I’m an Interactive Designer/Developer, with more than twenty years experience, based in Cardiff, Wales. Currently, I am Senior Interactive Designer & Developer at the University of South Wales (formerly known as the University of Glamorgan).
I have a wide-ranging role at USW that has required me to:
- design and develop high fidelity simulations, particularly in healthcare education, for students;
- design and develop a place-showing website (FindARoom) to aid campus navigation;
- create animations, such as Alien Worlds, to explain complex subjects in a visually engaging manner and aid learner understanding;
- edit videos and add motion graphics;
- design, develop and manage the creation of interactive books;
- design promotional material for print and screen display;
- design logos and branding.
I have previously been a visiting tutor at Cardiff Metropolitan University (formerly UWIC) and UWN, teaching Flash and Illustrator respectively and have been a tutorial writer for Computer Arts.
I have also spoken on multiple occasions about design and development (with particular regard to eLearning and developing simulations) at the Association for Learning Technology Conference, the Gregynog Colloquium and the Higher Education Academy Animations and Simulations Special Interest Group.
This site is a portfolio of my work. I have divided my work into three areas: Design & Development, Illustration and Lomography.
Design & Development
I started out as a print based Graphic Designer working with South Wales companies, such as See What You Mean (in the days when they were known as MoseleyWebb). But during my degree I became more interested in interactive media and the internet.
Having initially taught myself Director, I soon abandoned it in favour of Flash, which has been my main interactive tool since. Most of my interactive work has been developed in Flash, increasing in complexity and ambition as the software evolved. Projects like Virtual Pain Manager would not have been achievable without the power and flexibility of Actionscript 3 and OOP methodologies.
Most of the projects I have been involved in have required me to produce end-to-end solutions. At one end of the spectrum this means designing the user interfaces in Illustrator and Photoshop. At the other it requires the design, building and integration of MySQL databases with Flash via AMFPHP. Producing such comprehensive solutions naturally increases the calendar time a project takes to come to fruition. It also necessitates an understanding of all aspects of a development, and prevents parts of a project being developed in isolation. This has benefits for the designer, in that when you talk to developers on larger projects that you understand the issues they face and talk their language.
My online work isn’t limited to Flash, as I have developed websites using a mix of HTML, CSS, PHP, Ruby on Rails, WordPress and TextPattern (re-writing the source code of the latter for one project).
In addition to all development work I do, I retain a strong passion for graphic design both online and offline. As well as designing user interfaces, I occasionally get asked to design identities, such as for CELT, and printed material such as brochures and books.
I believe it’s the fusion of a passion for design, allied to strong technical skills, and focused of the needs of the user/learner that has enabled me to deliver successful, award nominated projects.
Illustration & Animation
My role at USW(Glamorgan) has required me on many occasions to create animations to explain subjects for learners. This has often necessitated an illustrative approach, and it is through this that I have developed a passion for creating illustration myself. I have long admired the illustrative styles of Herge, Julian Opie and Hokusai, and more recently the likes of Tim McDonagh and the work published by Nobrow Press, such as Mcbess and Luke Pearson.
I am furthering my work in this area, self-initiating work for Threadless.com and competitions such as Space Exhibition.
Lomography
I’ve taken photos since I was a child, first with instant cameras, then SLRs, and in university taking modules in studio photography. In 2003 I became the owner of an original Lomo LC-A camera and developed a passion for Lomography. The LC-A has accompanied me on all my travels. In recent years it has been joined by a LC-A+, Diana Mini, Fisheye and Super Sampler. The photos on this site have been selected from the many rolls of film I have shot since first acquiring the LC-A.
I have a particular fondness for low light photography (which possibly started while I was taking photos for a student poster project and persuaded the manager of the local multiplex cinema to change the ‘films now showing’ sign to the wording I required for the poster). These days armed with the LC-A+, a GorillaPod and cable release I like to shoot in low light conditions, letting the camera make the best of the available light.
Thank you for visiting my site. If you have any feedback, or wish to talk about a future project, please feel free to email me or contact me via Twitter.