Local Projects

Three ways to design for everyone—and the planet

Over the centuries, design has solved countless problems, but it has created them, too. Here, three design luminaries reveal how good design can be harnessed to do the most good.

Designers rally behind social change, combatting everything from gun violence to racist banking

We look back at 10 years of design innovation in social justice.

Local Projects is the 2021 Design Company of the Year

In a Q&A, founder and principal Jake Barton describes how the New York-based design firm creates compelling multimedia museum experiences, from the National September 11 Memorial to Tulsa’s new retrospective on the Greenwood massacre.

Can innovative design get us out of the mess it helped create?

Just because a design is effective doesn’t make it good. The 2021 Innovation by Design honorees are focused on creating a better future by enhancing equity, inclusivity, and sustainability.

The best design companies of 2021

See all the honorees of Fast Company’s 2021 Innovation by Design Awards in the Design Company of the Year category.

This poignant museum uses computer vision to reckon with the legacy of colonial Australia

Australia’s Hyde Park Barracks Museum explores the country’s early history through the voices of everyone from the British colonizers to the Aboriginal people.

Controversy swarms around new museum commemorating the Tulsa Race Massacre

Greenwood Rising is a high-profile attempt to tell a more complete version of the events before, during, and after the massacre—but it may also be a permanent reminder that demands for reparations are not being heard.

At this awesome new museum, the exhibits respond to the sound of your voice

Words never looked so good.

How the New York Times transformed vacant storefronts into powerful works of art

The Innovation by Design honoree created immersive window displays that showed the value of local reporting.

Reconstructing The Mystery Of An Ancient Roman Cult

Design firm Local Projects has turned a pile of rubble into a mystic experience.

How To Design “Branded” Environments That Don’t Make People Gag

According to designers from Brand Union, Local Projects, and more.

Why Experience Design Matters More Than Ever Before

Local Projects explains why people crave mind-bending experiences at a time when screens mediate much of our lives.

The 5 Coolest Things About The Revamped Smithsonian Design Museum

Finalists Of The 2014 Innovation By Design Awards: Data Visualization

Finalists Of The 2014 Innovation By Design Awards: Data Visualization

This Is The Physics Lesson Of The Future, And It Looks Insanely Fun

The Final Pieces Of The 9/11 Memorial Museum: Visitors, Their Stories, And Rooms That Listen

Jake Barton, designer of the 9/11 Memorial Museum exhibits, tells us why the visitors–and their own experiences–are integral to telling the story of 9/11.

How The Rest Of The World Saw 9/11

We Remember blends the voices of international witnesses to the attacks, reinforcing that 9/11 was a global event.

New Museum Uses Algorithms To Visualize How 9/11 Still Shapes The World

Timescape, a visualization within the National September 11 Memorial Museum, uses algorithms to show the unfolding aftermath of the terrorist attacks through news.