I’ve always been massively interested in two things:
How to make things look as awesome as possible, and how things work.
As a result, I love creating cool stuff with the newest toys, designed to give anyone who tries them a brilliant experience.
Take a look at my work below and see for yourself.
Hi, I’m Rob.
I believe in big ideas and creative technology.
A Moon For All Mankind - Samsung x NASA
LUNAR GRAVITY SIMULATION
INTERACTIVE VR EXPERIENCE
Now anyone can experience walking on The Moon
To date, only 12 male astronauts have stepped on the Moon, but Samsung believe everyone should have that chance. We joined forces with NASA to open the Moon to all in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing.
A team was assembled comprising VFX specialists, simulator engineers and NASA scientists. Working as one, we built a state-of-the-art lunar gravity rig designed to make users weigh just 1/6th of their weight here on Earth.
The CGI environment was accurately modelled on NASA’s lunar topographical data, allowing people to see the Earthrise in VR and explore the most accurate model of the Moon’s surface to date.
Sensors attached to the flight suit tracked and replicated body movements in the VR environment. This gave users the freedom to complete a discovery mission in lunar gravity and place their custom-designed flag wherever they chose.
A feat previously achieved by only a dozen white, male astronauts.
‘The Hut’ - Pizza Hut on the Metaverse
SERVING UP MILLIONS OF PIZZA
EXPERIENCES ON THE METAVERSE
Pizza Hut driving awareness among Gen-Z
Pizza Hut needed to connect with a younger audience than their current demographic.
In order to increase brand awareness amongst Gen Z we took them onto the metaverse via Roblox. Here they gained access to hundreds of millions of players that they could otherwise never have reached.
We deliberately designed the experience to appeal directly to the core gamer demographic, rather than try and force a brand message on them. To do this we centred the experience around collaborative play and obstacle courses the two biggest forms of gaming on the platform.
in Q1 2023, the experience was launched at Yum! Brands global marketing conference in Singapore and was picked up by all regional Pizza Hut markets.
With a design centred around a giant pizza themed stadium filled with giant pizza kitchen utensils, our experience proved to be spactacularly popular with Roblox users, receiving in excess of 3 million visits and rated over 4/5 by users on all metrics.
FutureShop - Barclays Partner Finance
PHYSICALLY EXPLORE A VIRTUAL STORE
The future of augmented retail
We were asked by Barclays Partner Finance (BPF) to provide an immersive interactive experience for a senior leadership event in the UK.
In just over 4 weeks, we created ‘Future Shop’; an Augmented Reality experience that sought to demonstrate the benefits of the new Barclays Partner Finance programme called ‘Accelerate’ in a fun & interactive way.
The concept was simple - physically step through a doorway into the shop of tomorrow, where point-of-sale finance is frictionless.
Iris used experimental techniques (the first commercial use of this technology) using ARKit & Unity to create an augmented experience that tracks way beyond the standard AR marker and create a space that you can explore.
Users could explore a 6m x 4m virtual space and interact with shop items, listening to key messages and reading USPs about the new initiative.
Feed the Grid - Shell New Fuels
COMPLEX PROBLEMS BROUGHT
TO LIFE WITH ‘PLAY-DUCATION’
Next-gen power for next-gen minds
This experience was created for the Shell ‘Make the future event’ at the QE2 Olympic park in Stratford.
The challenge was to explain a complicated subject to a very young audience. The Vehicle to Grid concept is a brand new development from Shell which is improving the electrical changing infrastructure by creating charging stations to charge cars, but also to utilise car batteries to charge the electricity grid when there is a spike in in demand.
We created an interactive CG environment that was controlled by gesture. Built in Unity and powered by Leap Motion, a physical windmill had the ability to detect movement and sound interactions which in turn changed content on a large display in front of the user.
Formula E Gen 3 car - Motorsport consultation
DESIGN THINKING FOR THE FIA
Alternative thinking for alternative racing
In a sport already packed with new technology, how do you radically update the design of their cars to incorporate technology of the future?
Formula E came to us wanting help with the creation of the 3rd generation design of their signature single seater race cars.
Our role was to R & D and consult on how new technology, and alternative design thinking could be incorporated into the overall form of the cars. Formula E’s aim was to express their brand values of adrenaline filled but sustainable racing through the vehicle aesthetics, whilst creating a look that was entirely separate to - and much cooler than - other single seater racing formulas.
We engaged with the design futurists behind Blade Runner 2049 to produce high concept visions of how FE’s cars may start to develop. We then went on to make a series of recommendations on the best ways to incorporate visual, mechanical and audio cues in any future designs.
These visual recommendations could then be used in the final tender to racing automotive design houses, giving them a clear set of objectives when submitting their designs for the final build of a new Generation 3 car.
Mascots for London 2012 - 360º Character development
MASCOTS FOR THE DIGITAL GENERATION
Designing and developing a new kind of Olympic and Paralympic mascot
From the very first pitch in 2008, to being deeply involved in the design and development of the characters - all the way through to the animated launch event at BAFTA in 2012, I was at the centre of every aspect of creating Wenlock and Mandeville.
As a cornerstone of the creative and design team, through to authoring the overall licensed character strategy, managing toy development, animation character art direction, mascot costumes, website ideation and product design, I worked on every branch of this truly joyous project and labour of love.
One of the biggest sections of the project was to help toy manufacturers implement brand-new prototyping techniques, meaning I was able to make sure aesthetically consistent product could appear on shelves well before the key launch dates, with the minimum number of approval rounds. Doing this saw significant reductions in both development cost and lead-times to all licensees.
