Professional Profile

Creative director and motion designer with over 20 years’ experience producing digital media and interactive exhibits for museums, galleries and visitor attractions across the UK and Middle East, including the Science Museum London, British Library, Zayed National Museum, Museum of Islamic Art Doha, Dundee Discovery Point and Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Specialist in directing single- and multi-screen AV experiences, interactives and immersive environments from concept and storyboard through to motion graphics, editing and on-site delivery. Background includes an MA (Hons) in History with Art History from the University of Edinburgh, bringing genuine subject-matter fluency to work alongside curators and academics. Skilled at interpreting curatorial briefs into engaging visitor-facing content and at writing and winning tenders for major exhibition commissions. Experienced leading cross-disciplinary teams of designers, developers and studios from research and concept through to installation.

Core Skills

Exhibition & Interactive Design  •  Curatorial Collaboration  •  Creative Direction  •  Animation & Motion Graphics  •  Post-Production / Editing  •  Tendering & Pitching  •  Team Leadership

Career History

Freelance Creative Director & Motion Graphic Designer  |  Self-employed   2023 – Present

Moved to freelance work after Spiral Productions wound down following the owner’s retirement; freelance client base grew quickly, building on existing relationships across the museum and exhibition sector.

Clients: New Angle (DNA Museum, Londonderry; Imperial War Museum), Squint Opera (Zayed National Museum, Abu Dhabi), Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge (Black Atlantic), Elbow (Jersey Museum), Atacama (Woodland Trust)

Project highlight — Zayed National Museum, Abu Dhabi

• As part of a large creative team at Squint Opera, inheriting work in progress and developing further exhibits within the museum’s established visual language.
• Led design for the museum’s Node Galleries
• Scope grew to around 30 digital works in total — quote-text animation, archive footage, bespoke 2D/3D animation, smart-glass interactive object cases and a bespoke interactive table — managing a shifting team of freelancers alongside appointed 2D, 3D and sound studios.
• Held cultural sensitivity and factual accuracy as a core design constraint for a high-profile audience of UAE nationals and royal family guests; delivered all content ready for the museum’s grand opening on UAE National Day through strong working relationships with external studios.

Design Lead  |  Spiral Productions, London   2017 – 2023

Clients: Museum of Islamic Art Doha, Dundee Discovery Point, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre Kuwait, Science Museum London, British Library, RAF Museum, National Museum of Qatar, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Cornwall Maritime Museum, Nottingham Castle

Delivered interpretive and creative design for cultural projects across the UK and Middle East. Communicated complex subject matter through 2D/3D animation, graphics, archive footage and purpose-shot material; led and mentored junior designers; interpreted client briefs into engaging visitor experiences while managing cost, timeline and delivery

Project highlight — Museum of Islamic Art, Doha

• Led digital and AV exhibit design for MIA’s 2022 gallery renovation, leading a small team of freelance designers and motion artists, and collaborating with Wilmotte Associates (the museum’s original 2008 architects) to integrate new content within I. M. Pei’s unlit “black box” galleries without detracting from the archive artworks and religious texts on display.
• Undertook historical research into archive manuscripts, photographs and film to build accurate visual narratives with curators ahead of production, and used a virtual 3D space to synchronise and refine large-format atrium screens on-site.
• Delivered all AV, interactive and video content ready for the museum’s reopening, marked by an inauguration ceremony attended by regional diplomats and cultural emissaries as part of Qatar–MENASA 2022 Year of Culture.

Project highlight — Dundee Discovery Point — 360° Panorama

• Led a small team of 3D and motion designers to create an 8-screen, 20-minute historically accurate panorama of Dundee in 1901 for the venue’s dome, working with Dundee Heritage Trust and AIM Architects alongside the fixed Gaia installation by Luke Jerram.
• Reconstructed a demolished (1960s) cityscape from archive photographs, maps and geographical data, validated by local historians, while finding creative solutions — automated crowds, adaptable model assets — to deliver high production value within a tight budget.
• Delivered on time and narrated by actor Alan Cumming; the exhibit’s popularity has since contributed to Dundee Discovery Point being awarded £3.55m for the next stage of its redevelopment.

Project highlight — Theatre Royal Drury Lane

• Designed AV and projection content for visitor tours of the theatre’s historic spaces, Royal Box and secret tunnels, and contributed to the official restoration documentary, Restoring London’s Last Great Theatre, working directly with owner Andrew Lloyd Webber and interviewing project director Steve Tompkins and historical consultants Charcoalblue.
• Worked within strict heritage preservation constraints (Royal Box projection) and Covid-19 restrictions (socially-distanced studio shoots) to deliver a convincing “ghost” projection experience with Fusion LX.
• Delivered content ready for the theatre’s pre-opening royal visit by the then-Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall (now King Charles III and Queen Camilla); the £60m restoration went on to win The Stage’s Theatre Building of the Year award.

Project highlight — Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre, Kuwait — Natural History Galleries

• Core member of the design team developing over 60 digital media exhibits across 4 galleries for the largest museum complex in the world, leading preliminary research into interactive, AV and AR approaches.
• Worked closely with programmers and developers to build gestural, multi-screen and game-based visitor experiences, including AR concepts such as desert plant growth and stereoscopic environments, delivering to tender specification.

Project highlight — The Sun: Living with our Star, Science Museum London

• Wrote and won the tender for this blockbuster exhibition; worked with academics and curators to develop scripts and storyboards for five animated projections, directing illustrators to translate complex science into accessible visual storytelling.

Additional projects: National Museum of Qatar (experimental 2D/3D interactive content, one of 11 galleries); Great Ormond Street Hospital (interactive-platform design for a new research centre).

Art Director / Motion Designer New York 2005–2011 / London 2011–2016

Clients: HBO, Amazon Kindle, Virgin Media, Discovery Channel, English Heritage, Energy Saving Trust, The Science Museum

Applied art direction, motion graphics and compositing across exhibition, broadcast, film and design media in studios in New York and London, delivering specialised media for cultural institutions alongside broadcast and commercial work.

Project highlight — Information Age, Science Museum London

• Wrote and won the tender, with Atacama, to design animated interactive story-box exhibits for this major permanent gallery — the Science Museum’s largest to date, exploring two centuries of information and communication technology.
• Researched and prototyped new touch-screen technology in test environments ahead of final hardware, and collaborated with curators to develop interlocking digital narratives that enhanced learning through interactivity.
• Delivered all interactives, including expanded scope, ready for the gallery’s high-profile opening by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 October 2014; handover documentation led directly to a follow-on commission for the exhibition’s AV tables.

Project highlight — British Library — Magna Carta

• Wrote and won the pitch to design and animate two projected pieces exploring the evolving clauses of the Magna Carta, working closely with curators and exhibition designers.

Project highlight — Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (feature documentary)

• Collaborated with director Lisa Immordino Vreeland, compiling archive footage, interviews and documents into an intimate portrait of Vogue editor Diana Vreeland; curated imagery and designed animated title and chapter sequences. Premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

Additional Experience:

• UI Designer (2000 – 2003) – Atacama Ltd, London
• Graphic Designer (1998 – 2000) – Studylink, London

Education and Qualifications

• MSc Advanced Digital Imaging | New York University
• Certificate, New Media and Interactive Design | New York University
• MA (Hons), History / Art History | Edinburgh University