An award winning Creative Director currently at The Mill in London, working across interactive, experiential and film. I’ve spent my career navigating the waters of digital design, looking for  innovative ways to craft images, tell stories and challenge the way we see the world, all while working closely with clients from brands, agencies and the arts. I put the story of Hope vs Hate on the chests of EE’s Hope United Team using machine learning and data-driven design, led the design and animation of a sequence for the world’s largest LED screen at the Winter Olympics, designed shoes out of data from an Apple Watch and built tools to let anyone become an oil painter. I’ve done
this for brands such as Nike, Adidas, Kojima Studios, the BBC, Sky, EA Sports, and arts venues including the Barbican and the National Museum of Qatar. My homes along the way include TheMill, MPC, Jellyfish, Foreign Office Design and the BBC.

I love presenting ideas to clients, challenging their expectations of what is possible and cutting through the jungle of jargon and complexity of creative technology. I bring my work and the thinking behind it to stages around the world, such as OFFF, Us By Night, Login and FMX. Recently I've become something of an evangelist for responsible (and inventive) ways to bring AI tools into creative workflows and regularly speak at conferences and ad agencies about how to do this.

Behind the scenes, I'm a 3D artist, with Houdini as my main tool.

I've also got a fairly lengthy CV that includes years in the cutting rooms of Soho (Billy Elliot, Gosford Park) and as a live vision mixer (TD) for US sports broadcasts of NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL.

I’m happy to chat with anyone curious about my work or this crazy business. So feel free to say hello through email or Twitter.

willmacneil@icloud.com
@willmacneil_VFX

Recent awards:

2022 BIMA Gold for Use of Technology - EE Hope United Data Shirt Design
2022 D&AD Shortlist for Digital -EE Hope United Data Shirt Design
2022 AICP Shortlist for Use of Data - EE Hope United Data Shirt Design
2022 British Arrows Shortlist for Immersive Experiences - EE Hope United Data Shirt Design
2021 Motion Awards - Al Jazeera English Idents
2021 Promax - Adidas E-ball Promo
2020 Clio Sports Awards Bronze - Manchester United / Adidas Kit Launch
2016 Kinsale Sharks Silver for Motion Design - Sky Star Wars Channel Promo
2016 Kinsale Sharks Bronze for Best use of graphics - Sky Star Wars Channel Promo

Recent public speaking:

2023 OFFF Barcelona Roots Stage
2023 Houdini Hive at FMX
2022 Houdini Hive at OFFF Barcelona
2021 Houdini Hive at OFFF (Online)
2020 Houdini Hive at OFFF (Online)
2019 Us By Night Tutorial Stage
2019 OFFF Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 OFFF Barcelona Roots Stage
2018 OFFF at Login Vilnius
2018 Mouvo Prague Panelist
2017 Us By Night Tutorial Stage
2017 FMX Stuttgart
2016 FMX Stuttgart