Lecturer, BA (Hons) Games Art and Design
Thom Haley has been a part of the Games team since 2022, creating specialist course content in games design, sound design and the intersection of games with broader cultural discussions of communication, representation and interactivity. He is a Norwich University of the Arts graduate with a background in interdisciplinary art and DIY publishing who has spent many years working in museums and cultural heritage institutions.
I have taken a meandering path to get to games design and development, which I see as the “final form” my creative practice has mutated into. Games as a field intersects with the broadest range of other creative practices, drawing, writing, sound, programming, animation and interaction design so as a practitioner who shifts modes readily and wants to do everything, Games is a rich playground for exploring new ideas, thinking through play and communicating through design.
In my time working for museums and galleries like the Sainsbury Centre, I saw first-hand the desire for creative digital skillsets outside of the games industry and I aim to help emerging digital artists and designers broaden their horizons and recognise the transferability of their skills before they graduate.
As a lecturer, I put intellectual challenge at the heart of content I create, using explorations in the studio and analysis of industry professionals as a way to explore and test theories of game design and communication as we encounter them in real-world situations. For me, academia gives us shared language for things we experience intuitively and being able to take this critical step back and reflect is what makes a successful creative practitioner.
Research project into formal/phenomenological elements of puzzles
2025
2024
2023
2022
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