "Life," has just been published by Penguin Random House.
Extra support
Samantha Fry
Account Manager
We have to go back to 2001 to recall our first encounter with Sam. She was then an account director at Merchant (as part of Brunswick). Of all the account handlers there, we always loved working with Sam – she was just ‘on it’. And, for a young design business like us, run by two boys (and just a few others), she was the ultimate 'safe pair of hands' – providing expert support in the most complex of project situations.
Nothing seems to phase her; she's calm at all times and always in great humour too. A pleasure to work with, and definitely somebody to trust.
So, when she left Merchant and she’d done ‘being mum’, we wanted to snap her up to work full time at Heat. During her tenure we grew faster and with greater efficiency. Many of our big projects came with her arrival. Sam’s ability to put clients at ease gave them confidence in us delivering the project on time and on budget.
Sam now works for Heat on a project by project basis, as and when the client or budget requires the expertise. If she’s not helping Heat, then she’s helping her husband Doug (see next bio) with his highly successful photography business.
Doug Fry
Photographer
Doug gets a special mention in our line-up – we’ve entrusted him with numerous photographic briefs over the years. When we need reliability, along with beautiful shots, he still remains our go-to guy.
With Doug’s London-based company, Piranha Photography, we’re guaranteed excellent images and footage. Doug is adept working within any company – be it a boutique agency or a corporate giant – throughout the UK, or across Europe.
Piranha have been commissioned for a variety of projects, from business portraits, corporate head shots, annual reports, press shoots and events – their latest and greatest Leica cameras and lenses have allowed discreet ‘no flash’ coverage of events to an incredibly high standard. In the current climate, they’re also ideal for operating at a respectable distance.
Piranha's modern studio, fitted with the latest tech, maximises the image quality. Photographs are available to view online, with high-resolution downloads as required, directly after a shoot.
Don’t take our word for it…
I don't want 2022 to end without recognising the huge contribution that Stephen Taylor and Heat Design have made to the work of our small (but mighty!) charity this year. We engaged Stephen to work with us on a re-brand to mark The Funding Network’s 20th anniversary in October. (TFN is a small charity which raises funds for other small charities through live crowdfunding events.)
To date, the project has involved a workshop with key stakeholders which Stephen expertly led to develop the project brief; a highly collaborative, iterative design process which has resulted in a beautiful new creative identity; the rollout of the new brand across all communications channels (on-going); and the development of guidelines so we can apply the brand in-house to create high quality, low cost materials ourselves.
Stephen also connected us with other creatives to support the process including Mary and Christina @thewordsanctum who nailed our new strapline: "Connections that Change the World". We launched the new brand in a 20th anniversary impact report which Stephen designed, and production managed. You can see it here.
Next year, we're looking forward to working with Stephen on a new website and to rolling the brand out to our network of international partners.
Quite apart from the quality of the work, was the quality of our working relationship with Stephen. I have worked with designers for over 25 years and Stephen is quite simply, one of the most professional, reliable and easy to work with that I have met.
The new brand has breathed new life into TFN’s work. Our existing members are delighted with it and we are getting more inquiries from individuals and businesses that are interested in joining us. Our last two crowdfunding events have been record breakers and we head in 2023 with a renewed confidence and belief in our work – this is hugely valuable to us and the brilliant small charities we support after the difficult years of the pandemic and the challenges that almost certainly lie ahead.
If you would like to know more about our experience of working with Stephen and Heat Design, please do reach out to me.
Eugenie Harvey, CEO
The Funding Network
Brilliant work and wonderful presentation, Stephen.
You are such a master of your craft…I am always amazed that you manage to find something fascinating and unique to incorporate into the design that rings true to the concept and content of the work.
Bravo!
Christina Wilf Perry
Publishing Director
Confer & Karnac Publishing
Working together with Stephen on our Datasine rebrand has been a real joy and we couldn’t be more proud of the result - he brings that rare blend of being a seasoned pro while equally being a great guy to work with.
Our brief was ambitious and the timelines tight - what impressed me the most was Stephen's ‘we can do it’ attitude paired with bringing in clear outlines of the What's and When’s. And he stuck to it.
Where others do a job, you get the feeling Stephen’s heart and soul is in every aspect of the project and goes above and beyond at any stage. Stephen really became part of our team. Hoping there will be future opportunities to work together again.
Cornel Lazar
Marketing Director
Datasine
I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for your efforts on the production of the book ‘it worked for them’. The design, in particular, is excellent and presents our work in a very positive light.
The end result is tremendous and will certainly be a great boost to our work. Once again, many thanks for your support.
Colin Tweedy LVO OBE
Chief Executive
Arts & Business
Thank you for going above and beyond and rebranding our coffee roastery to the highest possible level which enables us to look as good on the page or indeed the bag when brewed!
I am still pinching myself that this journey of bionic business upgrade is happening with you.
Gerald FitzGerald
Director & Master Roaster
Peaberry Coffee Roaster
It was refreshing to work with Heat. Unlike other design companies we have met they were sensitive to the business issues and addressed not only style but also the language we used to to describe ourselves.
