X Communications

Based in Dublin, X Communications was formed in 1994 and currently employs 24 people covering a variety of talents: project management; programming; and design. As its skill base suggests X Communications offers a multiplicity of services such as website creation, e-commerce, data mining, design and conception. Clients include ICI Dulux Paints, the Film Institute of Ireland, Amárach Consulting and the Chester Beatty Library. ‘All our projects are design led,’ explains creative director at X Communications Marie Redmond. ‘We have built up a culture of designers and programmers working closely together. We aim to make the technology transparent. All our designs are appropriate to the subject matter and target audiences.’

The Book of Kells, one of the most famous manuscripts in the world and has been in Trinity College Library since the 1660s. Completed in 800AD by Columbian monks on the remote Scottish island of Iona, the vellum manuscript is a lavishly illustrated and ornamental transcription of the four Gospels. ‘I was asked by the Trinity College librarian to develop a CD-Rom of the manuscript,’ explains Redmond, who is also course director of multimedia systems at Trinity College. ‘I developed the brief myself so I was essentially my own client. I wanted all 680 pages of manuscript to be included. The project took three years to complete so I was able to develop it as I wished without making any compromises.’ The CD-Rom – information can be found at www. bookofkells.ie – has received silver award at this year’s D&AD Awards in the interactive media CD-Rom category. The packaging is by Malcolm Garratt of AMX and produced by Artomatic.