The client
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a long standing client of firedog's since 2005. We have delivered brand and digital identities across both factual, learning and radio divisions.
The work
Research stimulus • Digital interface design
The brief
The BBC needed to establish the future direction for delivering online learning content for young people, and asked Firedog to help by developing prototype concepts that could be extensively tested with three age groups of potential users (7, 10 and 15 year olds).
The solution
Firedog set about creating three interface sites with individual visual treatments to appeal to the different age groups and based on the concept of encouraging learning through a journey of personal discovery. We conveyed this by developing an immersive world in three dimensions, a step beyond conventional flat graphic screens, where dynamic navigation pulled visitors deep into the content of the site. Floating knowledge ‘islands’ were used to represent interest areas such as ‘Environment’ or ‘Technology’ and became bases for rich learning content delivered through engaging animation. Firedog’s quirky interpretation of a virtual world of learning was aimed at capturing young people’s imaginations, with a truly interactive experience liberated from conventional forms of static information delivery online. We developed a 3D navigation engine (using Flash action scripting) which allowed the child to truly interact with the site on a number of levels.
The results
The three sites were launched as prototypes for extensive audience testing to investigate the concept as a potential contender for future of BBC learning online. All respondents immediately engaged with the non-website medium and commented on it’s ease of use and intuitive nature.
