Olympic ceremony Art Director to inspire with guest lecture

Award-winning senior creative Kate Dawkins, who designed and directed the content for the 'Audience Pixels' project for the opening and closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games, is to deliver a guest lecture at Leeds Metropolitan University.

The hour-long free public session, the last in the 'Design Inside Out' 2013 lecture series, will take place on Thursday 21 March from 12.30pm-1.30pm in Lecture Theatre 2 in the Woodhouse Building at the University's City Campus.

Kate is a London-based independent creative who focuses on design-led content for experiential, film and digital platforms. She designed and directed the Olympics' 'Audience Pixels', which formed a giant screen around the seating area of the whole stadium, for both major ceremonies. Overseeing two separate groups of animators, she was responsible for delivering over 100 individual pieces of content for both ceremonies, including projections for Freddie Mercury and the Spice Girls' taxis for the closing ceremony.

Kate commented: "It was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity. It's now a case of building on that experience and applying what has been learnt to future projects."

With more than 16 years' industry experience, Kate has designed and directed content for giant screens at high profile music events for stars including Elton John, Robbie Williams and for the MTV European Music Awards, as well as working on projects for the BBC, Ford and Nike.

Peter Dixon, a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Met's School of Art, Architecture and Design, commented: "We are delighted that Kate Dawkins will be giving this guest lecture at Leeds Metropolitan. She has vast experience of working on many high profile projects. Kate's career originates in design for print, but her unique experimental graphic approach has transferred to film and digital platforms, the latter being evident in her pivotal role at last summer's Olympic ceremonies.

"Kate's talk will appeal to not only our staff and students but to anyone with an interest in design, the entertainment industry and of course the Olympics."