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Naomi Atkinson is a passionate, creative designer, with a drive to push the boundaries of typical web design.
She creates experiences that always put the user first, and meet current web standards.
She’s based in Newcastle Upon Tyne and available for hire directly by clients, or on occasion, by agencies who may want to employ her on a short-term basis to use her expertise on a project.
The story so far is just that - it's the story of me, and some of the work I've done to role. The further you scroll, the further you go back.
Thanks, Naomi
Design / Build / Photography
The Longhirst Project offers building and renovation services, that will make your home just the way you want it.
I designed and built this site, which highlights their approachable nature and attention to detail.
Site to be launched by the 17th May 2010
After 6 years working for agencies, it's finally time to start up a small studio of my own.
Working under my own name, I'm available for hire directly by clients, or on occasion, by agencies who may want to employ me on a short-term basis to use my expertise on a project.
To contact me, just use the email above, or visit naomiatkinson.com for more links of where to find me on the web.
Ideas / Design
A selection of pitch work for Kings Cross.
These were some ideas to get people talking about the development, and aware of the work going on.
IA / Design
With limited content available (due to plans not being finalised), I created a small site designed to grow as more information on the Merchant Square development is released.
Very small, very simple. But worth mentioning.
Design
You can connect to free Wi-Fi through your mobile provider when in BT Openzone hotpot.
I designed the welcome screen you see where you choose your provider, and the Vodafone login pages.
I made full use of the iPhone's device orientation event, enabling us to design for both portrait and landscape as we please.
IA / Design
We would often brand a development based on it's plans, making it a more admirable project for a potential buyer.
This particular plot of land was bought by Rreef. Plans were created, and we branded it Forty Wharf, and designed a microsite to give buyers a brief overview of the site.
Unfortunately for us (but not so for Rreef) this was actually sold before the site was even launched.
Ideas / Design
This was a pitch for the Equality and human rights commission.
Our goal was to get people as involved as possible, in an engaging and memorable way.
IA / Workshops / Design
Macmillan merged with Cancerbackup and therefore needed to bring both sites (and communities) together. As you can imagine both sites were packed to the brim with content. And the communities... hundreds of thousands of people depended on them for support.
The branding - created by Wolff Olins a few years back - had never been successfully conveyed online, so this was as much about branding and redesign as it was content and UI.
I ran many workshops with the client, it was a really collaborative project. And thankfully, after the initial shock of the change, the site went down well with the public.
Design
Shire is a large pharmaceutical company creating drugs that have life-changing effects on their patients.
Their underlying mission is to be as brave as the people they help so I created a design that was not only bold and confident, but where the patients played a big role in helping tell the Shire story.
Strategy / IA / Design
I've worked with BT Openzone on many projects - but this is the one I'm most eager to see go live.
They employed us to improve the process of getting online at a Wi-Fi hotspot.
In August 2008 I presented a UI that challenged the way BT dealt with voucher and subscription transactions internally. A little work on their side would mean a lot less effort for the user, create a clean and simple buy journey, and in turn make them more sales.
IA / Design
B&P’s existing site is in need of a revamp. We’ve refreshed the brand amongst other things, and we wanted a site that would enable us to add fresh content easily and be something that our potential clients and peer groups alike, would appreciate.
As with most agencies, client work comes first (as it should). So this is yet to go live, but hopefully it’ll be up before long.
Design
Aedas wanted "something experiential, like no other architecture sites out there, we want people to talk about it".
I put two concepts forward (see images), which were designed to be fully flash (at their request), we then created a prototype of the chosen one for them to present internally.
They then took on the build, and built it in html — which is great (albeit a little buggy and slow at times).
Design
This was a project with an extremely tight timescale, which was a shame as the team had done some lovely branding work for them.
I managed to get a few nice things in there though: the way the shop and restaurant listings appear; using MPU dimensions for all images giving the shops a standard format to provide advertising; and creating areas for Meadowhall's current campaign to be housed.
Design
Kamizono-Cho was a small website project to promote luxury apartments overlooking a park in Japan (a rare find).
We'd already created a brochure for them, which was gorgeously layered, so I simply took this, and the idea of space, as my inspiration for the site.
Design
Kerr Noble created a lovely brand for DJB, and we were pulled in to help them get it online.
It soon became clear that Kerr Noble were art directing it, so unfortunately it didn't go the way I was pushing for - but I like my original designs; simple and clear.
