Mr James Brocklehurst
Profiles

Mr James Brocklehurst

Associate Head of School - Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions

School of Art, Design and Architecture (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business)

Mr James Brocklehurst can be contacted through arrangement with our Press Office, to speak to the media on these areas of expertise.
  • Graphic design
  • Web design
  • App design
  • Interactive media design
  • Visual interface design
  • User experience design
Biography

Biography

James is Associate Head – Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions, for the School of Art, Design and Architecture, and subject lecturer for the BA(Hons) Graphic Design With Typography and MA Communication Design programmes. He is a practitioner and researcher within the field of graphic design for interactive media.
Teaching

Teaching

Teaching interests

James' teaching centers on understanding graphic communication concepts and processes, as applied to a range of media. His area of specialism is graphic design for digital interactive media.
He managed the BA(Hons) Graphic Design with Typography programme at the University of Plymouth for eight years, lectured on the BA(Hons) Illustration and MA Publishing programmes, and has experience of writing and managing higher education art and design programmes for the Open University, the University of Brighton and South Devon College. He has helped students win a number of international design awards, including the D&AD New Blood Awards, the YCN Student Awards and the ISTD Student Assessment Scheme. James' students have had their work showcased in Computer Arts Magazine and Creative Review, and have, upon graduation, gone on to work for some of the world's leading creative agencies, including Leo Burnett, M&C Saatchi and Jones Knowles Ritchie.
Live student design projects that James has coordinated include those run in collaboration with House of Fraser, IBM, Skint Records, The Met Office, It's Nice That, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery and the English Riviera Global Geopark.
Research

Research

Research interests

James' research broadly investigates strategies for graphic communication within digital interactive media.
Main areas of interest:
  • Visual interface design within immersive and locative media
  • Digital editorial design
  • Defining how graphic communication operates, in relation to other visual communication disciplines

Creative practice & artistic projects

Recent projects include experimental image typeface PlymouthPress(2021), and the design and development of immersive mobile apps The Cartographer's Confession(2017), Journeyer's Guidebook(2016), The Lost Index(2015), which used the various technologies built in to consumer smartphones to create location-driven narrative experiences. These were produced in conjunction with researcher Dr Emma Whittaker, for external organisations such as the Digital Cultures Research Centre Bristol, the Jubilee Library Brighton and the National Museum of Denmark.
In 2013 James collaborated with the poet Lytton Smith and BA(Hons) Illustration students to produce an interactive Twitter-based poem The Repurposed Magical Tent
He was part of the organising committee of the Digital Research in Humanities and Arts Conference 2017, and co-coordinated the Expanded Narrative Symposiumin 2013.
More information about James' projects can be found here.
Publications

