DR WHO VIDEO DIARY SERIES
DR WHO VIDEO DIARY TV

Maintaining a good user experience that allowed for quick and easy access to contextual information was paramount to the site's development. 'The challenge,' says Dudfield, 'was the fine line between something that looked amazing but was impossible to build, and things looking too functional.' Simon Rooney, lead designer on the BBC web team, worked closely with Preloaded to develop the inspirational look and feel of the site, while technical project manager Andrew Dudfield made sure that that the information architecture would work with BBC systems. 'We pointed Preloaded in the direction of several sites that appealed to us, and suggestedthe TARDIS-like embellishments to the pages, as we felt that the 'Gallifreyan Symbols' look had been overused,' says Doctor Who's new media producer Rob Francis. These were then implemented, with feedback being given and amends taking place in rapid-fire succession. In the absence of real-life time travel, Preloaded adopted a rapid development process that took principles from Agile methodology to deliver page templates to the BBC.

DR WHO VIDEO DIARY SERIES

Unfortunately, the TARDIS was unable to hold back the rapidly advancing transmission date of series four. 'We got an insight into the production of the show and Jon Mallinson, our lead designer, was able to get immersed in its design. This included the Preloaded team travelling to Upper Boat, three miles outside of Pontypridd, where the series is filmed. Doctor Who is such an important property for the BBC and has such a loyal fanbase that it was vital to get everything spot-on. The two camps worked together more as one project team rather than the usual client/agency model. 'We used collaboration tools such as Basecamp and, of course, made lots of phone calls.' 'We met them regularly as we moved through the project,' says Canty. The first phase of the project was to create a new look and feel in which to launch content for series four.Ĭontent requirements were mostly led by the internal BBC team, working closely with the show's executive producers and brand team. 'We needed to make sure the target audience could find all the content in an engaging and exciting environment,' explains Preloaded's joint managing director Paul Canty. Not only did they have to accommodate a massive amount of new content, but they were also suffering from having been built to old compliance standards.īy the time the BBC had three successful series under its belt, with actor David Tennant firmly ensconced in the role of the 10th Doctor, it was keen to revamp the website in terms of both design and user experience.Īfter a competitive pitch, East London digital agency Preloaded got the job and immediately faced two big challenges: redesigning the site in time for the launch of the fourth series and growing it over time. The relaunch generated a huge amount of content for the website, and the existing templates soon began to feel the strain.

DR WHO VIDEO DIARY TV

Five easy ways to watch BBC iPlayer on your TV.It was a huge success, winning critical acclaim, countless awards and, most importantly, an enthusiastic new generation of younger viewers. In 2005, BBC Wales revived Doctor Who for the new century, with producer Russell T Davies at the helm and Christopher Eccleston playing the ninth Doctor. It also helped keep the series in the public eye, with regular news features about fan conventions, classic Doctor Who DVD releases and newly commissioned audio plays. The site attracted a huge following from people with fond childhood memories of Saturday nights spent hiding behind the sofa from scary monsters and robots.

Yet there were clearly a lot of nostalgic people out there.

The website was consequently a backwards looking, nostalgic affair that formed part of the BBC's 'Cult' website offering.

Dr who video diary