Creativity, CERN & Digital Archaeology
A C-Words Creative Conversation with Jim Boulton, Digital Archaeologist
December 2020
I first encountered Jim in 1999 when I joined the digital agency Large Design, which he co-founded with Lars Hemming Jorgensen. As with any successful pairing each brought something special to the mix. In their case, whilst Lars brought high-octane entrepreneurial energy, Jim provided order underpinned with dry and infectious wit. A fabulous combination that enabled us time and time again to ‘fight above our weight’ and ‘Live Large’ as we used to say. Unlike it’s name Large was in reality a small tight-knit group of designers and developers with a huge ambition to create outstanding work. I absolutely loved my time there, working for brilliant clients such as Bang & Olufsen, Lego and Coca-Cola.
In December 2020 I caught up with Jim to talk about his transition from agency owner to Digital Archaeologist, why he’s never considered himself a creative and what’s driving him to delve into the magic of brand names.
Please give a short introduction about yourself.
I’m Jim Boulton, an entrepreneur, writer and curator. I like to set myself ambitious targets and pick a steady path to them.
Tell us about the first time you considered yourself a creative.
I’ve always been creative but I have never considered myself ‘a creative’. I think the label is a bit odd. Creativity is about how you think, it’s not a job title. As a teenager and in my early twenties I DJ’d, designed flyers and drew comics. This was the 80’s and early 90s, pre-web. They were self-initiated, self-taught DIY projects.
Your route into a creative career came later after initially studying Economics at Nottingham Trent University and then taking up a first job as a Process Improvement Consultant at the Post Office. Tell us how you came to be a late starter and your route into a creative career.
The Post Office was a great environment for an immature young man to find his feet but I always had the intention of doing my own thing. When Internet Explorer 1.0 came out in 1995, I saw the future. I quit my job and did a Masters degree in Hypermedia at the University of Westminster. The course was run by Dr Richard Barbrook and Antirom, who were part of a creative ménage à trois with Underworld and Tomato. It was exhilarating. It was there I met Lars and Miori, my two life partners (one business and one romantic).
We first met when I joined Large, the digital agency you co-founded in 1998 with Lars Hemming Jorgensen. Although diminutive in size the agency forged a mighty reputation in a relatively short time, even being described by Seth Godin as ‘one of 500 companies in the world that could make their clients remarkable’. As a partner of a creative agency what was your experience of managing creatives?
I loved it. Looking back, we were good at spotting talent. Although you were relatively inexperienced in web design, it was obvious you were the real deal. The same went for the Technical Director, Jesper Lycke. Everyone else was unproven, straight out of college. They all turned out to be fantastic, partly down to your and Jesper’s expert tutelage. If you hire well, managing is a doddle. Even if they mess things up, they mess it up in a good way.
Large was acquired by Story Worldwide, a multi-channel content marketing agency, in 2007 and you co-ran their London office until 2012. How was the transition going from owner of an independent boutique to becoming partner within an enormous international business? Did you notice a difference in the level of creativity in the new organisation?
Not much changed creatively. The MD of the London Office, Jon King, was a respected musician and Kirk Cheyfitz, who ran the global business was a Pulitzer Prize shortlisted journalist. Creativity was embedded in the business from the top down. There were some really talented people at Story.
In 2010 your first Digital Archaeology exhibition was unveiled in London as part of Internet Week Europe. The exhibition brought together a selection of the most significant sites of their time, each pushing the boundaries of how we worked, played, shopped, interacted and participated in society. How did you come up with the idea for the first exhibition, how has this pioneering initiative grown and what new or unexpected responsibilities did you find in your role as Digital Archaeologist?
I went to see Game On! at the Barbican in 2001. It was incredible to see how the video game industry had progressed — Pong to Tomb Raider in 30 years. The web was even faster paced. I thought someone should do a Game On! for the web. Nine years later nobody had, so I did it myself.
One of the things I loved about Game On! was that you could play all the games on the original hardware. So, I brought a load of old computers from Ebay, downgraded them to the Operating Systems and browsers of the time, and installed the websites. Buying the machines and original software was straightforward, getting hold of the websites was a different matter. People hadn’t kept the code, or at least weren’t sure where it was. That’s when I realised the exhibition was more than a trip down memory lane, it was a crucial part of the historical record. Archive.org launched in 1997, anything pre 97 is mostly lost.
I was amazed at the level of interest. The British Library opened the show, CERN came to have a look and it got a huge amount of press. Google asked me to put the exhibition on in New York the following year.
In 2014 two significant creative events happened for you — the publication of your first book ‘100 ideas that changed the Web’ and the opening of the renowned Barbican exhibition, ‘Digital Revolution’, in which you acted as curator for historical content. Tell us about each of these important creative milestones.
I left Story in 2012 to pursue my digital archaeology work full-time. I contacted the curator of Game On!, Conrad Bodman, to get some advice. We stayed in touch and he asked me if I’d like to be part of the Digital Revolution team. I jumped at the chance.
In parallel, I’d been pitching a book to publishers about the nascent years of the creative tech scene flourishing around Old Street roundabout. As an unproven writer, pitching a project about a niche subject, I was given short shrift. Laurence King came back with an alternative suggestion, would I like to write 100 Ideas that Changed the Web? A collection of 100 interconnected essays was less of a risk for a first-time author. It was the right call, I learned my craft on the job.
There was a third significant event in 2014. The Arts Council asked me to contribute a piece of work to launch The Space, an organisation that promotes the digital arts. Together with Craig Blagg, I created /Root, a digital artwork that connects makers and their projects in family trees of influence. It was exhibited at the Tate Modern alongside the work of Marina Abramovic and Ai Weiwei, which was an incredible honour.
