Helping Brits to talk about sex

Most Brits aren’t comfortable talking about sex. Which is why our ears perked up when The Wellcome Trust approached us with a rather unusual project. As part of their Sexology Season – an orgy of events and exhibitions exploring sexuality, gender, sex and ageing, porn addiction, eroticism, female pleasure, masculinity, and sexual health – they wanted an interesting interactive website. A website that would bring to life statistics about Britain's bestial habits, using data from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal).

We gathered our collective minds and after a fair bit of childish giggling and innuendo we put together a plan. Selecting the right sets of data to show was our first challenge. At the end of the day sex sells, so focussing on the sort of stuff that people would chat about down the pub would be the best way of reaching as wide an audience as possible. These stats, paired with a playful colour scheme and some rather naughty illustrations formed the basis of the interactive, a scroll through the windows of Britain.

The site ran alongside the Wellcome Collection's Institute of Sexology show and was used to promote the book launch of Sex by Numbers by Prof. David Spiegelhalter. The site was featured on the It's Nice That homepage and, with over 1000 shares on Twitter alone, did a little bit to help us prudish Brits become more open about our sexual behaviours and attitudes.