We&#39;re incredibly proud to announce that the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) Online Visualisation Tool, a project we collaborated on with Heriot-Watt University and the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) team, has won Silver in the<a href="https://creativepool.com/annual/2025/winners/"> Creativepool Annual Awards</a>! This achievement is a testament to the power of a collaborative vision and a shared commitment to digital innovation that drives real-world change.

Our partnership with Heriot-Watt University and the IDRIC team was a true collaboration of experts. Together, we set out to create an immersive, intuitive tool that could demystify the complex world of industrial decarbonisation. The result is a dynamic digital landscape that makes vital information on net-zero pathways accessible and engaging for everyone, from students and the general public to policymakers and industry leaders.
The tool provides three distinct interactive pathways tailored to different audience needs:
A Public Engagement Tool: To build understanding of net-zero pathways and the positive impact of decarbonisation.
A Learning Tool: To guide school leavers toward potential training routes for a career in decarbonisation.
A Policy-Maker Tool: To provide a clear overview of relevant research findings.
This award is a powerful endorsement of our approach, blending data and design to make complex information digestible. 

We were particularly honoured by the praise from Creativepool judge Tom Genower, who commended the project as &quot;A brilliant blend of data and design, making complex information accessible and engaging. A genuinely useful tool that sets a new standard for data visualisation.&quot;
This recognition inspires us to continue fostering great partnerships and pushing the boundaries of what&#39;s possible in digital innovation. 

We&#39;re proud to have contributed to a project that is not only visually stunning but also genuinely useful in accelerating the UK&#39;s transition to a net-zero economy.
To learn more about the project, visit the original case study <a href="https://soak.co.uk/our-work/visualising-industrial-decarbonisation">here</a> and view the project <a href="lhttps://idric.org/netzero-industry/">here</a>

Celebrating the IDRIC Visualisation Tool at the Creativepool Annual Awards.

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Creativepool Annual Awards: We Won!

Place limitations on your images

All web imagery should be optimised - but different methods of optimisation can in themselves become a bold statement. <a href="https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/">Low Tech Magazine</a>is a great example of this, using heavily dithered images not only to reduce page load, but to explicitly draw attention to the practice. Could your brand use duotone images? Monotone? If that feels too harsh, consider <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88911/brief-history-zines">90s zine culture</a> - a whole aesthetic movement built around what teens could do on their library’s old photocopier.

Rethink your palettes

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_6sPd0Jd3g">Research by Google in 2018 </a>concluded that differences in colour make a difference in energy consumption. In OLED screens, the energy cost of a white pixel might be six times that of a black pixel. There will be limitations on what can be achieved, depending on the brand - but even a small change such as a ditching a white background for an off-white cream does have a measurable difference.

Be transparent

If all else fails - talk about sustainability. There are tools, such as <a href="https://www.websitecarbon.com/">The Website Carbon Calculator</a>, and <a href="https://ecograder.com/">Ecograder</a> which can give valuable metrics. The decision to publish these metrics as part of your website’s UI can advertise your own commitment to sustainability, as well as encouraging others to think about their own impact.

All of this should go hand in hand with code efficiently, and sustainability at the strategic end of project planning. Sustainable planning and design is about reducing the task to what is truly needful, and seeing what can be achieved within those limitations.

As designers in a world of excess and abundance, it can feel somehow unnatural to not use every single tool in one’s arsenal. But having access to thousands of fonts, the whole spectrum of colours, an endless library of crisp, on-demand images - we should remember that it only takes a single spoon to stir a cup of coffee. How much is truly needful to communicate our goals - and how much is window dressing? It’s not the tools themselves that make us more creative, it’s what we do with them. And if we can learn to do more with less, we stimulate our creative brains - and we waste less.

“Energy cannot be created or destroyed - but only converted from one form to another.” - first law of thermodynamics

As humans, we have a fraught relationship with the laws of thermodynamics. We’re extremely good at shifting states of energy and matter into a wide and enviable selection of, say, shiny new teaspoons - but we’re pretty bad at noticing that our cutlery drawer is already full.

Perhaps it’s because we’re not creatures of logic - and evolving the capacity to make vibes-based value judgements has had questionable outcomes for us as a species. We tend not to take the path of least resistance, we’re wasteful, and so we end up not only with drawers but entire dressers crammed with silverware when (to paraphrase Bruno Munari), a pair of chopsticks would probably do just fine.

The question of being sustainable in design is therefore an interesting one. Aesthetic differences are not terribly efficient. Sharks and crocodiles have been doing pretty well without art and branding for millions of years. But we love our visuals. We are excited by them, they make us feel that life is worth living. We’re wasteful, but we’re also creative - and we love to express ourselves. Our capacity for creativity could quite possibly be infinite - but unfortunately we do happen to live in a finite system. Our planetary resources cannot support exponential growth, and sooner or later we will have to ask ourselves: just how many teaspoons do we really need?

