Toby Milner-Gulland

Designer and Technologist

Basis

A toolbox for creative code

00:00 / 00:08
loading video
typescriptcreative codewebassemblymathcolortypography

nodenoggin

Creative tool and decentralised platform built for messy, collaborative studio work. Ongoing research project with Dr Adam Procter at the University of Southampton.

p2pproductrealtime

Spatial computing

From 2018 to 2023, I led design and technology in a R&D consultancy spun out of a design agency. We focused mainly on spatial computing, developing our own IP as well as working with clients including Apple, Google and the BBC.

00:00 / 00:55
loading video
My client work in Labs is mostly protected by NDA, but you can get a taste of our work through this selection of sketches and prototypes. Work shown made by, and in collaboration with: Fengyi Franklin Zhu, Matt Wade, Dave Cameron, Jonny Naismith among many others.
We worked on many different aspects of experience design for XR.
prototypingproductxrresearch

Stagehand

A collection of friendly, powerful tools for mixed-reality filmmaking

Even in 2024, it's still hard to prototype and convey ideas quickly in XR. Stagehand is a collection of tools which has evolved over several years. At the core is an iOS app which captures a complete 3D scene representation.
00:00 / 00:29
loading video
You can use those captures for scene-building, 3D design, or quick mixed-reality films which superimpose content into the space.
The creator tools are like After Effects meets Visual Studio Code. The rendering engine is based on web technologies like three.js and React. That means you can draw on a much wider community of templates and examples, and the threshold to entry is much lower.
3dmixed realityreactfilmmaking

Workbook

Programming notebook and environment for creative, iterative prototyping

This project was born from years of practical observation into how generative design really works in organisations. The risk is that we focus on the cleverness – or perhaps novelty – of a system, rather than technology being in service of a good story or a compelling need.
I firmly believe that programming is inherently a deeply creative act. We have amazing, mature tools for exploration, visualisation, hacking and invention with data.
With the arrival of effective generative AI, there is a massive need for processes which suit comparison, refinement, reduction and iteration. Rather than just generating endless options, which has never really provided great results in my experience. It gives the illusion of efficiency but really just creates a new dilemma of choice.
typescriptnotebookgenerativellm

Learning and education

A selection from the past five years of creative workshops, lecturing and shared learning

Over the years I've designed and facilitated possibly hundreds of different creative workshops and sessions. I've run creative workshops for designers, engineers, game designers, students, entrepreneurs, agronomists and supply chain managers among many others. I love the accidental alchemy that often emerges when you put different disciplines together.
A workshop helping students build practical techniques for futures thinking and communication
From a creative session exploring imaginary file formats of the near future
To me, the joy of group creative work is not really about ideas but about perspective. You get to watch how others think.
collaborationprocess

BBC Homepage

Building smart, useful personalisation into one of the world's biggest news sites

In collaboration with Sahin Gumus, Joel Smith, Tung Shing Wong and others
webproductcontent design

Flex VCXC

Launching a brand new multiplayer, 3D virtual sales platform for a global electronics manufacturer

00:00 / 00:43
loading video
In colloration with Dave Cameron, Emily Spyt, Jed Carter, Vladimir Exil and others
realtime3dwebglproductreactnext.js

Trinity

Product and design consulting for a platform that helps farmers balance financial and natural sustainability.

Modern farms have a vast variety and volume of different types of data. We built a comprehensive data visualisation system to help keep focus on the most crucial decisions.
productdata visualisation

BBC News iOS app

Bringing new immersive media formats and features to a popular news app

00:00 / 00:22
loading video
00:00 / 00:13
loading video
In collaboration with Sahin Gumus, Joel Smith and others
prototypingproductiOSspring physics

mbdx

Prototyping and user testing environment for the BBC

prototypingproductreacttypescriptplatform

BBC Voice Assistant

Generative design, brand identity and technical implementation for the BBC's new voice assistant

00:00 / 00:23
loading video
The BBC were launching their first public pilot of a new AI-driven Voice assistant. We worked with them on the sonic and visual identity and product design. Video (c) Microsoft.
It's genuinely quite hard to build generative design into scaleable software that works across a wide range of devices. I joined an engineering spike to implement a high-performance custom renderer.
glsltypescriptgenerativeidentity

BBC R&D

Helping build a new identity and voice for a world-leading research organisation

BBC R&D is an extraodinary organisation that has survived and thrived through many waves of technological change. It has a fantastic culture, a supremely talented team and brilliant ideas. We helped give them a voice through strategy, comms and brand identity.
00:00 / 00:03
loading video
We built an identity that expressed the sheer diversity and variety through motion, color and pattern.
Research and brilliant technological ideas often struggle to escape the Lab. A key aim was to make tools to tell compelling stories about their work to the outside world.
Under the hood, the design is part an experiment. Graphics are all driven by shader code, designed to be living, evolving and constantly in motion.
generativeidentitystrategyreactglsl

BBC Sounds

Product design, generative graphics and drawing tools for the flagship audio product

00:00 / 00:21
loading video
generativedrawing

BBC AR Strategy

Exploring the future of augmented reality for public service media

I helped BBC R&D build a case for a major new investment in augmented reality over multiple years. Our team ran research, interviews and idea generation processes with a diverse team of contributors.
AR often describes a multitude of different emerging trends and technology breakthroughs. We created a unified language and icon system to help talk about those technical challenges.
arstrategysketch

Smart lo-fi signage

Giving e-readers a new life as ambient signage

It's sad that e-readers, like most technology, ends up gathering dust. They are surprisingly resilient little devices. This was a project to make efficient, playful ambient signage for our London offices.
e-inkrecycling

Aoyama Treehouse

Screenless interaction design for a new Tokyo co-working and mindfulness space

00:00 / 00:43
loading video
We created a membership token in the form of a weathered stone. It could be used as a controller and access key within the space.
Work in collaboration with Dave Cameron, Matt Wade, Guy Wolstenholme and Fengyi Franklin Zhu

BBC Weather

Weather forecast simulation and data visualisation

00:00 / 00:18
loading video
generativeproductdata visualisation

Magic Leap One

Helping launch the pioneering mixed-reality headset

00:00 / 00:18
loading video
storieslaunch

Setbuilder

A storyboarding tool for spatial experiences

This was an internal prototype born from a need to make simple AR experiences from 2D assets.
One of the big hurdles with spatial computing is the demands of authoring 3D content and models. We wanted to explore whether there was a way to tell simple interactive stories without the overhead of building art in 3D.
xrstoryboarding

Unilever

Imagining a sustainable, seasonal future for mass-market food brands

futuresstrategic design

illa

A research project into drawing tools that simulates physical materials like graphite and wax

Film and microscopy by Jimmy Irwin

Open Systems

Data-driven generative artwork for a Swiss network security business

generativedata visualisation

Brakit

Digital tools for a modular furniture system

00:00 / 00:04
loading video
3dparametric

IBM iX

Building a language for IBM to communicate stories with data

Spatial design by Dave Cameron
00:00 / 00:46
loading video
generativedata visualisation

Mercedes F1 2015 car livery