Publications

  • Whittaker, E. & Brocklehurst, J. (2016)Locative Narrative: Creating Contexts for Supposition in Spatially Distributed Museums [Conference Paper] In Cheung, M. & Greenhall, M.(Ed.) Discovering Collection, Discovering Communities conference. Research Libraries UK & The National Archives.
  • Whittaker, E. & Brocklehurst, J. (2016) Journeyer's Guidebook: Exploring Comparative Locative Narrative Contexts for Supposition (No. of Pieces: 1) [iOS Application, Illustrated Book] In Boldon, A. (Ed.) Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts 2016 Conference. Brighton University.
  • Whittaker, E. & Brocklehurst, J. (2016). Museum Games and the Lost Index [Poster Presentation] In Fleur, S. (Ed.) Archivist as Interpreter Conference, British Library, London.
  • Whittaker, E. & Brocklehurst, J. (2015). The Lost Index: NATMUS (No. of Pieces: 1) [iOS Application]. In H. Schoenau-Fog, L. E. Bruni, S. Louchart, S. Baceviciute (Ed.) 8th International Conference of Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2015, National Museum of Denmark, Dieselhouse Museum, Copenhagen.
  • Whittaker, E. & Brocklehurst, J. (2014). The Lost Index: The Turning (No. of Pieces: 1) [iOS Application]. Plymouth International Book Festival 2014, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
  • Whittaker, E. & Brocklehurst, J. (2014). Playing With Perception: Locative Narrative and Sonic Virtual Locations. [Conference Paper] In A. Maragiannis (Ed.) Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts 2014 Conference. Greenwich University.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2014). Designing Non-disruptive Visual Interfaces for Web and App Based Narratives. [Poster Presentation]. MADr Research Poster Event, Plymouth University.
  • Whittaker, E. & Brocklehurst, J. (2014). Locioscope – The Letters (No. of Pieces: 1) [iOS Application]. Tagore Festival 2014, Dartington Hall, Dartington.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2013). Seen To Be Heard: Designing Visual Feedback in Locative Narrative Apps.[Conference Paper]. In E. Whittaker (Ed.), Expanded Narrative Symposium. Plymouth University.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2012). Divisive or Connective: The Digital Boundary and Illustration. [Conference Paper]. In J. Davies (Ed.), Boundaries: Illustration-Practice-Research. Plymouth University.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2012). Tap My Drawings: The State of Play in Illustrated Book Apps. [Article] Varoom! The Illustration Report, (19).
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2012, April 3). Repetitive Swipe Injury - Challenging Design Conventions Within Tablet Publishing. [Conference Paper] In L. Ridout & V. Squire (Eds.), 2nd Message Symposium: Against Orthodoxy - Why Publish?. Sherwell Centre, Plymouth University.
  • Whittaker, E. & Brocklehurst, J. (2011). ColdCase 1866 (No. of Pieces: 1) [iOS Application]. Totnes Elizabethan House Museum.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2004). Spacio-Optics Suite (No. Of Pieces: 4) [Digital video/animation]. CiberArt Festival, Bilbao.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2003). Wasteland (No. Of Pieces: 1) [Animation]. Displayed in various town center shop fronts, as part of 'Seeing by Wireless', Shot by the Sea Digital Film Festival, Hastings, East Sussex.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2002). Teaching Art and Design Software in Higher Education. [Master's Thesis].
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2001). Lens. R. Jarman & J. Gerhardt (Eds.), (No. Of Pieces: 1). [DVD-Video/DVD-ROM]. Hi Fi Rise - Sonic Cities From Another Timeline: Semiconductor.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2001). Seven Headed (No. Of Pieces: 5) [Painting, Digital Print]. Phoenix Gallery, Brighton, East Sussex.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2000). Golganooza (No. Of Pieces: 2) [Inkjet prints on watercolour paper, digitally manipulated video]. Brighton Media Centre Gallery, Brighton, East Sussex.

Personal

Personal

Reports & invited lectures

  • Brocklehurst, J. (2020). Inside / Outside. Guest Lecture. MA Information Experience Design, Royal College of Art.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2017). Digital Design for Heritage Spaces. In Daybell, J., Maudlin, D. Cornerstone Heritage Summer Lectures. Public talk. Powderham Castle.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2014). Designing for Engagement in Interactive Storytelling. In Denham, S. (Chair) CogTalk - Immersive Worlds: Between Fact and Fiction. Public talk. Plymouth University.
  • Brocklehurst, J. (2012). New Formats and Illustration. Guest lecture. Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London.

Conferences organised

  • Whittaker, E., Brocklehurst, J. (2013). Expanded Narrative Symposium. University of Plymouth.

Other academic activities

  • Peer reviewer for New Media (Chapter), A History of Illustration (2018), Edited by Doyle, S. Rhode Island School of Design, published by Bloomsbury/Fairchild.

Additional information

Between 1999-2004 James created animated artworks and videos that investigated the notion of a 'digital aesthetic'. These were exhibited at the LUX Centre London, The Cyberart festival in Bilbao, broadcast on MTV2 and published on the Arts Council funded multimedia DVD Hi-Fi Rise - Sonic Cities From Another Timeline,produced by the artist group Semiconductor.
James has written articles on mobile app design and development for online publication Smashing Magazine, provided 'web for business' mentoring for SMEs as part of a LSC funded 'Business Innovation' programme, and delivered bespoke professional training courses on web design for graphic design agencies.

Links