Paul Wearing x Beazley

It all started with a hat stand. Over thirty years on from their startup, insurance company Beazley rebrands itself thanks to Prophet Agency and the elegant illustrative work of Paul Wearing. Introducing the Beazley animation... 

Paul, please tell us about your journey while creating the assets for Beazley’s rebrand.

It started out with a pitch involving a few other artists, directed by Prophet, the agency in charge of the rebrand. It was something that appealed to me and I really liked the creative director and team from the outset.

I wanted to go above and beyond at the pitch stage and come up with ideas and drawings that they maybe hadn’t thought of in an effort to impress and win the project.

The drawings in the animation represent and tell the company’s story, and the brand’s message. One of the key images is a hat stand, the cornerstone of this story, representative of where the company started with just two people with a hat stand in an office. 

Although many of the images have been created, we are still in the process of creating additional pieces which will result in a substantial body of work. It has been a really rewarding project so far, Prophet have been excellent. It’s important when you work on demanding projects like this that you have a good relationship with the agency or the client.

Having created numerous rebrands for established clients, how does Beazley compare with other rebrand projects you have worked on? 

It’s up there! I think the animation in particular is fantastic, they have done a brilliant job, I’m looking forward to them sharing the rest of the work next year. A lot of time has gone into making it look elegant, work seamlessly, and tell the story.

This animation is one of the best I’ve seen using my art and I really take my hat off (no pun intended)  to the animators because they’ve added in little bits to connect it up. It’s beautifully done. 

We love the elegance that you have captured in the assets for Beazley, after so much experience in the industry does this come easily to you?

 I don’t know if it comes easily but it's one of those things you want your work to have. The creative director very much wanted to push an elegant and stylish approach to the rebrand. I had done previous projects that were created by one continuous line which was one of the reasons why they wanted to work with me, also because of my previous experience in creating multiple brand assets and keeping the same energy throughout such a large number of images, it’s not an easy thing to do.

Having had such an established career in the design and illustration world, what inspires you today? 

Everyday life, what’s around you, as well as all the other stuff you do to inspire including, travel, exhibitions books etc. A lot of my style comes from a mid-century aesthetic and my interest in furniture, interiors, art and graphics from that period informs my work.

Like what you see? More on Paul's portfolio...

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