An interactive projection mapped installation inspired by the "Think Different" campaign and design legacy of the iMac G3

Concept

 

When the iMac G3 launched in 1998, it challenged what a computer could look like.

 

At a time when most computers were beige boxes designed to disappear into the background, Apple introduced something colorful, transparent, and unmistakably human. The iMac wasn’t just a computer. It was a statement about the role design could play in technology.

 

The goal of this installation was to celebrate that shift.

 

Rather than displaying the machines as static artifacts, we wanted visitors to experience them as a collective canvas that reflects Apple’s approach to design, creativity, and self-expression.

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Experience

 

Visitors are greeted by a wall of original iMac G3 computers arranged in a grid formation.

 

Projection mapping transforms the collection into a single visual display, allowing animations, graphics, and content to flow across the individual machines while still preserving their unique identities.

 

As the experience unfolds, the wall shifts between moments that celebrate the iconic colors, forms, and personality of the iMac line.

 

What begins as a collection of individual computers becomes something larger. The installation encourages visitors to see the machines not just as products, but as symbols of a design movement that helped redefine personal computing.

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Execution

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The installation combines artifact preservation with large-scale projection mapping to create a visual experience that respects the original hardware while bringing it to life.

 

• Input: Pre-programmed visual content

• Processing: Projection mapping across multiple physical surfaces

• Output: Unified animated display spanning original iMac G3 hardware

• Interaction: Ambient visual experience

• Display Surface: Collection of original iMac G3 computers

 

 

The primary challenge was balancing the individuality of each machine with the desire to create a cohesive visual system.

 

Each iMac has its own shape, color, and physical presence. Rather than treating them as identical screens, the content was designed to work with those differences, allowing the collection to function as a single display while preserving the character of each computer.

 

Careful calibration ensured graphics aligned correctly across multiple curved surfaces and varying sight-lines, creating a seamless experience without obscuring the artifacts themselves.

 

DKS Design led the concept development, content strategy, visual direction, projection design, and overall experience planning, creating an installation that transforms a collection of historic hardware into a dynamic storytelling platform.