The Jimmy Nelson Compass. Your own digital journey through the indigenous world.

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In close collaboration with the Amsterdam-based British photographer Jimmy Nelson and his team, Dutch creative digital agency Lama Lama created a stunningly interactive, mobile experience

Taking you on your own journey of Jimmy Nelson's beautiful and impactful work. A journey into the world of indigenous communities. Raising awareness of the importance of a culturally diverse and healthy planet, learning about unique cultures and traditions, and how to live in harmony with nature.

Lama Lama crafted the platform to form a bridge between the on-and offline worlds: an exhibition-like digital environment. The content featured in the experience is a selection from the immense inventory of Jimmy’s work that was at the agency's disposal.

How it works

You can navigate with your phone as a mobile compass through the world’s last indigenous cultures - from Siberia and Mongolia to Peru and French Polynesia. Featuring a movement-triggered 3-dimensional navigation. On your journey you are guided by Jimmy himself.

Each community has its own chapter - capturing its culture in stories, music, photography, video and behind-the-scenes content. For each chapter, the agency created an illustrated card, inviting you to collect all and explore more.

Also, within each chapter you can seamlessly shop for art and books - benefitting the Jimmy Nelson foundation - through the integration of a headless shop. The product photography was custom-made to blend in with the platform’s look and feel.

Behind the scens: technologies used

Three.js is a JavaScript library for creating 3D graphics and animations in the browser. It provides a high-level API for working with 3D graphics, making it easier to create complex scenes and animations. With Three.js you can create everything from simple 3D models to complex interactive experiences.

WebGL is a graphics rendering technology that allows you to create 3D graphics in the browser using the computer's graphics card. It provides low-level access to the graphics hardware, making it possible to create highly optimized and performant graphics. WebGL is used by Three.js to render 3D graphics in the browser.

Tailwind is a utility-first CSS framework that provides a set of pre-defined classes that you can use to style your web pages. It makes it easier to create consistent and responsive designs, and it allows you to quickly prototype and build UI components.

GSAP (Green Sock Animation Platform) is a JavaScript animation library that provides a powerful set of tools for creating high-quality animations. It provides a timeline-based approach to animation, which makes it easy to create complex animations with multiple elements.

Behind the scenes: the team

Enthusiasm is contagious. Everyone at Lama Lama was excited to contribute to the project. During the production, they felt total freedom to ‘do what we think is best’ to showcase this incredible indigenous journey by Jimmy Nelson. Bringing their A-game: maximum effort, focus and commitment. The result: an impressive, unusual and beautiful interactive mobile experience, taking care of every detail.

Beautifully crafted experience, full of amazing content. Keeps you interested throughout.

~Dutch Digital Design curators

Awards

FWA Site of the Day
CSS Design Awards UI SOTY
CSS Design Awards SOTY Bronze
CSS Design Award SOTM
Awwwards Site of the Day
Awwwards SOTY nominee