This page is a collection of work that showcases my skills in creative direction, strategy, leadership, editorial and innovation.

BBC iPlayer Radio app

I led the creative direction and user experience of the BBC iPlayer Radio app. Read my blog post on the design process.

Download the app from the app store.

The app received a Webby nomination in the ‘Mobile and Apps, Media Streaming Service’ category.

At the time of launch The Next Web, PC Advisor, Pocket-lint and Macworld published reviews.

Radio 1 and 1Xtra

Creative Direction of Radio 1 and 1Xtra online. This was more than a redesign, it was a complete rethink of the digital proposition and a cultural shift for the station. The website is visited by 4 million people per week. My blog post provides further details of the project.

BBC TV Channels

Led the creative direction of the BBC TV Channel refresh across digital platforms.

Read my blog post about the strategy, design process and how we used responsive design to create a multi platform experience.

BBC iPlayer

I was responsible for leading a user experience and design team across the iPlayer portfolio. My role involved product development on mobile, tablet, TV (including games consoles) and online.

Digital broadcast innovation

This video is an example of work that I’ve conceived and led that brings together the best of Radio 1, digital and audience participation to create a rich and unique experience.

A History of the World

A History of the World was a 2010 partnership between the BBC and the British Museum, involving schools, museums and audiences across the UK.

My role as Creative Director on this flagship BBC project was to develop concepts for the digital proposition, commission audience research, commission and oversee an agency to build our concepts, work with BBC Marketing and Fallon to develop branding.

The website is live so you can see it in action and for more information and sketches of early concepts see my blog post.

The Rockterscale

The BBC supports and runs many music festivals throughout the year and I have always been interested in looking for interesting and innovative additions to these events, whether they’re physical installations or web and mobile apps.

The Rockterscale displays the amount of rock at a venue and on the web in real-time. A nice gaming aspect of this project is to show it at other gigs to encourage bands and crowds to out-rock each other.

Important outcomes of doing this kind of work is to get people thinking differently, to provide inspiration and as team-building.

Radio for the Facebook Generation

Radio Pop was a live prototype to explore social listening. Signing up to the Radio Pop service enabled users to store their BBC Radio listening. We used the listening data to create graphs, charts and lists, provide recommendations from friends, enabled users to share their tastes and browse around to see what other people were listening to in real time.

I facilitated brainstorming sessions and worked with the R&D team to develop the ideas that led to Radio Pop and I led the design team to visualise concepts and produce the user experience and design of the product.

I was also involved in the brainstorming and  commissioning process for a related project called Olinda.

Olinda was a prototype radio device that included innovative features such as plug in modules and social networking. The device connected to Radio Pop via a wifi module which enabled you to see who from your social network was listening to the radio.

Glastonbury

BBC Glastonbury coverage receives millions of views across TV, web, mobile and red button and therefore the output and interactivity has to be world class.

My responsibilities for Glastonbury over the years has been varied. I’ve been hands on at the event producing content and as Creative Director I’ve led the team responsible for the design of the multi-platform experience and I’ve worked with my editorial colleagues to brainstorm and develop new propositions for how we cover the event across digital platforms. This includes thinking of new ways to present the audio and visual content as well as encouraging audience participation on the website and mobile.

BBC Electric Proms

The BBC Electric Proms was a festival that ran between 2005 – 2010. Artists were challenged to come up with new and original material or arrangements of their music to reflect the central theme of the festival, creating new moments in music.

The content could be accessed either at the venues, watching and listening on the BBC, or by interacting with online, red button and mobile media.

I had multiple responsibilities that included being part of the team responsible for the digital proposition as well as taking photographs and photo editing for the website and I helped produce an interactive installation during the event.

BBC Music Showcase

The BBC Music Showcase section brings together all of the best audio and video music clips from the BBC and enables you to browse them in collections compiled by presenters and staff.

This project is important strategically for the BBC as it takes the content produced via linear broadcast and offers it up in a unique and distinctive way on the internet (and soon mobile and interactive tv).

As Creative Director my role involved being part of the team responsible for shaping and define the digital proposition and leading the user experience and design team.

You can read more about this project on my blog post.

Finding the next big thing

In 2008 I commissioned research to understand more about the role that mobile technology and music plays in the lives on young people aged 13-18. The outputs of the research and how it was communicated proved hugely influential in the BBC.

Taking an ethnographic approach offers rich detail and deep insight into the behaviours, practices and everyday lives of people. It can inform and inspire throughout the entire design process.

The final document made a significant impact because all the observations, interviews, diaries and exercises are conveyed in a very visual way with lots of sketches and photographs making the research engaging and inspiring.

Interaction Design Lab

In late 2004 I proposed to conceive and run an interaction design lab at the Watershed Media Centre as part of the Electric Pavilion season in Bristol.

My proposal received funding and between March and June 2005 I ran a 13 week interaction design lab that I created for artists to develop skills and knowledge using the open source Processing environment. The lab created a hybrid space, where technical skills were fused with a creative approach, through which the artists created a series of projects.

The outcome of the lab was an exhibition of their interactive work held at the Watershed Media Centre, the documentation can be viewed on the Electric Pavilion website here.

RFID and Social Networking

In 2006 myself and a small team of designers successfully secured £25,000 from the Arts Council to create a real time rfid social networking application called Timelines for the b.tween conference in Bradford, a yearly gathering of digital media professionals and entrepreneurs.

Timelines used rfid tags to enable participants to view their activity during the two day conference. Each person using a tag was tracked and their location was displayed on screens throughout the conference. A button on the tag enabled the user to make a note of interesting moments that they could then review when logging into the online application to see what was being discussed, who they met and where they were. The Timelines application collated all the activity and interests from attendees using the system and then made suggestions on who participants should meet with.

The project was very well received as it added a new twist to the traditional conference experience enabling conference attendees to truly come together and connect. The interactive nature of the project encouraged delegates to expand their social and business networks by identifying and matching their common interests and observations throughout the event.

Origins and Lemons

Origins and Lemons was an interactive installation commissioned by SPACE Media Arts, a gallery on Mare Street in the East End of London.

Arranged as an East End market stall the installation invited the audience to pick up RFID tagged items and scan them receive clues as to their history and origin.

The details of the exhibition are available on the SPACE website.