Starting at Bostock and Pollitt was great. I was back to leading projects, running workshops, and presenting my ideas to clients.
I soon became an integral part of making Bostock and Pollitt well known for their digital, as much as their print and branding work.
Design / Artwork
It's quite a rarity when employed as a digital designer to be asked to design for print, so this was a lovely project to be put on.
GT were changing their strap line, and therefore their values. They wanted to create a book to tell the story of who they are, and give people a real feel for the brand.
Design / Artwork
I was tasked with creating all the GT stationery and get it to print.
A mammoth task, with over 120 staff, but we got there.
I loved working at GT. Working in London, and for big brands like Audi, Microsoft and Norwich Union was really good experience.
The only problem was the role wasn't exactly what I'd hoped for. It wasn't a senior role like I was lead to believe, and I wasn't as involved in projects as I'd hoped, hence moving on after 8 months.
I did however work alongside some extremely talented people, who I learnt a lot from. So for that, I have absolutely no regrets.
Strategy / IA / Design
This project was huge. They had hundreds of thousands of pages of content, and most of them were trapped within PDFs. The site itself was really poorly designed in its IA, layout and styling.
So, an Information Architect, a Developer and I locked ourselves in a room for 3-4 days to reorganise their content. We ran many workshops with heads of all departments, presented work regularly, and eventually we got there.
IA / Design
Not being the betting type, not to mention online betting - my biggest memory of this project was having a (very lengthy) glossary of betting terms stuck on my wall.
Getting my head around it, I really enjoyed designing a site that would stand apart from its tough competitors.
Unfortunately this never went live, as Coral bought them out just before it's launch.
Strategy / IA / Design
Northern Rock was an ongoing project for me during my whole time at TH_NK.
I was constantly challenging their online processes, and presenting recommendation after recommendation to make them better.
Sometimes, just sometimes, they got through.
Design
PrismTech provides the most complete development and operating environment for large-scale defense, aerospace and federal integration projects, such as the US Navy’s DDG 1000.
This was certainly not coming across in their website. My aim on this project was to create a design that would be taken seriously, something that was strong and to point.
This was a great course held at The University of Sunderland, which I did in my spare time while working at TH_NK.
Design
This was a huge project for me. I pitched my ideas, then after winning the work lead it through to go live.
Ideas / Illustration / Design
This was a particular favorite of mine. It was a pitch, which we didn't win, but I liked the ideas all the same.
The client was creating a website about driving for women. Help and advice for women, written by women. I mimicked the head candy style to convey the idea, and with some quirky copy, it still makes me smile.
Illustration
I headed up a team that were tasked with acquiring Investors In People for TH_NK, which ended up in doing a lot of brand work.
Along with induction packs and guides and the like, we created a brand book. This was my first real attempt at digital illustration. As you can see, I craved my pencil over the mouse.
Design / Animation
After the clearing campaign being a great success, we were hired to do similar for their financial help information.
I will never forget the pain I went through trying to get the cogs on a loop that worked!
Illustration / Design / Animation
I worked alongside our sister agency Cravens for this, they hired an illustrator/animator to create the introduction and it was my job to design and build the site that followed.
A really nice little project.
Illustration / Design
My introduction to agency Christmas cards.
I drew our offices and artworked stupid outfits onto members of staff to create the set for a snowball game that we ran as a competition.
You can still play, just enter a name and email...
Design / Animation
This was my first project after finishing university and starting at TH_NK.
I concentrated on giving users a sneek peek into Lucy's life. The 'birdseye view of a desktop' theme, has been quite overdone since, but back in 2004 this still felt like an original concept.
The site is no longer live, but I have a copy of it. Unfortunately no images are present as these were pulled in through a CMS – but you can still get a feel for it.
I graduated from Northumbria University with a 2:1 in Multimedia Design, and a passion to put what I'd learnt to the test.
I went for the interview while still at uni, and started before I'd even graduated. I was over the moon to be able to get straight into the industry.
There was only 9 of us when I first started, and by the time I left there was 50+, so by sticking alongside the Creative Director I soon became a senior. We took more people on and grew the team. It was such a rewarding job and I was pretty sad to leave 3 years on.
But the big smoke was calling.
Art, Graphics and Technology.
Who'd have guessed I'd end up in this industry.
Mr McKaw. I have him to thank for where I am today. My school weren't going to let me take Art A-level, because I hadn't done it at GCSE. Luckily Mr McKawl saw a talent and fought my corner.
Thanks sir.
