SCAN TO PLAY at Prototype Island, Milan Design Week 2026
Photo by Mark Cocksedge
SCAN TO PLAY
Barcodes facilitate so much of our physical-digital transactions. Yet, it is an often overlooked element within design; or a graphical nuisance that designers must contend with.
In SCAN TO PLAY, we stripped the barcode of its usual function by distorting it into a series of bite-sized playful experiences framed within everyday scenes. By doing so, we call to attention the ingenuity and elegance embodied by barcode systems, while questioning the future of this everyday technology and the potential it might hold for new meaningful interactions.
Clement Zheng
Yong Zhen Zhou
Showcases
BYOX, Singapore Design Week 2025
Prototype Island, Milan Design Week 2026
SCAN TO PLAY is built entirely on the web with each screen/game as a standalone p5.js sketch. An off-the-shelf optical (not laser) barcode scanner configured as a keyboard input device is used to play the game.