IMAGE MAKER

Eric Hoffman’s sensitive vision elevates branding to the highest level

- TILLY MCALISTER-SMITH

Who does design royalty turn to when in need of an identity upgrade or a new typeface for a website? Eric Hoffman, founder of Hoffman Creative, is the behind-the-scenes maestro composing image overhauls for some of the biggest names in the industry. Pamela Shamshiri, for whom he has designed a new website and a book that will be published by Rizzoli this September, calls him ‘a design healer, because you feel heard and seen in a way that elevates your work’. Simon Haas, of the Haas Brothers, tells me, ‘He’s a rare person who approaches design in the same way he approaches people: with excitement, curiosity, an open heart and an open mind.’ Charles Miers, publisher of Rizzoli New York, concurs: ‘His design and art direction elegantly invites you into the worlds of an artist or designer, quietly but powerfully enveloping you in their aura.’

Hoffman spends his days helping designers galvanise and understand their USP. ‘We are a full-service communication agency,’ he clarifies. ‘It’s our job to tell the story, and we do that through lots of different levers that we pull,’ he says. ‘Identity design is the first layer of building this house. It’s a big ecosystem.’ Indeed, Hoffman’s unique approach is more anthropological than most agencies, something his clients seem to love and describe as a therapeutic process.