A truly efficient, sustainable design is going to be one that does only what is needful, and only what cannot be done in any other way. In other words - we are going to have to start setting some limitations. 

Here’s the good news - creativity thrives within limitations.

Our brains are good at finding workarounds. We all know the scene in Apollo 13 where they cobble together a CO2 filter from duct tape and plastic - our creativity is the capacity to accomplish task A with the tools and materials that were meant for task B.

Sustainable digital design is that paradox. How can we create a digital design - something that consumes energy - in a way that ultimately serves the conservation of energy? Code efficiency will ultimately do a lot of the work here - but speaking visually - how can I design a look and feel for a website that is ‘low energy’?

Using fewer fonts

A font is always an asset that must be loaded - the fewer you use, the better. If these can be system fonts, even better. If treated with curious eyes, typography alone has the potential to be immensely sculptural. If you’re stuck, take a look at the poetry of<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._E._Cummings"> E.E. Cummings.</a>

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Low Energy Digital Design 

Our Approach to Digital Excellence:

Discovery &amp; Planning

Every successful digital project starts with a deep understanding. We kick things off with extensive research, in-depth analysis, and careful planning of resources. This ensures we lay strong foundations for your project, guaranteeing a smooth and efficient delivery process.

Digital Strategy

Your digital presence is more than just a website; it&#39;s a critical component of your brand. We blend our vast experience, creative flair, and a deep understanding of technology to help you define and significantly improve your digital footprint.

Concept &amp; Design

This is where ideas take shape. We focus on defining the core design framework, establishing how our innovative concepts will be expressed visually to captivate your audience.

UX &amp; Prototyping

User experience is paramount. Our team meticulously crafts solutions that provide a meaningful and relevant experience to all user types, ensuring intuitive navigation and engagement across every touchpoint.

Development &amp; Build

Our in-house development team is at the forefront of technology. We leverage the latest tools and techniques to build robust, high-performance digital solutions, adhering to the highest coding standards.

Integration

In today&#39;s interconnected world, efficiency is key. We specialise in connecting software, platforms, and diverse technical environments to streamline your workflows and significantly improve operational efficiency.

Content Management

Our diverse client base demands versatility. We pride ourselves on our ability to work with a wide range of content management platforms and technologies, ensuring we can seamlessly manage your digital content regardless of your existing infrastructure.

Ready to embark on your next digital transformation?

Let our award-winning team support you in achieving your goals; email us at info@soak.co.uk. We&#39;d love to hear your ideas!

At Soak, we believe in guiding you through every step of your digital journey, no matter where you are starting from. Our award-winning team is dedicated to combining exceptional creativity with the latest technologies to deliver impact, innovation, and seamless integration across all your digital touchpoints.
We understand that navigating the digital landscape can be complex. That&#39;s why we&#39;ve honed a comprehensive approach designed to build strong foundations and deliver outstanding results.

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Your Digital Journey, Our Award-Winning Expertise

BETFRED

Ezra

Royal Society

World Wide Fund for Nature

Totaljobs

The World Bank

The London School of Economics and Political Science

The Economist

The Adecco Group

Swiss Re

HSBC

Harvard University

Games Workshop

Selected work

We designed fully responsive prototypes that evolved through several iterations, resulting in a flexible, modular interface that could accommodate the large number of activities on offer and the unique requirements of each venue. 

Complex, multi-tenant applications must be technically robust and adaptable to the ongoing requirements of the business. The underlying architecture was carefully considered to dovetail with Gravity&#39;s IT infrastructure and numerous 3rd party software solutions.

Gravity

Gravity are an international active entertainment brand offering immersive gaming, e-karting, trampolining and climbing activities across 20+ sites, including the UK, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

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The power of play

Central to our design is an interactive landscape that familiarises users with the interconnected facets of industrial decarbonization. This includes areas like green energy generation, manufacturing industries, the national grid, ports, transportation, and the environment.

The tool features three interactive pathways tailored to different audience needs. These include a public engagement tool to build understanding of the net zero pathways and the impact of decarbonisation, a learning tool to guide school leavers toward potential training routes for a career in decarbonisation and for policy-makers to view relevant research findings.

IDRIC

In collaboration with IDRIC (the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre), we designed and developed an immersive visualisation tool that allows users to explore what a green industrial future looks like.

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Visualising industrial decarbonisation

The interactive tool was seamlessly integrated into GoStudent&#39;s existing website infrastructure and needed to consider several crucial requirements from a UX and technology perspective, including the approach for multiple languages.

The tool carries a considerable volume of data that powers all the indices, country profiles, survey results and analysis. A wide variety of data views meant developing a data structure that ensured optimal speed and accessibility for the end-user. An innovative client-side rendering mechanism was used to achieve a fast and efficient experience.

