On the summit of graduating with a BA(hons) in Communication Design, Richard and a fellow peer decides to embark on a journey to dream up a diverse and persistent multi-user world for ‘British Telecommunications ADSL Student Contest’. The prototype was aimed at the target audience of 11-18 and won 1st Prize.     Copyright © 2008 Ephemeraldreams.com. All rights reserved.

Richard approaches Deepend to join the ranks at one of the largest multi-media agencies in Europe.

Role: Art Direction, Design & Animation CREATED a brand new website for ‘Britshorts’ – Europe’s Premier Short Film Studio. Worked closely with the Information Architect and CSS Developer to design highly stylized and user engaging templates that were easy to update and conformed to Web Usability design standards. Developed the animation spots and directed the music as well as liaise directly with clients to present and discuss creative concepts, storyboards, animations and final designs at each stage of the review cycle. RESULT: Won the Silver Lion at the Cannes Cyber Lions 2001 Festival and awarded pick-of-the-week on Linkdup.com.

Richard never once forgot about Britshorts for the next couple of months and when news arrived that it had won a Silver Lion he was absolutely ecstatic.

Role: Design, Illustration & Animation ILLUSTRATED and DESIGNED the creative concept for the ‘NIKEPARK’ mini CD-ROM game. Brainstormed with a core team of Multimedia Developers and worked under an extremely short timeframe to produce 5 mini-games. Repurposed the original poster artwork to create all game levels, interface designs, intro and product sections. Lead a team of Illustrators to recreate new artwork traced from the original television spot. RESULT: Over 250,000 copies of the CD-Rom were printed and distributed over London’s regional NIKEPARK events. Game artwork featured on Adobe®’s Prestigious Design Showcase.

With NIKEPARK featured on Adobe®’s website, Richard felt that perhaps this recognition is better measured by the individuals who worked late, ate pizzas, played Quake and slept under their desks.

Four simple words from the CEO, “Deepend is no more…” Though deeply saddened by the news, the memories of this place live on.

Role: Art Direction, Design & Interactive Development DESIGNED and DEVELOPED the website for 'Technics1210' with De-Construct, London UK. Collate and organized 30 years of dance history and integrating culture with product. Brainstormed and designed the ‘Sound Flyer’ online mixing desk to help drive viral traffic and spread affinity to the brand via users. Proposed that user generated music be used for merchandizing. RESULT: Attracted over 100,000 unique visitors during the initial 10 week campaign, 20% of those visitors returned more than once and Technics created a database of 30,000 email addresses. Awarded Macromedia® Shocked Site of the Day.

Finally! Macromedia® Shocked Site of the Day. More importantly, this project was the last time Richard got the chance to work with the original team from Deepend.

Role: Art Direction & Design DESIGNED and RESTRUCTURED the website for ‘Bryant Homes’. Brainstormed and worked closely with the Information Architect to ensure templates were easy to update, aligned with the creative brief and conformed to Web Usability standards. Liaised with clients to review and discuss creative concepts and designs. Art directed the design team in producing design templates for the development team. Designed and produced a web style guide for all future website updates. RESULT: An improved customer focused website that delivers information about Bryant Homes and its services and products. Delivers detailed information about their homes and allows simple site updates of content, images and all home data.

Role: Art Direction ORGANIZED and led a design team to re-design an e-commerce website for ‘RedLetterDays.co.uk’ with Poke, London UK. Interviewed and hired designers, supervised and art directed the design team, reviewed and approved artwork, photography and information architecture. Liaised with clients and their technical staff to present, discuss and manage delivery of creative assets for implementation. RESULT: A re-architected and re-designed website that is both sleek and user-centric which engaged users and helped facilitate sales. Reviewed in Revolution Magazine who praised the website as “… emerging as an industry standard”.

Revolution magazine had this to say: “I remember wrestling with the old site last Christmas, only to give up and join the call centre queue. The company's revamped offering adopts the clean and unfussy design that seems to be emerging as an industry standard for commerce sites: lots of white space, discreet use of colour - red, unsurprisingly - and idiot-proof navigation. The proof of any e-commerce site is in the transaction, and Red Letter Days doesn't disappoint.” November 06, 2002 RICHARD HALSTEAD, Corporate Development Manager at Virgin Wines

Role: Art Direction, Design & Interactive Development DESIGNED and DEVELOPED the website for ‘Seymourpowell’. Created the site structure and liaised with clients to review wireframes, creative concepts and designs. Incorporated the rebranded identity in a fun and engaging way. Edited all photography for interctive development and produced the website with a unique ‘carousel’ style navigation and interactive timeline. RESULT: A sleek and interactive website that speaks to Seymourpowell’s design philosophies showcasing their innovations, ideas and thoughts on the future of product design.