Bold Visual Narrative

Leon has worked across a broad range of positions in the media industry as a visual narrative designer, filmmaker, and educator. Since setting up his practice, he has worked with some high-profile clients including the Galway International Arts Festival, who commissioned to produce the iconic Festival Poster in 2011. He has also worked with clients as diverse as Starbucks on their global holiday campaign, Druid Theatre on promotional film for their iconic productions to musician Macklemore, who commissioned Leon to document their 2014 visit to Dublin’s o2 for two sold out shows. He has also developed many personal projects in animation, typography, children’s illustration and documentary. His research interest areas include adaptive interactions and experiences using available data in the public sphere and generative typography and in 2015 he completed a residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York in this field. In 2016, Leon received a ‘Certificate of Typographic Excellence’ from the Type Directors Club in New York. The Design and Craft Council of Ireland listed Leon as one of their ‘Future Makers’ for 2016. Leon has recently completed a 12-week residency in Los Angeles with digital agency 72andSunny in their 72u program. He has recently been appointed as a design innovation research fellow on the Techinnovate program at NUI Galway for 2016-17.

Leon has also worked in the education sector for five years across a number of different program areas. In 2013, he developed the Animation and Gaming program at Galway Technical Institute from initial proposal to realisation in 2014 and currently act as the course head for this program. GTI has now been officially recognised as the first Toon Boom Centre of Excellence in Ireland. Toon Boon Centres of Excellence (COE) are accredited colleges that are powerful incubators for preparing graduates for the animation marketplace. He has also worked with many other organisations on education programs including Galway International Arts Festival, Galway Film Centre, and Galway Film Fleadh. Through his role with the Design Network West, he was part of the team who developed the syllabus for the ‘Creative Enterprise’ level 7 program at GMIT. Leon has also served as a visiting lecture to the MA Digital Media, Nuig and the Creative Enterprise program in GMIT.