Molecular Voices » Tom Kershaw

Tom Kershaw

Tom Kershaw is currently an Art Director at Molecular Boston. He specializes in designing creative interactive experiences for exciting international brands. Prior to Molecular, he worked in London as an interactive designer, first with okupi, then Less Rain. Later, he joined Zentropy Partners (now MRM Worldwide) where he worked on interactive projects for clients such as Unilever, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Reebok and Natwest Bank. Tom also spent over 3 years at de-construct where he led a wide range of award-winning projects for clients such as adidas, Panasonic and Sony BMG. His recent work at Molecular includes the re-design of NikonUSA.com, adidas.com and re-branding GSN (Game Show Network). Tom has been acknowledged for various awards, including Red Dot, One Show, The Stevies and the London Interactive Advertising Awards. He has also been published in several publications including Design Week (UK) and dot net magazine. He graduated from Blackpool School of Art & Design in England with a First Class Honors Degree in Graphic Design.

Posts written by Tom Kershaw

July 29

Attik – Noise 5 (inspirational)

by Tom Kershaw

Attik Noise 5

Much to my delight I received my copy of the long awaited Attik Noise 5 book. I’ve had a pretty decent look through it and I have to say it is a thing of sheer beauty. When I think about the time and effort / and love and attention / and beer and (probably) crying that has gone into this amazing book it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention.

For those of you who do not know – The Attik are a legendary design firm originally set up in Huddersfield, England by two friends Simon Needham and James Somerville. They pioneered a multi layered techno graphic design style in the 90′s which became very popular and inspired a lot of designers, including myself.

Since college I have been a huge fan of Attik’s work, from my internship there in 1999 all the way through my professional career. I have followed them with admiration and sometimes frustration, such has their rocky history been. Like any true masters of their craft, they have risen from troubled times and have now produced this book, almost in defiance of anything and everything that has stood in their way.

This book is graphic design and print porn – there are so many different inks, printing processes, stocks and gorgeous layouts it really makes you wish all books were created this way. There is absolutely no way this book could be commercially printed on a grand scale. I think if I am correct, there are only 3000 copies in existence. Every copy was hand finished and each features some incredible print processes made possible by Celloglas- a decorative print finisher in England.

As a fan and a print geek I am very pleased to own a copy of this piece of graphic design history. You can find out everything about Noise 5 here.

posted to: Creative | No Comments »

November 7

GSN – Play every day

by Tom Kershaw

GSN Logo color variations

We recently had the opportunity to work on an extremely fun project for GSN (Game Show Network) – this included a new brand identity and a total redesign of GSN.com. The use of the new logo and color palette went live yesterday and the redesign of GSN.com will launch early next year.

The logo concept that Molecular created (pictured above) is based on a game board which is meant to evoke the games and playfulness of GSN. The 9 game pieces can be used in a variety of ways to add to the playfulness and interaction inherent in the brand. The visual treatment of the logo is bright and colorful, with a glossy rendered look. As the target audience are adults, the aim was to convey fun but without the execution appearing child-like.

The real beauty of this logo is the versatility that the game pieces bring.The logo can easily convey themes and seasons. The game pieces allow a window on another world or they can be swapped out for objects like jewels, playing cards, scrabble tiles etc. The ability to animate the logo based on the desire by the client to ensure an interaction at every interaction is endless and can be utilized to enhance the transition of themes and seasons.

We worked in conjunction with Buster – an LA-based design firm specializing in broadcast and advertising. They have produced some very slick on-air elements, utilizing the playfulness of the pieces.

posted to: Creative | 1 Comment »

November 6

.net magazine article – Website Build-off National Park Sites

by Tom Kershaw

I was recently asked to contribute to .net magazine again, thanks to Oliver Lindberg and the guys over there for giving me the opportunity. The section is called website build-off, every month they invite three designers to tackle a brief submitted by readers. The brief this time was to design a homepage for a national park site. My design is posted here along with the rationale behind it. Thanks to Steve Mulder for letting me use his photography, the man is very well travelled and he has a lot of national park experience!

Shawker Hills National Park

Shawker Hills National Park is a fictional expanse of mountains, rivers, lakes and rich forests somewhere in North America. I wanted to create a site that allows the user to experience the park without visiting it, and also enables visitors who’ve been there to record and document their journey. Not everyone is able to visit such incredible parts of the world in person, but with the Internet we can make those places more accessible. The ability to walk in another’s footsteps is a powerful one: I am fascinated in leaving not only a real footprint in the ground, but a digital footprint as well.

A quick search of national park sites on Google reveals fairly dry, information-heavy experiences that lack atmosphere. With this design I wanted to change that. National parks should be about adventure and learning, an escape from our urbanised lives. By putting the user right in the middle of the UI at the homepage the site creates a more immersive experience. The header and interface panels float on top reducing the boxed in feel many home pages suffer. My style is to keep it simple and reduce the amount of information a user has to navigate. I think there are far too many websites out there with columns of promotional boxes cluttering up the page.

Users can map out their trails and upload photos and video from key points along the way. The large viewing area gives panoramic views of locations, and information on wildlife and nature. Prospective visitors can then make a decision which trail they want to take, comparing journey times and difficulty levels, and more importantly they can have a rich preview of the incredible scenery they are going to experience.

KEY POINTS

Overall Look and Feel
The site is image focused, simple and clean it offers a window to the park with fairly minimal clutter. The typography mimics the US park signs and the color palette reflects that of the park itself.

(more…)

posted to: Creative | No Comments »

November 5

Panasonic Everything Matters – It Really Does

by Tom Kershaw

Panasonic Everything Matters

This is a site launched a little while ago by my old agency de-construct. It is a marketing site for Panasonic that highlights the attention to detail and quality that goes into designing their products. Everything down to the foam used in a remote control battery slot to stop the batteries moving around. I find myself looking at it quite often, because I think it is very good interactive design, and it possesses many key features which I think should be considered in every project.

I wanted to highlight these features briefly:

(more…)

posted to: Creative | 1 Comment »

June 14

Molecular brings home a Stevie award

by Tom Kershaw

On Thursday night we were very honored to receive a Stevie Award for the Nikon USA redesign, in the category of Web Site: Product Information.

Myself and fellow Molecular representatives Raph Chun, Josh Manton, Adam McIntyre and Thomas Becker were at the ceremony in Times Square, NY to celebrate the win.

Congratulations to all the Molecular peeps involved in making this project extremely successful, and also a big thanks to our Nikon client Joe Ventura, for giving us the opportunity to work on such a cool brand.

Find out more information on the The American Business Awards (Stevies).

posted to: Molecular News | No Comments »