GoStudent

GoStudent, the #1 rated global tutoring school, conducted a survey spanning seven countries that gained deep insight into education trends from both parent and student perspectives.

Our brief was to work with the static survey data, indices data, and a written report to create an engaging, intuitive, informative, and easy-to-understand interactive experience delivered in an ambitious timescale.

Selected Work - GoStudent

European education survey

The data index and campaign featured in several global publications, including the New York Times and underpins a key report that kicks off Swiss Re&#39;s Climate Resilience Campaign for 2021, leading to the COP26 UN climate change conference later this year.

Shortly after being appointed Swiss Re&#39;s global data design partner, the team asked us to design and develop a new, data-driven experience and a suite of campaign assets that helped raise awareness of the global economic impact of climate change.

Selected Work - Swiss Re

The economics of climate change

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We help businesses and organisations unlock the true value of digital and data.

Digital & Data Design Agency

Latest Project - Swiss Re - Background

Latest Project - Swiss Re - Foreground

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We help businesses and organisations unlock the true value of Digital and Data.

15 years in business : 2010 - 2025

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The world bank

Human capital animation

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Closing the protection gap

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Insurance Information Institute

Dynamic economics dashboard

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Digital toolkit

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Queen mary university london

Research highways

<ol><li>Data strategy</li><li>Data analysis</li><li>Infographics</li><li>Data storytelling</li><li>Dashboards</li><li>Corporate reports</li><li>Interactive Indices / indexes</li><li>Dynamic data tools</li></ol>

<a href="https://soak.co.uk/what-we-do#data-visualisation">Find out more about our data vis services</a>

Data visualisation 

<ol><li>Digital strategy</li><li>Discovery &amp; planning</li><li>UX &amp; prototyping</li><li>Conceptualisation &amp; design</li><li>Branding</li><li>Development &amp; build</li><li>Integration</li><li>Content Management</li></ol>

<a href="https://soak.co.uk/what-we-do#ux-design--development">Find out more about our UX and design services</a>

UX, design & development

<ol><li>Strategy &amp; planning</li><li>Ideation &amp; conceptualisation</li><li>Custom illustration</li><li>Copywriting</li><li>Asset production</li><li>Internal comms</li></ol>

<a href="https://soak.co.uk/what-we-do#campaign--communications">Find out more about our campaign services</a>

Campaign & communications

<ol><li>Conceptualisation</li><li>Illustration</li><li>Storyboarding</li><li>Narrative development</li><li>Animation</li><li>Post-production</li></ol>

<a href="https://soak.co.uk/what-we-do#animation--video">Find out more about our animation services</a>

Animation & video

Our award-winning digital solutions span the simple to the complex. We&#39;re Creative, UX and Data specialists, always user-focused and not restricted by any one single platform or technology.

What we do

The summit was in response to close engagements with governments across Sub-Saharan Africa on the need to highlight the vital role of human capital in economic growth. It was also the first Human Capital Summit at a Heads of States level in Africa. 

Sub-Saharan Africa entered the last decade with significant deficits in human capital (the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives). The region’s average Human Capital Index (HCI) was the lowest across all the world’s regions, with a significant proportion of African countries at the bottom of the HCI.

The animation, ahead of the keynote speaker, was played at the start of the final day and uses a narrative centred around three core themes: Economic Growth, Resilient Systems and Social Cohesion. 

Data visualisation and storytelling are used throughout the sequence to emphasise and clarify important facts and figures that would resonate with the audience of Heads of State, Leaders, and Policymakers. In a first of its kind data-based and policy integrated storytelling, the innovative approach was very well received by online and in-person viewers.

The World Bank asked us to produce a data-driven animation for The Africa Human Capital Heads of State Summit held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the 25th - 26th of July 2023.

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The financial burden of such events is enormous, but despite this threat, many people and businesses remain uninsured, leaving them vulnerable when a natural catastrophe strikes.

Swiss RE asked us to develop an interactive data tool illustrating the protection gap and losses from various natural disasters across five continents and twelve countries.

The interface centres around a stylised (mapbox) 3D globe. Clicking on regions and countries reveals the protection gap and total economic losses over the last ten years with the option to deep-dive into more in-depth analysis.

The fully integrated tool is a perfect example of how information can be more accessible, understandable and interesting using interactive data visualisation and information design.

Catastrophes such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and winter storms have become more intense and frequent, threatening people and economies worldwide.

Digital & Data Design Agency

We help businesses and organisations unlock the true value of Digital and Data.

Selected work

The power of play

European education survey

Visualising industrial decarbonisation

The economics of climate change

The power of play

Visualising industrial decarbonisation

European education survey

The economics of climate change

/Our Clients

/News and insights

Creativepool Annual Awards: We Won!

Low Energy Digital Design

Your Digital Journey, Our Award-Winning Expertise

Human capital animation

Closing the protection gap

Dynamic economics dashboard

Digital toolkit

Research highways