Reimaging the Future of Digital Design Branding

The 2025 Digital Design Weekend at the V&A has just come to an end last Sunday. There are a few highlights that demonstrate how design impacts perception, connection, and storytelling. More than a technology exhibition, the festival showed how digital practices can reframe our view of culture, inclusion, and community.

Spoke Touch-board Playground by Tom Fox stood out to me. His project turns simple conductive objects into interactive instruments and controllers. This playful technology included an interactive school map where the audience can feel objects and unlock videos revealing school spaces and stories.

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What impressed me most was the experience’s accessibility. It invited participants of all ages and abilities to interact, bridging the gap between immersive technology and people. The project reminds me of the immersion of utilising digital components to improve brand building. Spoke demonstrated how brand identity can be communicated not through static visuals, but through immersive, participatory experiences. Encouraging audiences to interact with real objects tied to stories, it created a living, memorable representation of a community. This resembles a brand campaign expressed through touch and narrative, where design serves both as a storytelling medium and a way to foster belonging. The future of digital design lies in crafting experiences that merge interactivity with meaning. Rather than treating technology as an end, these works illustrated how it can foster empathy, dialogue, and shared exploration.

As I left the V&A, I felt energised by the possibilities of technology to uplift brand campaigns. The artwork showcased demonstrates the potential of digital design today, illustrating how it can create experiences that are technologically innovative while remaining deeply human, inclusive, and resonant.

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By Kelly Ho