Poole Literary Festival

The Interactivists were approached by the Festival Director of Poole Literary Festival in early 2010 with an idea to take their festival to the next level. Meeting with the festival co-ordinators, we realised that their vision was for something more interactive, playful and more interesting than anything we’d seen from a literary festival before.

We were tasked with 2 different projects. The first of these was to create a gallery space to showcase the shortlisted entries for the New Media Writing Prize, a competition hosted by the festival, which also happens to be the first of its kind in the UK.

As we were given a more enclosed, less conventional space than was originally planned we had to get creative with our plans for a great interactive gallery. We created 3 podiums, each housing a digital projector and a small computer. On top of these, we placed a trackball for the users to navigate around the pieces. A custom splash page was designed for the users to pick which piece they wanted to see. As the space was little more than a corridor, we needed to transform it. To do this, we used an array of LED lighting bricks, up-lighting the walls, creating a totally different environment for festival-goers.

The second part of the project was to create an interactive Twitter feed to go on a flat-screen TV in the foyer of the Lighthouse building, designed for visitors to share their views on the festival. We designed a bespoke feed with animated characters and a hand-written style. This was on a rotation every minute and a half with animations which we had made. These animations were based on short stories written by 3- and 4-year olds and part of the Early Years Showcase for the festival.

On time and on budget, our work proved a popular addition to Poole Literary Festival, especially among the children at the event. We’ve had great feedback from the co-ordinators of the festival, and look forward to returning bigger and better next year!