This is the website of me, Dan Sumption.
I first worked as a web developer at London publishing company Hard Media in 1995 (before that I built websites as a hobby, and hung out on CompuServe chatting to Pat Metheney’s mum). In 1997, I set up web agency Hard Reality, along with Hard Media directors Mark Westall and Keld van Schreven. Hard Reality was bought by Leo Burnett 18 months later, and I was Burnett’s Interaction Director until the end of 2001, overseeing websites for clients including Kellogg’s and Morgan Stanley. After three years of commuting from Sheffield to London, I left to spend more time with my family (not a euphemism) and for six years I worked from home. During this time, as one half of creative consultancy Mark and Dan, I ran websites and print campaigns for charities and the public sector, fostered about a dozen kids, and set up FAD magazine. By 2007 I was going stir-crazy, so I started freelancing, which is how I ended up at the BBC (somewhere I’ve always wanted to work), helping to build the iPlayer.
Since then, I’ve spent several years working at YouView where I was probably one of the few people in the world who got to write embedded ActionScript software (yeah). I’ve done a stint at ITV Player, some time at Vee24, and am about to start my first permanent role in half-a-lifetime, working as Principal UI Dev on Autodesk Navisworks.
In my spare time (I do occasionally get some) I co-run FAD, a web and print arts magazine. I ‘m also a photographer, taking pictures for pleasure and occasionally even money. I have a separate website showcasing my professional photography. You can also see a selection of my photo-set on my life web-pages as well as on my Flickr account, and of course on my party photographer website Dan Shot Me. I’ve also broadcast an arts radio show, Empty Space, on Sheffield Live, and given photography workshops to a number of youth & community groups around Rotherham.
Oh yea, and I play bass geetar. Although, sadly, not very often nowadays. I recorded an album with Damo Suzuki a year or two back, but I don’t know what happened to it.
Und ich spreche gern Deutsch.
This site was first launched in 1996 on hardnet.co.uk (although the Caustic pages date back to 1994), updated in 2001, and this latest version was launched in 2006. You can find some of the earlier content here, although I can’t promise that it all works.
I also have a CV here. It’s rather out-of-date, but not much has changed.
You can email me at dan@sumption.org. Spammers, do your worst!
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