Our client: BBC News

Interactive touch screens are becoming an increasingly important tool in the world of broadcast graphics – with election coverage leading the charge. BBC News asked Idonix to apply their specialist knowledge of Viz scene scripting and live data integration to help their in-house team build a touch screen application for the 2011 UK election coverage.

This time around the BBC decided to move their core results graphics away from the traditional full form approach into a touch screen environment. They had plenty of in-house design and Viz Artist expertise and 103” U-Touch screen, but needed help integrating live data and fluid transition logic into their Viz scene.

Working closely with the BBC’s editorial and design teams, Idonix’s first task was to build a prototype that would allow the team to quickly trial different ideas for screen layout and navigation. The prototype was developed with Microsoft Sketchflow, a Silverlight based tool that allowed team members to contribute feedback via the web.

The basic Viz scene was then built by the BBC’s in-house Viz developers. When complete it was handed to Idonix for the addition of transition logic and data integration script. In addition scripted control interfaces were added to the IGO automation system to allow live data feeds and producer controlled stacking.