Interactive

The latest interactive design news, views, inspiration and opinion.

Linkedin reveals redesign of its desktop website

Networking and business platform Linkedin will roll out a new website later this year, with “cleaner” and “simpler” features.

Snapchat launches sunglasses which shoot video

Snapchat has unveiled its first physical product – a pair of sunglasses which can shoot short video clips – alongside a name change to Snap Inc.

BHS returns as online store with new name

BHS has been reinvented as online retailer BHS International, with a focus on lighting, home furnishings and kitchenware.

Sir John Sorrell to step down from Creative Industries Federation role

Sorrell, who founded the Creative Industries Federation in 2014, will be giving up his role as chairman by 2017.

Design Council Spark Awards reveals winning concepts

The four winning teams will receive up to £50,000 each to take their product design concepts to market.

Oculus Rift virtual reality headset launches in the UK

Designers can now buy the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset for £549 at stores such as John Lewis, Harrods and Curry’s PC World.

Mozilla shortlists four designs in open-source rebrand project

Software company Mozilla is working with design consultancy Johnson Banks – and gathering opinions from the general public – to create its new brand identity.

London Design Festival 2016 – 8 things to catch at the V&A museum

The Victoria and Albert museum is host to exhibitions, talks, installations and design-led products for this year’s LDF – we sum up the things to catch.

London Design Festival 2016 – 5 must-see talks

London Design Festival hits the capital this weekend, and alongside its series of fairs and exhibitions, sits a programme of talks, seminars, masterclasses and panel discussions. From exploring the intertwined world of graphic design and music to a look at dyslexia and creative thinking, we’ve rounded up the talks you have to see.

5 important things that happened in design this week

From the new plastic £5 note to Just Eat and Addison Lee rebrands, we round up the important design news from the last seven days.

Designers prepped on Crossrail 2 project

TfL and Network Rail met this week to address designers and engineers about the development of Crossrail 2 so that interested parties can be brought up to speed before any future tendering processes.

Natural History Museum and Google launch virtual gallery app

The Google Arts & Culture app for the Natural History Museum lets visitors explore galleries virtually in 360°, and come up close with extinct animals.

Colourful Crossing, by Camille Walala

Artist Camille Walala has created a colourful pedestrian crossing on Southwark Street in Bankside, London. Walala was commissioned to create Colourful Crossing by Better Bankside and Transport for London, and teamed up with road markings company Pre-formed Markings to create the piece. The project is part of initiative Avenue of Art, which looks to transform […]

Paper sculpture installation, by Tahiti Pehrson

A giant paper sculpture has been erected in Times Square, New York. Tahiti Pehrson has created the installation, which required 91 metres of paper to make. The installation is made up of several giant cut-out patterns, which make use of light and shadows to enhance the shapes. The paper sculptures aim to reflect personal moments […]

A Good American data visualisation, by Up^

Design studio Up^ has created motion graphics for a new documentary film, A Good American. The film is about previous U.S. codebreaker Bill Binney, and the studio was tasked with “visually and emotively representing” the intelligence tool he created called ThinThread, says Up^. Up^ created CGIs, motion graphics and data visualisation for the film, as […]

Solo, by Uniform

Uniform has designed an “emotional radio” which uses artificial intelligence principals to recognise a listener’s emotions and play mood-influenced radio. A facial recognition feature can recognise the nuances of people’s expressions and react accordingly, says Uniform. It links up with Spotify algorithms and can broadly categorise happiness, sadness and anger. It’s being demonstrated around London […]

Science Museum mathematics gallery, by Zaha Hadid

The Science Museum’s Mathematics Gallery that will open in December has been captured in a new animation the shows the patterns of airflow around the Handley Page aircraft, which hangs at the centre of the gallery. The layout of showcases, and development of the pod-structures around the airplane have also been informed by the airflow of […]

The Optic Cloak, by Conrad Shawcross

Artist Conrad Shawcross has created a new architectural installation in London, in collaboration with architectural practice CF Møller Architects. The Optic Cloak is 49 metres high by 20 metres wide, and is made of aluminium cladding with perforated, triangular panels. The Panels fold across the surface of the tower, which forms geometric patterns, to create […]

Foil installation, by Layer and Braun

Foil is one of many installations on show at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) museum this month, part of this year’s London Design Festival (LDF). In association with Braun, the huge, rotating sculpture of metal panels aims to replicate the blades of an electric shaver, and creates an immersive experience around the gallery as it […]

Colorscape app, by Herc Ltd.

Herc Ltd. has developed an app called Colorscape, which allows users to transform their photos into black and white sketches for colouring in. The lines on each photo can also be adjusted depending on how intricate the user wants the sketches to be. Colorscape is free to download from the app store.

TfL Roundel Twitter Machine, by Florian Dussopt

A tweet-printing machine shaped like the Transport for London roundel has been designed by Florian Dussopt to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Johnston typeface. The piece will be on show as part of Designjunction at this year’s London Design Festival, and will be printing out Twitter messages in the Johnston typeface throughout the […]

Shapes of Cities app, by Yoni Alter

London-based graphic designer Yoni Alter is putting a digital slant on his colourful, abstract city prints, with an app version of his work. The Shapes of Cities game allows users to improve their visual memory while learning about cities and architecture, and covers a number of locations including Berlin, Buenos Aires, London and Seoul.

Hidden Cities Rio documentary, by various

Adam&eveDDB has teamed up with the Financial Times (FT) and Google to create a VR documentary about Rio’s favelas, timed to coincide with the 2016 Olympics. Hidden Cities Rio is the next stage of the Hidden Cities collaboration, following recent launches in London and Brussels. The VR documentary, created by Visualise, looks at the physical […]

Curtain Call installation, by Ron Arad

Ron Arad has created 360-degree immersive installation for the Roundhouse in London, as part of the venue’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Curtain Call sees the Roundhouse’s circular main space filled with a floor-to-ceiling curtain made from 600 silicon rods. The curtain is designed to be a canvas for films, live performance and audience interaction. The installation […]

Pantosaurus, by Aardman and Adelphoi Music

Aardman has created a two-minute short called Pantosaurus, which is the latest instalment of the NSPCC’s Pants campaign. Enlisting the help of animated, singing dinosaurs, it is designed to help parents talk to their children about sexual abuse. Adelphoi Music also wrote lyrics and music for the video. Heather Wright, executive producer at Aardman, says: […]

Rio Olympic Games 2016 interactive map, by Fiasco Design

Ahead of the Rio Olympics this month, Fiasco Design has launched an animated, interactive map of the city. Following on from its previous map for the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, the user can explore the interactive city, which comes with animated features and sound effects by Bunkersonix. Ben Steers, creative director of Fiasco Design, […]

5 things you might not know about the 1966 World Cup final, by Uniform

Uniform has created an animated short film to mark the 50th anniversary of England winning the 1966 World Cup. The consultancy used the film to explore interesting stories and little known facts about the famous sporting event. It uses elements of 3D modelling, 2D animation and references Kodachrome colour footage from the day, to give […]