Dr. Juan Hiriart

Current positions

Senior lecturer in Interactive Media Art and Design

BIOGRAPHY

I started my professional career in 1994, working as an illustrator and concept artist, producing art pieces for books, and concept art/storyboards for TV commercials and films. This work led to a position as a lead multimedia developer in a television research and production lab (LabPUC13), where I led a team of designers producing animations and motion graphics pieces for one of the biggest TV broadcasters in Chile. From 2003 to 2007, I worked as a Project leader within an academic research centre, leading a multidisciplinary team of designers, programmers, and educational researchers producing interactive media resources for formal and informal learning contexts. Along with the creative direction of this centre, my responsibilities also involved managing the relationships with the Chilean Government, the International Cooperation and Development European Commission and the Government of Trento along with partnerships with European and American academic institutions.

Between 2009 and 2014, I worked in the games industry, developing digital games for clients such as BBC, ITV, United Airlines, Sony, Phillips, EMI, Pepsi, Vimto, Cancer Research and Cambridge ESOL. These projects were played by millions of people, received important awards (DADI, Big Chip, Roses Design, Webby, among others), and were featured in the first place in highly competitive markets such as the Apple (UK) App Store.

Areas of research

Game studies, Digital heritage, Digital history, Serious games, Game-based learning