The Refinery developed the key art concept and provided creative direction for the Outlander Season 1 hero image, supporting an on-location photoshoot in the Scottish Highlands that captured the series’ romance, emotional conflict, and time-crossed mythology in camera. The campaign helped launch what became Starz’s biggest series premiere ever at the time — 3.7 million multi-platform viewers, 2.3 million linear plus 1.4 million on-demand and digital, surpassing Black Sails’ prior record. The season averaged 1.04 million viewers per episode.
The challenge
Launching Outlander meant introducing a story with a lot to carry: romance, time travel, emotional conflict, historical drama, danger, longing, and an already devoted readership.
The Season 1 key art had to speak to fans of Diana Gabaldon’s books while giving new viewers a clear emotional way into the series. It needed to feel epic without becoming generic, romantic without becoming soft, and mythic without losing the physical realism of the world.
Because this was the first season, the hero image also had to establish a campaign foundation. One image needed to hold the central tension of the series: a woman caught between lives, loves, times, and identities.
Small assignment. Casual little centuries-spanning love problem.
The idea
After months of exploration, The Refinery developed a key art concept centered on transition, emotional conflict, and longing.
The image was designed to feel timeless and archetypal: a body pulled between worlds, a reach that suggests love, loss, fate, and separation. For the campaign, that emotional pull became the point.
Rather than building the image entirely in post, the creative direction pushed for something more physical and immediate. The hero image was captured in camera at Rest and Be Thankful, a mountain pass in the Scottish Highlands. That location gave the key art a rugged, lived-in atmosphere aligned with the production’s world: weathered, romantic, dangerous, and real.
The concept did not just show Outlander.
It gave the audience the feeling of being pulled into it.
What The Refinery made
Season 1 key art concept
The Refinery developed the key art concept for Outlander Season 1, shaping the campaign around transition, emotional conflict, romance, longing, and the central tension of a woman caught between two worlds.
Hero image creative direction
The Refinery provided creative direction for the hero image, guiding the visual approach, composition, emotional tone, and campaign positioning of the Season 1 key art.
On-location photoshoot creative direction
The Refinery supported the key art shoot on location in the Scottish Highlands, helping capture the campaign image in camera at Rest and Be Thankful.
Production collaboration and finishing
The Refinery collaborated with production partners and supported finishing and final delivery, helping prepare the Season 1 key art for campaign use.
Later-season campaign work
The Refinery has also created campaign work for Outlander Seasons 7 and 8, continuing its relationship with the franchise across later chapters.
Why it worked
The Season 1 key art worked because it gave Outlander a visual idea strong enough to introduce the series without overexplaining it.
The image captured the emotional engine of the story: longing, rupture, desire, danger, and the impossible pull between two lives. It gave existing fans a sense that the adaptation understood the soul of the books, while giving new viewers a simple emotional question to follow.
The on-location creative direction also mattered. Shooting in the Scottish Highlands gave the image texture and credibility. The landscape was not just a backdrop. It was part of the campaign’s emotional atmosphere.
For a premium drama built on romance, history, and fate, the campaign image needed to feel both intimate and epic.
The Refinery’s concept did exactly that.
One image. Two worlds.
Project details
Client: STARZ
Title / Brand: Outlander Season 1
Assignment: Develop key art and creative direction for the first season of a premium drama series
Project scope: Key art concept development, hero image creative direction, on-location photoshoot creative direction, campaign visual positioning, production collaboration, finishing, and final delivery
Location: Scottish Highlands, including Rest and Be Thankful
Related work: The Refinery has also created campaign work for Outlander Seasons 7 and 8