Leigh has been active in the design, digital creatives and ITC space for over 20 years, and owns and operates ingeous studios, a multidisciplinary digital design studio.
Trained as a Public Relations officer with Aboriginal Hostels Limited in Canberra in the late 1980’s, Leigh moved to Cairns in 1993. Leigh works with local, national and international organisations in the creative and digital creative innovation space.
In 1996, Leigh was awarded an Australia Council Fellowship for the Arts for digital innovation and experimentation in Cape York Peninsula communities.
In 2003 he established ingeous studios, a creative digital innovation agency that works with local, national and international organisations in the creative and digital new media space. In 2010, together with co-collaborator Steven Pelham, Leigh created Australia’s first Indigenous developed multi-platform directory tool, which was available on iOS, Andriod and SmartTV’s.
A qualified graphic designer certified as an Adobe Creative professional and new media specialist, Leigh has been published by Cambridge University for his work in the use of new technologies in Indigenous health and social engagement spaces, and has been featured in AustralianIT, SmartStartup, CNET and the Financial Review for innovative use of technologies in the Indigenous space.
Leigh continues his passion in design and innovation throughout the digital media space with social innovations OpenLingo, SkoolCents, ROR Digital, and believes that digital innovation and the digital economy can bring about greater opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
In late 2016, Leigh co-founded D:HIVE – an Indigenous-led digital innovation hub aimed at bridging the digital and technology gap for Indigenous Australians, migrants, refugees and people with disabilities. In particular, D:HIVE’s concentration is in regional and remote Australia which still in 2018 are the most disconnected from the digital and tech worlds.
Leigh developed Australia’s first Indigenous-developed app in 2009, and more recently, was the back-end and front-end developer that assisted Arrernte cultural advisors create the Indigemoji app that has over 80,000 downloads, was an Honoree for a 2020 Webby Award, and a 2020 Prix Ars Electronica Honorary.
Working remotely for clients across Australia and internationally, Leigh has successfully maintained ingeous studios as a leading creative digital production agency that is a hybrid agency working across creative productions and digital technologies.
In 2020 he founded – with the support of NorthSite Contemporary Arts, IndigeDesignLabs (Indigenous Design Labs) – an experimental Indigenous creative learning lab which seeks to introduce young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creatives to digital design, and creative industries, through the confluence of art, design, technology and culture, while developing immersive storytelling in natural and man-made environments.
Leigh believes strongly that together we can all become changemakers of tomorrow through increased digital ability, tech inclusion and design – through the melding of innovative approaches to reshaping the digital and tech world from the grass-roots.