Selected works for Sky and NowTV, including landing pages, social assets and email designs. This is just a snapshot of my daily activities at Sky.
We were tasked with raising the profile of Sky Arts by showcasing the wide range of talent they have in their shows. There was no real budget available for this project, so we decided to let the names of the talent speak for themselves by typesetting them in a list (grouped by show) that bled off the edge of the page, suggesting the list could go on indefinitely.
We paired it with some snappy lines, giving Sky Arts a cocky, almost arrogant tone of voice, as if bragging about their talent. It was set in Akzidenz Grotesque Super in Sky Arts’ pink – the perfect pairing to make a bold, unashamed statement.
A pitch for the rebrand of Sky Cinema. The idea was to update the identity and celebrate the range of content available.
The idea was around the battle between good and evil between protagonists in cinema – nearly every film has a tussle between good and bad on some scale. This split between good and evil is reflected visually by dividing the creative and selecting appropriate imagery of heroes and villains from films on Sky Cinema. We paired this with some appropriate copy relating to the content and mocked up various routes to market.
Each piece slides away to reveal another, almost like the curtains at the cinema. In print, I added thin red gradients at each side to mirror the curtain effect used in the digital versions.
Sky Central has fantastic catering facilities – a wide range of restaurants and cafes to choose from. They are spread out across the campus and the menus are uploaded as PDFs. This didn't seem the best way to communicate the information considering Sky is brimming with tech-savvy employees.
I designed a Food@Sky identity and app, whereby the user can view what is on offer for the week ahead, book tables, and order food to be picked up at a time to suit them. Everything is already paid for on prepaid cards, so this syncs up nicely with the app – you can view your balance and top-up if you're running low. You can also filter your food options as there are so many different dietary requirements onsite.
I have also designed some of the interactions on the app with a view to getting it built – this is currently spec work.
I produced some designs for a financial services organisation: I was presented with an online banking/investment dashboard which needed to be refreshed.
I produced a set of mockups for how my vision of the new dashboard would look on desktop, tablet and mobile devices. I enjoyed the challenge of taking complex information and crafting it into something much more accessible.
User-centred design is something I find very rewarding – particularly enabling the user to get to their desired endpoint in the most efficient way possible, leaving the user feeling as though they have had a positive experience.
The idea for this was that the whole dashboard would be customisable by the user, including tiles that can be rearranged by dragging and dropping in order to make comparison of different accounts easy on all devices.
Another Giant Leap
This campaign was designed to celebrate the start of the Premier League (2016) on Sky Sports. This was a collaborative project – I worked on this with two other designers and a copywriter.
The concept was borne out of the idea that the players are the ‘stars’ of the show.
We wanted to emphasise the idea of our protagonists as heroic role models that football fans look up to. We felt that space was the perfect arena to elevate these elite athletes, both literally and metaphorically, and convey a sense of something truly epic – something most of us can only dream of. We felt the wealth of jaw-dropping imagery would help facilitate this, and would allow us to produce captivating, unique and memorable visuals.
As one of Sky’s main USPs for 2017/18 is the transmission of all their games in Ultra HD, our futuristic, space-age theme would allow us to weave this point of difference into the campaign, and convey a sense of ground-breaking innovation.
For the first time, viewers would be able to ‘see the stars clearer’, thanks to Sky.
Instant Wild is an application for a conservation initiative at ZSL. It beams live images of wildlife (caught by camera traps) from across the world to your device. Members of the community can tag and identify animals or wildlife in the pictures, and discuss events in forums, and alert authorities to the presence of poachers.
The hero is the content – the images themselves, but equally important is the ability to comment and add favourites – it is a community. Users are also able to find out news and information about projects and subscribe to their favourite camera traps, as well as donate money to ZSL.
I was asked to pitch to refresh the identity of a DJ called Martin Ikin. I stripped back his logo to the basic parts – it is a monogram incorporating the DJ's initials, “M” and “I”. I wanted to use only straight lines to create the logo, and connected the anchor points in such a way as to reflect sound waves, as well as giving the visual effect of lasers in a club or venue.
I applied the mark to a roundel echoing the shape of vinyl records, tying in with the history of music and DJs. I think the roundel works nicely with the hard lines and sharp angles of the monogram.
I then went on to apply the mark to all kinds of collateral from stationery to stickers and digital flyers.
These are some of the visuals I helped produce for the opening of ZSL London Zoo's newest exhibition, Land of the Lions in conjunction with the Interpretation Department at ZSL and an external agency (Catch).
I was asked to produce a wide range of materials, from promotional items for the app and social media to homepage takeovers for the site, as well as a game to promote the exhibit.
I have produced materials like this for other exhibits as well as seasonal campaigns for both ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, alongside identities for short educational films produced in-house.
Whilst working at ZSL I was involved in the design, production and testing of a new app for ZSL London Zoo. The app provides users with information about the zoo including opening times and ticket prices, as well as more interactive features such as the ability to create your own tour of the zoo and a photographic game.
I produced visuals, mockups and rearranged the navigation alongside my manager to make it more accessible to users, working with internal clients and an external agency (Catch). I also tested the app extensively and fed back errors and bugs, and retested after each update, working iteratively.
There are two sides to ZSL – the commercial side, and the charitable side. ZSL is an NGO, a charity, and does a huge amount of conservation work.
I was tasked with the design and build of a new WordPress multisite system, providing the opportunity for conservation programs to have their own micro-sites relating solely to their own projects. I briefed in an agency (Awesem) and oversaw the design and build of the new system. I managed this system, creating, updating and styling each site by creating new themes.
Alongside this I designed infographics, social media posts, concepts for applications and games, and all sorts of promotional materials.
While working at the RCN I was asked to produce and pitch designs for a celebratory logo and identity for Nurses’ Day.
I took three medical crosses in bright colours (to represent nursing), and arranged them to produce a stylised firework (representing the celebratory aspects of the day). Nurses’ Day is meant to involve everybody, not just nurses. I thought the crossover created by the simulated overprint was a strong visual metaphor for the way in which nursing staff interact with the public on a daily basis.
I was approached by a small engineering company and asked to produce an identity, a set of stationery and a website.
The company deals with worldwide offshore mineral extraction, particularly relating to code of conduct and ensuring that the profits associated with the drilling make it back to the local infrastructure and economy of the host country.
The “O” from offshore represents the world and its oceans and the “E” from engineering taking the form of an oil rig. The result was a simple mark that works well across the stationery. I ended up producing letterheads, cards, a website and Powerpoint templates.
I was asked to pitch an identity for RCN Congress, Exhibition and AGM 2014-2016. Congress is an annual event where nursing staff from all over the UK gather to listen to talks, debate and learn about developments in nursing.
Congress and the AGM revolve around dialogue, with a series of speakers and debates held in traditional auditoriums, while the exhibition is more centred around networking and developments in nursing, with many stands exhibiting pieces from different organisations, all related to healthcare.
It was this multi-faceted nature of the event that I wanted to reflect in my identity. I formed the letter “C” for Congress out of three planes, one for the talks, one for the exhibition and one for the AGM.
I started developing the “C” so that from one angle it looked like a speakers’ lectern.
It was the idea of the lectern that people liked, so I developed this more and chose bright, modern colour palettes for the different years (2014-2016).