Despite his iconic movies, people don’t often recognize or know the name Billy Wilder, just his films. How could we create a visual identity that made his name as relevant as his work?

Billy Wilder’s cinematography lives by one of his most famous quotes “The best director is the one you don’t see.” He avoided imposing any specific style, instead allowing each work to shine on its own.

This led us to a simple conclusion, the lack of a signature style is a style by itself, one that can be used to create a strong design concept that can finally make his name as recognizable as his films.

We are going to brand Billy Wilder as “The Icon of Absence” by creating a visual identity that cuts parts of the letters to give space to what makes him recognizable: his work.

A simple design idea that makes Billy Wilder's name grow by embodying his legacy of invisible direction.

We transformed Billy Wilder’s name into a design element itself, one where we brought to life the magic of his absence by cutting through the letters to open space to his work.

By playing along with different iconic stills we brought to life an identity that expresses his essence, how he preferred to go unnoticed so it would be his work what shined for him.

Each liquid execution is supported by headlines that reinforced his true essence was making a great range of incredible work remaining unnoticed.