My specialty

I have an in-depth knowledge of Flash and actionscript 2 and 3, having work with them for many years. I'm happy working in both the Flash IDE and with Flex in FlashBuilder, experienced in both user interface and back-end programming.

Educational resources

Although I've worked with corporate clients, the majority of what I've done with Vivid has been in the education sector, mostly for educational publishers and in Flash. I have been responsible for developing both the user interfaces required to browse large numbers of resources, and to create engaging interactive activities.

With science, maths and literacy being the focus, my own background in these three areas has proved invaluable, bearing in mind the attention to detail required for such critical resources. I have also been able to contribute to the development of their content.

Case study: CD-ROM for O2

Client: Caburn Hope Ltd., Lewes

Role: Project manager and developer

O2's HR dept. required a CD-ROM to serve as a statement of rewards and benefits to a hundred or so of their top executives. The idea of using a CD-ROM was to present personalised information in a clear and engaging format. Each executive could unlock their details using a password. Security was obviously an issue, so all of the data was heavily encrypted within an Access database.

I worked with the client to design systems for the collection of data from O2 in a format that could be used to populate the CD-ROM. A system we called “variable text” was created, which was a way of defining in XML both the content and how the content should be modified according to various attributes of each executive.

The client delivered to me the variable text as a word document, and the user data as a spreadsheet (via a company specializing in data verification). I then converted it into properly formatted XML, encrypted it and imported it into the database.

A design agency produced designs for the user interface, including animations and a rather nice ambient soundtrack with birdsong, and an audio statement from the CEO. Flash at the time was fairly limited in what it could do in terms of text formatting, so I had to simulate HTML table handling in order to display the content.

I'm particularly proud of the fact that, despite the complexity of the project, and the number of parties involved, it came in on time and on budget.