Ikea’s homemade fort instructions

No brand epitomises the idea of home better than Ikea. In the age of coronavirus, however, the home has quickly transformed. Once offering respite and the chance to switch off, the home is now our personal space and workplace in one. There is an upside: many parents now have more time to interact with their children throughout the working day. To re-capture some of the family magic associated with the home, Ikea have released instructions on how to build homemade forts for children. Using no more than pillows, pegs, books, fairy lights and a big blanket, children are now able to create an exciting range of play spots, including a castle and a cave. In the style of their trademark minimalist instructions manual, Ikea have designed a new way to keep children inspired during these strange and uncertain times.

BBC Asian Network’s resources

BBC Asian Network has created a series of videos in 7 South Asian languages; Sylheti, Punjabi, Gujarati, Hindi, Bengali, Sylheti and Urdu in an attempt to tackle the spread of fake news around Coronavirus. The videos, produced by video journalist Nalini Sivathasan, includes a number of presenters of South Asian descent including Reeta Chakrabarti, Mishal Husain and Sima Kotecha.

We know that coronavirus is affecting BAME communities disproportionately to the rest of society and the below video, released yesterday by the BBC, and spoken in a mixture of the 7 languages, sets out the resources available in South Asian languages. This includes videos created with British Asian doctors explaining what COVID-19 is, how the virus spreads and information on what people can do to protect themselves covering topics such as how to stay healthy in Ramadan under lockdown.

Forget the multiplex, Window flicks is bringing cinema to the housing complex

German Architect Olaf Karkhoff has launched ‘Window Flicks’, a service that he hopes will replicate the communal experience of the cinema in a time when it may never truly return as we once knew it. The project, based in Berlin, involves placing projectors within large housing complexes and using the architecture itself as the screen, allowing people to view the selected movie from their own apartments/buildings but sharing the same screen, something distinctly lacking with services such as Netflix Party. Anyone can apply for free to have the equipment installed within their community, with karkhoff doing all the leg work of setup as well as supplying independently made popcorn for any who sign up. With seven films on the roster, including Oscar winner ‘The Artist’, Karkhoff looks to expand the project in the hopes of driving donations that will help the German film industry, and has already had enquiries from other cities around Europe. “I don’t have any interest in money, and so I’m not really thinking about doing a business out of it,” Karkhoff says. “It’s a gift for our city.”

Say hello to Group, an eclectic new charity typeface

Put 37 designers, illustrators and lettering artists into a zoom call and what do you get?.... Group is a new eclectic typeface, a collaborative effort between designers from across the globe which not only looks fantastically wild but will also go some way to raise funds for the WHO during the coronavirus crisis. The projects was dreamt up by graphic designer Raissa Pardini, herself known for pushing the boundaries of typefaces and includes a wide range of contributors including Aaron Lowell Denton, Sophy Hollington, Gabriel Alcala, Bárbara Malagoli and Fisk Projects. The aim was to avoid “making a font inspired by a virus and just highlight the fact that we were working all together – that’s why it’s called Group”. As if the typeface wasn’t unique enough there are two versions of every letter of the alphabet, adding even further room for eclectism. Download it now and try it out today!