Irish fashion focus: ‘I won gold for Ireland in the International Design Category for creatives under 30’

Imaginative visuals are an art form, one that Emma Wilson, creative director at Slater Design, has mastered. With a diverse client list, this award-winning creative skilfully sums up a brand’s personality through design and illustration

Creative director at Slater Design, Emma Wilson. Photo: Aisling McCoy

Orla Dempsey

‘I graduated with an honours degree in Visual Communications from IADT in 2010,” says Emma Wilson. “IADT has a reputation for producing hands-on designers with real-world problem-solving abilities. This prepares you for the industry. At college, I was more interested in playing with illustration, hand-rendering, and grunge aesthetics. We all go through our Raygun magazine [a US alternative rock magazine] phase.”

A hint of that grunge aesthetic has no doubt lingered as evidenced by the Spadetown Brewing Co advert, below; it’s one of Wilson’s favourite projects to date. (I would like to believe the dogs added that graffiti themselves.)

Spadetown Brewing Co advert — creative direction by Emma Wilson. Photo: White Cloud Photographic

In 2014, Wilson joined RichardsDee, a brand strategy and design agency in Dublin. “They put me forward for Cannes Young Lions in 2017, where I participated as part of a team of two, winning gold for Ireland in the International Design Category for creatives under 30. No team from Ireland has won this award before or since.”

Wilson had such a positive experience with Young Lions that she’s now mentoring junior members of her team at Slater Design — which she joined in 2018 — to compete. “They were shortlisted this year in the Irish leg but unfortunately they missed out on the win by a small fraction. But we’ll try again next year.”

Creative director at Slater Design, Emma Wilson. Photo: Aisling McCoy

She climbed through the ranks at Slater from senior designer to creative director in 2021. “At Slater, I have worked with clients including Bord Bia, Bunsen and celebrity TV chefs Rachel Khoo and Donal Skehan.” With a variety of clients, Wilson needs to get down to the bones of the brand’s identity, so each project is unique.

“All projects start with a conversation. Building a relationship with the client is the foundation of any strong creative process,” she says. “Untangling their problems and requirements as well as challenging and asking questions. I go into ‘squirrel mode’, where I gather ideas, visual snippets, symbolism, historical context and start to play with language and tone of voice — with the goal of defining some creative territories in which the project could realise itself.”

Sons of Butchers plant-based alternative graphic by Emma Wilson ​

Wilson pushes her exploration as far as possible to come up with standout ideas that the client may have never considered. “I don’t have a strict palette I work within; I try to tailor my style to who I work with; however, I veer more towards maximalism than minimalism.” ​

So what’s next for Wilson? “At Slater we’ve been working on an internal rebrand, which will be launching, hopefully, at the end of this month.”

Instagram: @slater_design

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