Jason Michael Holland (born 25 January 1971) is an English designer, university lecturer, writer and awards judge who created the 1997 website Head-Space, which is included in Management Today's ''Ten Websites That Changed the World'', and is an acknowledged blueprint for intranets and a precursor to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Holland is also credited with a number of other interactive firsts.

Early life and education

Holland was born in 1971 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, England, to Michael Holland, a Quality Controller from

Codnor Codnor is a village and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. Codnor is a former mining village and had a population of 3,766 (including Cross Hill) taken at the 2011 Census. It is approximately 12 miles from Derby an ...

and Linda Holland (''née'' Finnerty), who was from

Clowne Clowne is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2001 Census was 7,447 increasing to 7,590 (and including Harlesthorpe) at the 2011 Census. It forms part of the Bolsover constituency. ...

. His early childhood was spent in

Brinsley Brinsley is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. The church of St James was built in 1837–38 from Mansfield stone, the chancel being added in 1877. The village is split into two sections, Old Brinsley which is within Brox ...

, where he attended Matthew Holland School, now renamed

Selston High School Selston High School is a Mixed-sex education, mixed secondary school that educates students aged 11–16. It is located in Selston, Nottinghamshire, England. The headteacher is Mr Paul Halcro. History The school was previously called ''Matth ...

. Holland studied the First Diploma in Art and Design at

West Nottinghamshire College West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

(

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

) from 1989–90, followed by the two-year HND Graphic Design and returns frequently to mentor and lecture.''Design guru gives lectures at West Notts. Chad'', 26 November 2014, p.47. Accessed 14 July 2021 He studied for his BA (Hons) Degree in

Graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

Northumbria University , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

from 1992-1995.

Career

In 1995, Holland joined Hyperinteractive - one of London's earliest web design agencies - as Senior Designer. He has since founded three digital agencies. The first was Head New Media which became the UK digital arm of Lowe Worldwide. Head New Media included the specialist

Interactive Television Interactive television is a form of media convergence, adding data services to traditional television technology. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV is an example of how new information ...

agency Head End that produced the first interactive commercials for

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

and

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

. In 1999, Holland and his then business partner, Felix Velarde were the subject of ''Keeping Creative'', an episode of

BBC Knowledge BBC Knowledge was a British television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 1 June 1999, broadcasting documentary, cultural and educational programmes. It was shut down on 2 March 2002, and was replaced by BBC Four. History L ...

's 15 part series, "The Crunch", profiling innovative entrepreneurs. The documentary was made by Uden Associates and is still broadcast occasionally in Europe as part of

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

's business education strand. Head New Media also sponsored the non-commercial, online creative community, Head-Space, that incubated prominent community websites including

Urban75 Urban75, also known as U75 or simply Urban, is a website and internet forum based in Brixton, London, and online since 1995. History Urban75 originated from a football comic ''Bluebird Jones'' - an e-zine formed around football fans oppositi ...

and

John Lundberg John Lundberg (born 5 December 1968) is an English artist and documentary filmmaker. His work is concerned with ostension. Underpinning all of his work is an interest in how myth and artifice can shape and alter reality, especially regarding ...

et al.'s Circlemakers.org. Head-Space has featured in the travelling exhibition

Digital Archaeology Digital archaeology is the application of information technology and digital media to archaeology. It includes the use of digital photography, 3D reconstruction, virtual reality, and geographical information systems, among other techniques. Comp ...

since 2010, and has been recognised as a digital artefact of considerable historic and cultural relevance, a germinal precursor to YouTube. Holland's next agency Underwired was equally innovative, pioneered the discipline of

eCRM The eCRM or electronic customer relationship management coined by Oscar Gomes encompasses all standard CRM functions with the use of the net environment i.e., intranet, extranet and internet. Electronic CRM concerns all forms of managing relations ...

and rose to be named The RAR eCRM Agency of the Year 2015. In March 2016, Holland launched THE CRM Agency. with fellow Internet veteran John Thew.

Personal life

Jason Holland now lives in Surrey with his wife, two daughters and two

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...

Notable Internet innovations

1995 designed the UK's first University Degree Show CD-ROM 1995 created the first interactive production featured at the

D&AD Design and Art Direction (D&AD), formerly known as British Design and Art Direction, is a British educational organisation that was created in 1962 to promote excellence in design and advertising. Its main offices are in Spitalfields in London. I ...

Student Expo (now called New Blood) 1996 created the Sci-Fi Channel's first interactive TV tests 1996 designed the Snickers MegaBite website, which

Campaign magazine ''Campaign'' is a global business magazine covering advertising, media, marketing and commercial creativity. Headquartered in the UK, it also has editions in the US, Asia-Pacific, India, the Middle East and Turkey. ''Campaign'' is published by H ...

described as

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

’ first real attempt to establish itself on the Internet. 1997 created the website Head-Space, which is an acknowledged blueprint for intranets and a precursor to YouTube. 1998 Designed first Interactive Television advertisements for Tesco and Unilever

Not-for-profit lecturing, mentoring & judging

D&AD – “Turning your design portfolio into a job” masterclass D&AD – portfolio surgeries and student mentoring Farnham Sixth Form College – “Nurturing Digital Talent” 2005, 2014-5 BIMA Judge 2010-2015 Visiting Lecturer for Students of FE and HE courses across multiple Art, Design and Digital Media levels – West Notts College, now known as VISION 2013 to 2015 School of Communication Arts, Mentor 2014-5 DMA Judge, Best Use of Technology 2015 The Drum DADI Awards 2016 Visiting Lecturer, Hyper Island

Awards

1994 Creative Futures Award, UK's Most Promising Talent,

Creative Review ''Creative Review'' is a bimonthly print magazine and website. The magazine focuses on commercial creativity, covering design, advertising, photography, branding, digital products, film, and gaming. The magazine is published bimonthly in print and ...

1995 UK's first University Degree Show CD-ROM (also featured on the cover of Creative Review Magazine) 1995 First Student to show an interactive portfolio at the D&AD Student Expo 1996 Won the Marketing Design Award, the MacUser Maxine and an EPICA for Snickers MegaBite 1997 3 D&AD Awards in Interactive Media 1999 Cannes Lion (Best Online Community) for Head-Space (co-created with Felix Velarde) 2002 Internet Professional Publishers Association (IPPA) DX Design award for Art Community Redism, Bass Beers Worldwide 2005 Webaward for Outstanding Achievement in Web Development for Superscape 2006 BIMA Award for Best Use of Email 2006 & 2007 DMA (Direct Marketing Association) Gold Awards 2008 Interactive Media Council award for Outstanding Achievement for Respro website 2011 Head-Space included in Management Today's ''Ten Websites That Changed the World.'' 2015 eCRM Agency of the Year, RAR Digital Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holland, Jason Michael 1971 births Living people Alumni of Northumbria University English designers People from Cambridge People from Nottinghamshire Web designers