EYE ON DESIGN STUDIO INTERVIEW
which is what makes pokedstudio’s work just so
visually appealing.
The studio was set up somewhere around 2004,
when Ball was studying at college for a Graphic
Design degree. He set up a website with some
illustration work that he had created and started to
receive a few commissions off the back of it. When
he graduated, he briefly went to work for a corporate
presentations company, but he continued to build up
work for pokedstudio the whole time. In 2008, he
reached the point where he could take on the studio
full time.
“Most of the first work was for illustrations, but I
soon started picking up other more complex
projects, such as games and animations,” explains
Ball. “I started getting freelancers to help with the
various projects, such as coding and rigging
characters for animation. One of the first big projectswas building a Flash-based game for the National
Library of Wales. I found a local programmer and we
both worked on it all summer.”
From here, Ball worked on a large online game
and had to work with various designers and
programmers in a number of different fields in order
to bring the game and the various promotional
pieces together. The project took over a year to
complete. “These projects and others helped build
experience at managing larger projects and teams of
people from various skillsets,” says Ball.
Nowadays, Ball works in his studio alongside a
number of regular freelancers, including video editor
Chris Mcfaul and motion designer Stephen Thomas.
pokedstudio often engages in projects that need a
number of team members to complete and Ball has
built up a network that helps him to achieve this:
“There are a number of local design businesses I cancall upon for many larger projects, as well people
further away, from games developers and animators
to film crew. They will sometimes work from my
offices or at their own location. Skype is used a lot to
communicate and keep up to date. We network quite
a lot locally and are building up some great contacts.”
Ball’s own studio space consists of two main
offices. The upstairs one is a large attic space, which
can easily fit three to four people in to work: “It has
lots of light, which is great, but gets hot in the
summer. We have a great sound system and a few
games machines to help get us in the mood.” There
is also a smaller office below, which is used for
accounts and admin tasks.
The studio has four top-end iMacs set up, but as
a small studio, the right hardware can come with
its own problems, says Ball: “Choosing to upgrade
our hardware has proven tricky, as there are soMain office: “The upstairs office is in
a large attic space with enough space for three to four people to work”Studio setup:work on top-end iMacs and make The team currently
the most of the latest technology, such as the Wacom CintiqAtomic Train: From a series on future
cities, showing various visions of the future. All created in 3DThe design team: The design team working
together in their creative space