13/10/2015

Digital Marketing for Brief Encounters – David Vann

I am a student from the “University of Bradford” currently studying an MSc in Computing, having graduated with a 1st in Computer Animation. I specialise in the integration of Visual Design and Interaction within Computing languages.

The relationship between me and “Freedom Studios” came about when I heard of their idea to create a micro-site displaying twitter feeds of characters as a build up to a site-specific theatre piece at the Bradford Interchange. Their idea for the application of new technology to bring a new kind of interaction to today’s audience, soon grabbed my attention and so I began working with them to make this idea possible.

The process involved use of Twitters API to gather live feeds from specific users. This information was then sorted and re-arranged, to build something aesthetically pleasing that would fit with the website’s theme. Languages such as HTML, CSS, Javascript and JQuery were combined to provide the visual layout and interactivity of the site. With many people now using phones and tablets to surf the web, a responsive design was necessary to appeal to a wider audience. As an example, Javascript was used to scale the website to the window (or device) it was being viewed on. It can be noticed that if the browser window is re-sized, the content scales accordingly.

Digital marketing is becoming more and more important as current technology heads in a digital direction. Not only is this current but to reach out to a large audience it is advisable to take your interactions online. Where performing arts are concerned, taking a part of the story into an online performance seems an innovative and captivating way to engage today’s audience.