What a year 2021 was. From virtual festivals to interactive tours, websites to installations, we’ve been nothing but busy here at team Joi Polloi.
Our past year was one of growth and learning, of producing exceptional results for clients, adapting to new ways of working, innovating, delivering and always being there for each other as a team.
In 2022 we will continue to help clients pivot and adapt to both challenging and continuously changing circumstances. Our focus will be to use technology to facilitate storytelling, reach audiences, engage, entertain and educate.
We don’t yet know what 2022 will bring, but we are excited to meet the challenges and opportunities head-on.
Highlights from 2021
The Big Book Review – Online Survey
We worked with the University of Wolverhampton to build a site that will help them complete the largest ever survey of recently published novels.
People choose to read for all sorts of reasons and the Big Book Review is designed to learn more about the decisions that readers make. All you have to do is give your opinion about novels published in the last six years and you’ll be given personalised reading recommendations from both the experts at the University of Wolverhampton and from an AI robot we call ‘Bibliobot’. Who will you trust?
Try it for yourself! Rate books and get reading recommendations at survey.bigbookreview.co.uk
4Talks – Events Platform
In October, we launched Channel 4’s brand new 4Talks site, built by us here at team Joi Polloi. Facilitated by 4Sales, 4Talks is a thought leadership platform that allows speakers to talk about challenging and thought-provoking topics in the advertising community. Topics such as racism, homophobia and other issues which we need to talk more about.
We looked to create a platform where the 4Talks brand can continue to develop and cement 4Talks as thought-leaders, allowing them to grow their user engagement across the advertising community – provoking discussions and making a change.
Check it out for yourself at 4talks.co.uk
Sheffield Hallam University – Guest Lecturing
Our Lead Designer James and our Production Coordinator Zoe went over to Sheffield Hallam University in October to deliver a few sessions to the first-year students on the Digital Media Production course. They gave talks on their experience in the industry and how we approach UX and UI design.
The students were working on a brief for an app that aims ‘to make the world a better place’ and there were some fantastic ideas being worked on. The experience was especially surreal for Zoe as the brief that the students were focusing on was one that she herself was set by Joi Polloi in her first-ever semester at university three years ago, and now here she is, working as a Production Coordinator at Joi Polloi, getting to hear all about the great ideas that the students have!
We love working with the wonderful team at Hallam and look forward to continuing this in the future.
Imperial War Museum – Installation
Over 2021 we worked with the Imperial War Museum to create an installation as part of their new Second World War and The Holocaust Galleries.
The installation uses a combination of carefully curated video projection, emotive sound and expert design to introduce you to eight stories drawn from partners across the UK. Like all of our projects, there was also a clear focus on accessibility, with the installation including sign language and braille.
Check out a preview of the incredible new galleries (which have been nearly six years in the making!) at IWM’s website.
Change Makers! – a platform for youth engagement on current issues
In November, we launched ‘Change Makers!’. Developed as part of a follow on funding project with XR Stories, Change Makers is a pilot project for the Yorkshire region that gave local young people the opportunity to write content on topics they were passionate about, using academics at the University of Huddersfield to advise on youth engagement.
The aspiration of Change Makers is not only to enable young people to educate themselves on the issues which mean most to them through the experiences and opinions of their peers, but to provide them with the connections, resources and information they need to focus their efforts on making change happen which benefits everybody.
Take a look at change-maker.co.uk
Hadrian’s Wall – 1900 Festival Website
We’re currently working with The Hadrian’s Wall Partnership to create a brand new website to proudly showcase one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites, but more urgently they needed a presence for the upcoming year-long 1900 Festival, celebrating 1900 years since the building of Hadrian’s wall.
Using rapid wireframing and continuous iterative development we were able to build a new CMS that provides the foundation of a flexible events platform that will grow with the festival throughout the year.
Learn more about the year-long festival at 1900.hadrianswallcountry.co.uk
Upcoming in 2022
BBC100 – Interactive Timeline
2022 marks 100 years since the BBC began and as part of the centenary celebrations we worked with the BBC History team to create an interactive landing page to be used as a content hub for the #BBC100 campaign.
Featuring an interactive timeline, users can scroll through to see some of the most famous objects, faces and voices of the BBC from the past 100 years as well as share their own memories.
Take a trip through time and share your own memories at bbc.co.uk/100
North Lincolnshire Museum – New Website
We’re currently working with North Lincolnshire Museum to build them their very own website. Currently, information about the museum can only be found in a section on the North Lincolnshire Council website. We recognise how important it is for them to have their own space that is bespoke to their needs, so we’ve been building them a custom, easy to use CMS where they can add content about the museum, including innovative ways of communicating what’s on at the museum, mixing permanent displays with their events. Regional museums are often cornerstones of local days out with lots of repeat visits from residents – but they often overlook what’s always on offer in favour of one day events and vice versa. We’ve created a site where each supports the other, helping the museum get the most out of what it does, and the visitor the most out of any trip.
Glasgow Science Centre – Virtual Festivals
With the success of Glasgow Science Centre’s past virtual events (last years festivals having over 38,000 users) we’re excited to be continuing our work with them to deliver three more. ‘Curious About: The Human Body’ will launch at the end of February, and will be a space where the value of the brand and organisation continues to be captured and shared through inviting design that seamlessly pulls together their brand and their content.
Check out the past festivals at curiousabout.glasgowsciencecentre.org
Hadrian’s Wall – Website
After launching the 1900 festival site just before Christmas, we’re looking forward to building on that foundation (no pun intended!) with the main Hadrian’s Wall Partnership website. Our aspirations for the new site are fitting with one of the UK’s national treasures and although we don’t expect the new site to last 1900 years we do expect to both bring the site up to date and provide a digital home for the wall for many years to come!
We will kickoff our usual intensive Discovery phase of the project on site with the HWP team in late Jan.
Sheffield Hallam University – Virtual Degree Show
Last year we worked with Sheffield Hallam University to bring their Media, Arts and Communications degree show online. This was a huge success, working in collaboration with the university we wireframed, designed and developed the website – creating a space where students can build their online presence, and where their fantastic work can be displayed and promoted to industry.
This year, the team at Hallam want to develop the site even further. The aim is for the site to become a ‘hub’ for all things Media, Arts and Communications, including regularly-updated News, and overall making the site a hub of ideas and content for recent graduates.
See the current site at hallamlive.co.uk
The University of Sheffield – Events Player
We’re continuing our work with The University of Sheffield as we roll out new features for their Player throughout the year. The site is a growing hub for media content from across the university – videos, podcasts, imagery, exhibits, and events. The project has been a great example of working in an Agile way with a client and has enabled the platform to iterate based on evidence-led feedback.
Check out the current site at player.sheffield.ac.uk
Top Secret
Unfortunately, we can’t tell you everything we are working on at the moment, but what we can say is; we are working with a national broadcast on how best to use their new innovating TV/AR technology, a groundbreaking awards platform is just being scoped, we have several exceptionally exciting museum and heritage projects starting soon, and one of the world’s largest festivals needs a new online home and we’ll be delivering it… to name but a few.
New Year, New Crew
We’re looking for some fresh faces to join our team!
We’re looking for a full-time Digital Designer (3+ years relevant experience), sound like the sort of thing you’d be good at? Find out more here.
We’re also looking for a full-time Senior Producer (6+ years hands-on digital experience at a senior level). Sound like your cup of tea? Find out more here.
To keep in the loop on our projects, you can follow us on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.
If you have an idea that you think we can help you with, we are always happy to chat! Please drop us a message at info@joipolloi.com.