Herbarium App

An interactive app to aid learning at this historic botanical institution in Tulse Hill, South London.

Botanist and political reformer Allan Octavian Hume established the South London Botanical Institute in 1910 when he bought a large house in Tulse Hill to store his natural history collection of British plants. NewAngle developed a visitor app providing context to the institute and information on Hume’s herbarium.

Users can choose from three options: ‘history’ to learn about SLBI’s origins; ‘explore’ to see more about botanical specimens from the collection; and ‘make’, in which visitors can construct their own digital specimen sheet by pressing a poppy.

The app was developed for a broad audience, from botanical enthusiasts to primary-school groups. It is designed to integrate sensitively within the historic setting whilst bringing the benefits of interactive technology to the space.