In your opinion what pros and cons does the Web offer for creativity?
Back in the 90s, it was a blank canvas, there was no such thing as best practice, and those that tried to introduce it, like Jakob Nielsen, were the enemy. There were no rules, it was the wild west. Back then, the web was shunned by graphic designers and computer scientists. Designers has been spoilt by Photoshop and Quark Xpress, the design options offered by the web were too basic. The same went for hardcore programmers, HTML just didn’t cut it. Instead, a bunch of misfits explored the creative possibilities of this new media.
These days, despite the huge increases in bandwidth and styling possibilities, the web has become narrow space. Websites are one-size fits all tessellations that can reduce to vertical carousels.
On the positive side, the fabric of creativity has changed. Audiences are involved in the creative process like never before, which took the web in an exciting new direction.
What are the most creative uses of the Web you’ve seen?
In the early days, Hi-Res! set the benchmark. Their interactive Flash website for the Darren Aronofsky film Requiem for a Dream stands out. It was a cinematic gem in its own right. What made the site extraordinary, was that Hi-Res! had the confidence and freedom to capture the soul of the film without reproducing it. It is not a trailer and doesn’t even link to one. It can be enjoyed before, after or independently of the film. It’s more akin to a musical instrument than a website. You play it. Mind blowing.
Just when I thought the creative heyday of the web was over, in 2007 the Rumpus Room exploded onto the scene. They fused filmmaking and the web into an in-between space, which are always where the most interesting things happen.
Describe how you work professionally. Do you prefer to work alone or in collaboration?
I like partnerships. It’s easy to lose the purity of an idea when too many people are involved but it’s good to knock ideas around. Although I hate to disagree with De la Soul, two’s the magic number.
Who are your creative heroes? Have they influenced your work in any way?
I’ve mentioned a few already, Antirom, Hi-Res! and The Rumpus Room but the true digital creative pioneers emerged in the 1960s.
I was lucky enough to spend some time with Alan Kay last year, who imagined “a carry anywhere personal computer for kids of all ages” back in 1968, this is when computers were as big as rooms. If you look at the sketches he drew then, it’s an iPad. He put the third computer on the Internet at the University of Utah and invented the Graphical User Interface at Xerox Parc. The man’s a creative colossus.
It’s not so much their work that’s influenced me but their attitude. They pushed technology beyond its boundaries, and they did it on their own.
Where do you find inspiration?
We all root for the underdog but I’m a bit obsessive about it, especially when they come from left of centre. Take Alan Emtage, the Bajan inventor of the search engine, he should be a household name but nobody’s heard of him. My latest creative endeavour is a short comic about his life.
Similarly, the pioneering work of the independent agencies, artists and other creatives that shaped our digital world is largely unrecognised. I want the misfits to have their moment in the sun.
Depending on how you look at it being ‘creative’ can be viewed as either a gift or a burden. Whilst creativity can enable us to miraculously produce the previously unimagined it isn’t always something you can draw on at will. What are your thoughts on this statement?
It’s definitely a gift but I probably think that because I’ve been lucky enough to take a good chunk of my ideas to fruition. I would imagine it’s deeply frustrating to be creative but trapped in a life that make it difficult to express yourself.
Do you ever suffer from bouts of ‘creative block’ where you find it difficult to get your head into a freeflowing creative space? If so, what methods, processes, exercises or activities do you use to unblock yourself?
I don’t try too hard. I start another task, my brain thinks about it off line and the solution comes to me at an expected moment. If I’m under time constraints, explaining what I’m trying to achieve to someone else forces me to order my thoughts, and a path-forwards often emerges.
In your opinion can anyone be trained to become creative or is it something you are born with?
I would say it’s mainly innate.
Your Digital Archaeology venture came out of following and developing your passion for the Web. What advice would you give to a creative looking to develop a side hustle or personal project alongside their career?
First and foremost, do it for fun. Keep it a side hustle, don’t be tempted to make it your main gig. It’s frustrating not to have enough time to spend on your passion but the spark in your eye when you talk about it is contagious.
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the majority of us to re-address the way we work with negative and positive consequences. One of the surprisingly positive results, suggested in WeTransfer’s Ideas Report 2020, is that many of us have actually been more creative during the pandemic. As a creative how have you been coping with during the pandemic and what important lessons have you learnt that you will take forward in the future?
I’ve been productive. I wrote a short comic with an illustrator called Phil Smiley, and I won an Innovate UK grant. Whilst I’ve enjoyed a bit of solitary confinement, I’ve also reconnected with people over the lockdown, and it’s been fantastically rewarding. I’m going to make more of an effort to keep in touch with old friends.
And finally: What’s next for you creatively?
Delving into the magic of brand names has been another side-hustle of mine for the past 20 years. The Innovate UK grant I mentioned is to fund an app that deconstructs brand names, looking to identify the underlying building blocks. A good name can’t make a bad product succeed but it can give a decent product a better chance of success. Nike was formerly Blue Ribbon Sports, Google was Backrub and Scrabble was Criss-Cross Words. Would they have been the successes they are with old names? I don’t think so. Using machine learning to extract this magic into a set of underlying patterns is the ambition. It’s still early days. The first task is for the app to name itself. Initial results suggest there’s a long way to go. Would you use a service called Wordwoof?
It’s been lovely talking to you. Thanks for thinking of me.
About the author:
Graham Sturt is Creative Director / Partner at strategic design and branding agency, D8.
Originally from England, he lived and worked in London for more than a decade before relocating to Amsterdam to follow his passion for Dutch design.