As a result we got a great brochure which really captured the spirit of Bridges.
Michele Giddens OBE
Co-CEO
Bridges Community Ventures
I first met Stephen for a coffee – so he could pick-up his recently purchased limited edition print of Depeche Mode’s, A Broken Frame album, in Hoxton, London. After a few minutes of us talking we just clicked, he got me – and my pictures and we shared many stories of the design and photography industries. Two hours later, we’d agreed that my website clearly needed a serious makeover, and that’s exactly what he did.
It showcases my work perfectly, an online gallery.
Brian Griffin
Photographer
Stephen is highly creative and a strong visual thinker. You'd expect that from a designer: what you don't necessarily expect, but what you get with Stephen, is someone who's also extremely thoughtful, perceptive and able to see the perspective of other stakeholders in a project.
With book jackets, there can be many stakeholders, and they often have different preferences, so his diplomacy and collaboration skills are invaluable.
Great to work with.
Liz Gooster
Marketing Director
FT/Pearson
Stephen and all the team at Heat Design are absolutely outstanding. We have worked with them again and again, tendered for form's sake but they just keep winning the tenders in open and stiff competition.
They are incredibly deep and thorough in their work. They immerse themselves amazingly in every aspect of your company, your project, your ethos, your objectives and strategy. Then they go away and come up with brilliant ideas and solutions - always a range for you to choose from - with designs and approaches that are unexpected but absolutely right.
I feel I understand my own thinking and my own work better once it has been refracted through Heat Design's perceptiveness and brilliance. Plus they are just so much fun, such truly wonderful people to work with - that I have to hand a tender over someone else to make sure I'm not biased in their favour because they are such a great experience to do a project with. Then the other colleague chooses them for objective reasons... and finds out why I think they're so great.
Professor Gwen Griffith-Dickson
Founder & CEO
Lokahi Foundation
Stephen, has been fantastic on this collaboration of producing my new book Traces. From creative design, attention to detail to sometimes just literally thinking of everything else outside the design process.
Beyond the obvious benefits of his creative mind is the real sense of reassurance that one gets from working with someone who really cares.
Ian Teh
Photographer
Stephen – many thanks for your great work on Fashion Rocks branding, I really appreciate you turning this round so fast. Pascal, Izzy and Emma have said the new website looks amazing and is a piece of cake to use, so thank you.
Nadia Swarovski
Head of Global Communications
Swarovski
Stephen is an exceptional designer, as well as a person who will always go the extra mile. He helped illustrate financial concepts with clarity and simplicity, and I have no hesitation in recommending his work.
Mary Ziegler
Financial researcher
We always enjoy working with Heat Design and trust them completely to always deliver a great design solution to the range of projects we’ve worked on together. They really make the effort to get to know and understand their clients and come up with ideas that work, presenting information in a creative and visually appealing way. We have collaborated with them for several years now and they are easy to work with, flexible and always happy to go the extra mile.
Ashley McCaul
CEO
ThinkForward
This is an extremely belated note of thanks for all your time last Thursday, expertise, inspiration and last minute brain waves! I found the whole evening completely fascinating - it’s the first time we have ever received a serious, professional overhaul of our work from pro bono consultants (after two unsuccessful attempts).
I particularly appreciated your sensitivity to all the issues that go with trying to appeal to grant funder audiences.
Rosalind Copisarow
Executive Director
Street UK, Micro Finance
You don’t always get what you pay for: sometimes you get more!
We worked with Stephen and his team in the past and we decided to hire them again in order to refresh our brand and redesign our website. From the start he understood exactly what our goals were. His designs were simple, yet also multi-layered so that multiple meanings and messages could shine through – important for a charity with a mission like ours.
The website is beautiful and informative but, above all, it is also usable, friendly and inviting. Heat Design truly utilised their design and technical acumen to go above and beyond what we expected as the client. You don’t always get what you pay for: sometimes you get more!
Kawika Solidum
Marketing Director
Lokahi Foundation
I love what you’ve done with The future is small.
Amazing as always Stephen!
Gervais Williams
Fund Manager of the Year
Premier Miton Group plc
Heat invested a considerable amount of time and energy to understand what is important in our business.
Combined with their enthusiasm, creativity and attention to detail it allowed them to come up with really strong and thoughtful solutions that embraced all our key audiences.
For all the work that Heat have carried out for us we have found them to be very flexible and easy to work with, this has helped to create an open and generous working relationship between our two organisations.
Shazia Hussain
Director Community Partnerships
and Marketing
Leaside Regeneration
We asked Heat to get involved with producing our annual report. Under enormous logistical pressure and time constraints, they transformed the process and together we created an annual report Highland Gold could be proud of.
Without Heat’s creativity and efficiency we could not have done it.
Duncan Baxter
Corporate Affairs Director
Highland Gold Mining Ltd
We needed to present our performance and strategy in a strong and focused manner, and the annual report has certainly been well received as a clear, professional and well-produced document.
Heat’s input had much to do with this and the team have been good fun to work with. I would be pleased to recommend your experience and creativity to anyone needing assistance with a major publication or branding project.