Home Stadium
Sport is TRIBAL, bringing together different clans to do battle at a hallowed destination. Whether that is a physical location like the Old Trafford or Bernabeu stadium or a virutal battleground like a DOTA 2 map.
Home Stadium brought fans together in their own virtual space giving them an experience similar to having their own VIP box at sporting events, that was accessible across VR, mobile and desktop. Home Stadium was spun out of the Weavr project which was funded for £7m as part of the UK industrial strategy.
As product owner my role was to ensure that we were fulfilling the demanding technical development whilst simultaneously getting real world user feedback from broadcasters and users.
Ladbrokes VS|VR
Collaborating with Verizon, Magnopus, and Entain, VS|VR emerged as an ambitious initiative aimed at expanding the social immersive experience for sports enthusiasts who enjoy wagering, bridging the gap between the digital realm and traditional physical destinations on the high street.
The global landscape of sports betting has witnessed significant expansion in recent years. The intertwining emotions of risk, strategic thinking, and the commitment of being "all-in" are fundamental traits shared between the realms of betting and sports. The project unfolded through multiple phases, boasting a team of over 20+ developers, artists, and designers.
John Lewis
John Lewis introduced an innovative furniture collection named the "Design Project," conceived and crafted in-house. Faced with an extensive array of items and color options, the challenge arose of making the inventory accessible to customers without the need for physical stock. Exploring the realm of virtual reality, John Lewis initiated a competition in collaboration with Innovate UK to identify a team capable of meeting this demand.
Intrigued by the potential, I submitted our team at Future Visual for the competition, and we were thrilled to emerge victorious. Taking on the role of project lead, I collaborated closely with the passionate designers and artisans at John Lewis to breathe life into the revolutionary "Design Project." Following a successful in-house launch at the Oxford Street store spanning six weeks, we gathered valuable data and presented recommendations for an express-style furniture store based around virtual reality.
Testing customer reactions in realtime
In our quest to unravel the intricacies of consumer behavior, we went beyond the confines of John Lewis stores in the UK, immersing ourselves in the cutting-edge facility of their customer testing and research lab using virtual reality. We pioneered the exploration of a virtual reality solution within the lab, breaking new ground in a space traditionally dedicated to testing tangible products.
Transforming the environment, we ventured beyond convention, marking a significant departure from the lab's usual focus on physical objects.
This innovative approach not only expanded our observational scope but also granted us unparalleled insights into the nuances of customer behavior, shaping a narrative that added to the traditional boundaries of understanding.
Ferrari
Race day for the Ferrari team is a busy time and amongst the many demands on the team are looking after their VIP guests. As engineers, drivers and data analysts all work together at speed, the last thing they need are VIP guests getting in the way.
However, F1 VIP guests are the kind of people used to getting their way, with full access behind the velvet rope. The problem to solve was how do we get the guests feeling closer to the action without them interfering and adding congestion to the already busy garage. The solution I proposed was to build an app that gave the guests plenty of “behind the scenes” experiences including an mixed reality F1 car they could “drive” around hospitality!
Fatboy Slim
Embarking on my career as an animator specialising in Houdini and After Effects, I had the privilege of working with Brighton local legend Fatboy Slim, as he defined the era of the superstar DJ. In 2001, he entrusted me with the task of creating visuals for his Big Beach concert on Brighton beach, an event that drew a crowd of 250,000.
This marked the inception of a remarkable 13-year journey, during which my company, Plastic Reality, collaborated with Fatboy Slim, taking on roles that included show direction, visuals creator, technology advisor and willing pirate aboard the good ship Fatboy.
During this time I worked on partnerships with Serato, Pioneer and Rane to continually improve the technology integration that we could bring to the shows and devised a system of DJ tools and visual synchronisation and integration that is still in use today.
We have the technology, we can re-build him
At Centroid facilities in Pinewood Studios, I utilized advanced scanning technology on Norman's head to create a diverse range of looks tailored for variation across the live performances.
Eat Sleep VR Repeat
In 2021, I had the pleasure of commencing work with Norman and his team for the creation of a 45-minute virtual reality concert. Like many venturing into virtual reality for the first time, the Fatboy Team required guidance and careful explanation of what woudld be possible, and so we reunited the band to bring this vision to life—Eat, Sleep, VR, Repeat!
The concert was released in May 2023 on the Engage platform to outstanding reviews from XR veterans as well as the broader press..
“Psychedelic anarchy in the metaverse” - The Times
I have long been of the belief that the evolution of immersive projects should revolve around the seamless collaboration of all devices within a social immersive space.
In line with my commitment to minimizing the barriers for all users to enter into immersive environments, a crucial factor for successful implementation lies in the thoughtful consideration of multi-device compatibility.
VISIONxR™ served as the foundational framework that underscored the majority of subsequent projects at Future Visual. Emphasizing the importance of reusable code and adherence to SOLID principles, it became a cornerstone in our approach.
In my role as Product Owner, I had the responsibility of bridging the gap between strategic vision and development execution, strategically maximizing our impact by concurrently building across VR, AR, desktop, and mobile platforms.
VISIONxR™
International Air Transport
Association (IATA)
In the aviation industry, having highly trained ground operations staff is critical, not only for their own well-being, but for the safety of passengers and crew at airports, as well as to protect expensive equipment. But how can employees be trained effectively if they are unable to experience working in real life situations and learn on site?
IATA’s established training programme provided trainees with extensive classroom based learning, mixed with shadowing experienced staff. Although this gave trainees a thorough theoretical grounding, it could not give them a real sense of the airside space they would be working in, including the impact that adrenaline, fear and things going wrong may have on their reactions and decision-making skills that can be created using virtual reality
Winner of the “International Airport Review's Technological Solutions Award”
Medtronic
We developed a virtual operating theatre prototype for training on minimally invasive extracorporeal technologies (MiECT) for Medtronic.
The aim was to provide a scalable solution built on VISIONxR™ that delivered training for medical emergencies and operations in a virtual environment that could be used by multuple users across VR, mobile and PC.
The MiECT course simulated a heart bypass, allowing doctors to trigger events within the virtual environment, interact with objects, and deliver course materials using a large presentation screen. The virtual training eliminated the need for an entire on-site bypass team to train the doctors, reducing logistical challenges and allowing participants to access training remotely.
HP - LEPx
This experience was created with HP to showcase their Indigo digital presses to customers who couldn't easily visit HP.
The project aimed to provide a virtual tour of the large-scale printer using VR technology, showcasing the printing quality and the scale (6mtrs long) of the LEPx machine.
Visual aids and animations were incorporated into the virtual tour to effectively convey the brand messaging and demonstrate the product capabilities to an international audience.
The build of the virtual tour included varied localised scripts and interactive elements, enhancing the engagement and interactivity for the audience.
OVO
The OVO Demo House project aimed to create an immersive training experience for field training of groups of existing engineers, and individual engineers with higher defect rates. The training built was designed to be led by a trainer using VR, for trainees using either VR or mobile devices, providing varied interactive technical training in a realistic environment.
The objective was to offer a substitute for in-centre training, enabling users to experience a more real-world environment and enhance their skills, without the need for travel to an onsite facility.
The training room was designed with a customisable setup in mind where the room could be adjusted by the trainer for each session, enabling a tailored learning experience for participants.
