One of the most recognisable things I helped design for Doctor Who were ‘Gallifreyan’ designs that decorated Gallifrey. Gallifreyan is a fictional writing system associated with the Time Lords, an extra-terrestrial race in the long-running British science fiction television series "Doctor Who." The Doctor, the main character of the show, hails from the planet Gallifrey and is a Time Lord.
There are several versions of Gallifreyan writing used in the show, but one of the most referenced and visually distinctive is the circular Gallifreyan. Circular Gallifreyan uses a combination of circles and lines to represent individual letters. The basic elements include dots on or within circles, lines connecting circles, and spokes extending from the circles.
One of the best things about working on Doctor Who was the variety of the settings and locations of each episode. It was like graphic design boot camp. Turn of the century labels one week, alien graffiti the next, 19th century notations, modern flyers, tapestries, paintings, marble floors with alien text, etc etc… It was a whirlwind of the best kind.
Season 12 Episode 4 ‘Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror’ was the the most graphic heavy period episode we had on that season. We did lot’s of research looking at old labels, tables, newspapers, patents and even notes by both Edison and Tesla.
