Hello, my name is Jay Harris, and I’m driven by a fascination with how people interact with their surroundings and their inner voice and how this can be applied within the creative industries. This journey began during my A-levels while studying Psychology, deepened through my Psychology degree, and has informed every step of my career since.
I strive to be an innovative Creative Director and this passion led me to founding Modern Fables Escape Rooms. Alongside creating the visitor attraction itself, I assembled creative team members, developed a strong and fearless team culture and brought the company’s visual identity into being.
My expertise is in creating immersive experiences that captivate, blending digital and analogue technology with public spaces and storytelling, making creative decisions that only add to the overall project.
Journey to Creative Direction
Government Authority. These experiences honed my understanding of diverse human experiences and taught me to just listen to people to enable mutual understanding. At this stage I didnt see myself as creative, let alone to have the possibility of becoming a creative director!
After this I decided to become a creative manager to myself, working as a freelancer collaboratively alongside various creative directors, designing and building immersive audio environments for children’s theatre and museums. Clients included the National Trust and the Clink Prison Museum. During this period I really got to ex my creative muscle alongside working along very specic briefs.
A fateful city-break to Berlin introduced me to escape rooms, sparking the realisation that I had a unique creative vision to offer London’s escape room scene. In 2017, with minimal resources and fanatical determination, I launched “The Escapist,” Modern Fables’ rst escape room. Its success, punctuated by a 5-star review from Time Out London, was a turning point, proving the market’s appetite for my vision of what an escape room should be. See my case study to nd out what this vision was.
After moving to a larger venue in the lead up to the pandemic, as Creative Director I overhauled the Modern Fables visual identity and tone of voice. We then accomplished a 50% average quarterly sales increase.
I managed all aspects of business operations, from creative direction and project management to daily operations and team organisation, being highly regarded by team members.
The pandemic caused me to pivot my work so I took my passion and expertise into creating games for others. During this time, I collaborated with the charity Ministry of Stories and worked as a Creative Director for YouTuber MrWhoseTheBoss.
Skills as a Creative Director
Expertise
- Experience Design
- Interaction Design
- Storytelling
- Brand Identity
- Creative Strategy
- Creative Problem Solving
- Cross-Discipline Collaboration
Technical
- Creative use of innovative technology including sensors & audio/visual
- Strong understanding of computer programming in bringing spaces to life.
- Photoshop / Affinity Photo
- Logic Pro / audio creation
- Excel / Numbers, Word / Pages
Professional
- Project Management
- Client Relations
- Leading creative teams
- Team Management
- Strategic Planning
- Effective Communication
- Adaptability
Other skills: I learned to make decent cafetière and moka pot coffee from my brother. It powered our fully-booked days at Modern Fables.
Moving Forward as a Creative Director
As I explore new horizons, I carry a wealth of experiences and creative ideas. From project management to creative direction, I have worked as a part of multi-organisation teams as well as leading my own by example. I’m very excited to apply the lessons I’ve learned and contribute to even more exciting projects. I’m eager to see where my passion for experiential design and storytelling will lead next, ideally in creative director positions that challenge and utilise my diverse skill set to create unforgettable experiences of any kind. I cant wait to meet new creative team members in the numerous creative departments in London.
Alongside my professional life I also work on other creative projects that take my interest. These include a new set of immersive storytelling works as well as musical and visual interests. Of course, these projects will also inform my future in creative leadership. I look forward to hearing about more creative director jobs in London and beyond.
