OBJECTIVE:
To create an interactive exhibition experience celebrating 100 years of Ladybird Books, transforming the publisher’s educational legacy and iconic visual archive into something playful, engaging and relevant to a contemporary audience.
SCOPE:
Creative Direction
Illustration
Interactive Experience
Production
CONTEXT:
Ladybird Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, celebrated its centenary at the London Design Festival with an exhibition exploring the legacy of its iconic pocket-sized books. The challenge was to reinterpret Ladybird’s rich archive and educational approach as an interactive brand experience, allowing visitors to engage with its history in a new and playful way.
LADYBIRD BOOKS REIMAGINED
Reimagining archives into an interactive experience
– London Design Festival
Award-winning interactive installation celebrating 100 years of Ladybird Books, reimagining the archive as a playful, analog search engine connecting ideas across time.
Facilitator: Tara Hanrahan, Think/Do Studio,
London College of Communication
Collaborators: Wajeeha Abbasi, Saachi Mehta and Chandr Chandrvirochana
Feature: London Design Festival, The Elephant Magazine
IDEA:
Ladybird Books are reimagined as an analogue search engine, connecting knowledge from the past with the world today. The Ladybird Web brings together 50 illustrations from the Ladybird archives and 50 contemporary illustrations, inviting visitors to discover and match connections between them using colourful strings.
As connections are made, the strings gradually form a physical “web” of knowledge, transforming the familiar idea of online search into a playful, tactile experience. The installation celebrates Ladybird Books’ legacy of making information accessible, visual and engaging across generations.
EXECUTION:
The artworks were created using images from the extensive legacy archive of Ladybird Books illustrations, alongside modern interpretations of each selected piece. Colourful strings were used to visually connect related themes and ideas across time.
The interactive exhibition pays homage to the legacy of Ladybird Books and its illustrators, recontextualising their work within a contemporary visual and conceptual framework.
IMPACT:
Winner of the Best Interactive Installation in Ladybird Publications’ 100 Years of Ladybird competition
Engaged 2,000+ attendees over a period of 20 days
Exhibited as part of London Design Festival 2015
Featured in Elephant Magazine, Digital Arts, LCC Blog, UAL Blog
“We really liked your clever modern interpretation, referencing current events and trends and we really want to play the game“
- Ronnie Fairweather & Damian Treece, Penguin Books, Ladybird Books
Ladybird Web Game Application:
CREDITS:
Design Collaboration: Wajeeha Abbasi, Saachi Mehta and Chandr Chandrvirochana,
Curator: Tara Hanrahan, Think/Do Studio
Photography: Private view images © Ana Escobar
Copyrights: © Ladybird Books Publications. All rights reserved