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Mute Dialogue

Portfolio

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

You can also see work related blog posts that give an example of how I approach brainstroming, innovation, developing large scale digital propositions and presentations.

Reinventing Radio 1 and 1Xtra online
A new audience experience for Radio 1
A History of the World
Strategy and new product development
The Rockterscale
Glastonbury
Finding the next big thing
BBC Music Showcase
Radio for the Facebook generation
Rethinking and redesigning Radio 4 online
5 Live
RFID and social networking
Interaction design lab
Origins and Lemons
The Archers
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The new Radio 1 and 1Xtra homepages completely reinvent how we think, design and interact with a radio station online. 

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The video on the left 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.


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

As creative director on this project my role involved leading a team to produce concept work, commissioning audience research, commissioning an external agency to develop our concepts, creative direction of internal BBC teams (Radio 4, Marketing, Future Media & Technology) and external companies (The British Museum, Fallon and VML). 

For more detail about the process read my blog post.
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My current work involves a complete rethink of the BBC Radio and Music portfolio. The goal is to design a new product that will become a single destination for all radio and music content from the BBC. 

The screenshots on the left are examples of the kind of approach I take to new product and strategy development. I lead the team through four different phases. 

The first phase is Discovery – brainstorming, generating lots of ideas and exploring the problem space, identifying the target audience and competitor analysis. 

The second is Define which involves prioritisation of ideas, features and touchpoints. 

This then leads into the Development phase which involves the prototyping of concepts and audience feedback. 

The final stage is Delivery of the final product. 

I use a variety of skills to engage teams with idea generation and product development, one such approach is Product Pinocchio which you can read about here.
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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.


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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.
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Commissioning research is important part of my role as it ensures that my team and the wider BBC gain the latest insights from audiences to inform strategy, new projects and spot new opportunities for both user experience and editorial propositions.

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. 


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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 involves leading the user experience and design team who play an important role in shaping and defining this proposition.

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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. 

My favourite feature of Radio Pop was the ability to ‘pop’ moments in time. So if you heard a track and popped while it was playing it would be recorded on your profile for you to refer to later and share with your social network.

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.
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The relaunch of the Radio 4 website was a key development for the station online. I led the user experience and design team responsible for the complete rethink and redesign of the entire Radio 4 portfolio introducing new branding, design and a compelling user experience to enable the audience to listen to their favourite shows and access the archive. 
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The objective of this project was a to deliver a radical reinvention of 5 Live online. Key to this project was to emphasise the liveness of the station and to create a destination that reflects audience participation across multiple channels.

My responsibilities included being part of the commissioning team, conceptual development, leading the user experience and design from a BBC perspective, reviewing the work produced by the commissioned agency and ensuring the overall direction was meeting the intended goals and objectives.

The new direction has had a positive response from the audience and press. New Media Age reviewed the website (subscription required) and gave it 84/100 and WebUser gave it 4/5 stars.

The design includes some compelling new features, one of which is 5 live Connect that reflects audience interaction (via twitter, facebook, SMS and MMS) in real time.
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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.
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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.


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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.
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The Archers is a much loved BBC programme and the worlds longest running soap opera. The website is a significant overhaul bringing in new features, a contemporary design and an enhanced user experience. 

My responsibilities included commissioning the project to an agency, working with the editorial team to develop new propositions for the website, working with BBC marketing and Fallon to develop a new brand identity (including logo and photography) and giving creative direction to the agency working with us to develop the design and user experience. 

The new design has opened up the opportunity to integrate new features. The Archers 60th Tweetalong proved extremely popular with audience, you can see animations of the tweetalong from the 2nd and 3rd of January on the website and a YouTube video.