Parasol

BRIAN WILLIAMS
CREATIVE/ARTS/TECHNOLOGY
LONDON, UK
brian [at] parasol dot io

PROJECTS

UNFINISHED WORK
A WHO-supported interdisciplinary arts project to benefit cancer research

We Choose The Moon

A real-time interactive re-creation of the historic Apollo 11 mission to the Moon.

The 4-day mission features 102 hours of live audio transmissions between the astronauts and Houston, over 450 photos and videos from the NASA and JFK Library archives, and full 3d animation to accompany 11 key moments along the way.

Microgramma and Futura, the typefaces we used for the interface and controls were used extensively by NASA at the time. If you’re ever on the moon you can see them on a plaque the astronauts left behind.

We also took 650 pieces of mission dialogue from the audio transcripts and tweeted them out over twitter in real time, exactly 40 years after they were said, with separate feeds for the command module, Eagle, and mission control.

The live portion of the site ended on the afternoon of July 20th, so the site is now in self-guided mode, allowing you to re-live the mission at your own pace.

We Choose The Moon was the most awarded campaign worldwide in any medium in 2010, taking 43 international honors for websites, live events and digital design, including FWA Site of the Year.

Interactive and animation production by the inimitable Domani Studios. Music during the epilogue/return to Earth by our friends at Hum.

Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins, You.

One small step.
One Giant leap.
One Click Away.

Apollo 11.
Seats still available.

That’s one small step for
(your name here)

I wrote and designed these posters with 60’s postage stamps in mind, evocative of the optimism and mystery surrounding space travel.

One of the last additions before launch, I made this downloadable certificate for teachers to print for their students when using the site as part of their curriculum. It was inspired by a similar certificate I received after visiting a fire station as a kindergartener.

M18M