Museum of London, Brothers and Sisters and David Foldvari produce Dickens app

The Museum of London has turned to consultancy Brothers and Sisters and illustrator David Foldvari to design a graphic novel app which launches today alongside the Dickens and London exhibition at the museum.

Dickens: Dark London
Dickens: Dark London

Brothers and Sisters was appointed directly having already produced the museum’s Street Museum app.

However the Dickens Dark London project has been funded jointly by the museum and consultancy, both of which will share in any profits, according to digital director of Brothers and Sisters Kevin Brown, who says, ‘It’s a new model for us.’

 Dickens’ Sketches By Boz short stories are told through the illustration of Foldvari, who was commissioned by Brothers and Sisters, which has used reportage and narration in a bid to ‘capture the gritty underbelly’ of Dickens’ London, according to Brown.

Seven Dials, London
Seven Dials, London

The idea is based around Dickens’ night walks. When darkness fell he would walk the city he called his ‘magic lantern’ for inspiration. 

App readers will flick through pages to trigger narration, and when this ends, ‘hotspots ’ appear on the illustration to give a social history context.

Hungarian-born Foldvari says, ‘From an illustrator’s point of view Dickens is a great source of inspiration. I grew up reading Dickens and became familiar with his vision of London way before I moved to the UK; I felt very much at home in Dickensian London before I ever actually got here.’

The app will be serialised over the course of the exhibition, in reference to the serialisation of many of Dickens’ novels through magazines.

1865 map of London
1865 map of London

Edition one will be free to download but subsequent editions will cost £1.49 to download.

Mapping is included to encourage readers to explore Dickens’ London and a geo-location feature can be triggered to receive each edition free of charge.

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