Mobile web · In-store AR · Retail · 2026
Mofusand × Selfridges
Scan the mirror. Try on a cat. Keep the photo.
A commissioned build for Creators & Makers, the retail fit-out agency behind the Mofusand stand in Selfridges London. Shoppers scan a QR code on the stand's mirror and the page puts a Mofusand costume hood on them, live in the browser. Nothing to install, no sign-up, and the photo never leaves their phone. It went live in store on the date that was fixed at the start.
Creators & Makers built the physical Mofusand stand in Selfridges and needed the digital part to go with it: something a shopper could scan in passing, use in under a minute and leave with a branded photo of themselves. The constraints were tight. It had to open fast on crowded shop-floor wifi, work on whatever phone the shopper happened to own, and meet the brand rules of SpiralCute, the Japanese licensor behind Mofusand, whose approvals travel to Japan and back. The install date could not move. We built a mobile web app that runs Snap Camera Kit for live face-tracked costumes, with our own MediaPipe compositor underneath it so an older phone or a vendor outage still gets the camera, themed frames and a branded photo instead of a blank screen. Shoppers pick from ten costume hoods, and two people can wear them at once. They take a photo or a five-second video and share it straight from the phone's own share sheet. There are themed photo-booth frames, free phone and watch wallpapers, and an "Explore the range" gallery of the plush on the shelf that links through to Selfridges. The interface is in ten languages, which matters on Oxford Street. Privacy was designed in from the start. There is no upload endpoint, no database and no accounts. Every photo and video is composed on the phone and handed to the phone. Error reports are scrubbed of anything personal before they leave the device. It is now on our monthly hosting, maintenance and security plan.
What we built
Scan, and it opens
The QR code on the mirror opens a page, not an app store. The first screen is about 70 KB compressed, inside a 150 KB budget that the build enforces, so a bigger page simply cannot be deployed. The heavy AR code loads in the background once the page is idle, so it never slows down the first screen and is ready by the time the shopper taps.
Live costumes, two at a time
Ten Mofusand costume hoods, face-tracked by Snap Camera Kit and preloaded in the background so switching between them is instant. Two shoppers can wear costumes in the same shot.
Works on the phone they have
Each phone is graded once when the page loads. Recent phones get full live AR, mid-range ones get a lighter version, and older ones fall back to our own camera mode with themed photo-booth frames. A Lite mode lets anyone on a hot phone trade detail for speed. Nobody sees a "device not supported" screen.
Photos that stay on the phone
Photos and five-second videos are composed on the device with the brand frame and licensor credit, then handed to the phone's own share sheet or saved. There is no upload path in the code, so a shopper's photo has nowhere to go except their own phone.
Ready for how people actually scan
A QR scanned inside Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok opens in a browser that often cannot use the camera. The app spots this before asking for the camera, tested against sixteen real browser signatures, and offers a one-tap way out to the phone's real browser.
Frames, wallpapers and the range
Themed photo-booth frames, free phone and watch wallpapers with no sign-up, and an "Explore the range" carousel of the plush on the stand that links to the Mofusand listings on Selfridges. In ten languages.
How we ran it
Built to a fixed date
The install date was set before the work started and could not move. We published a dated plan with every dependency on both sides, and kept a buffer week for Snap's review of the filters. When decisions from the brand side ran late, we told the client in writing what it would cost in days and offered a way to protect the launch. It launched on the day.
Working within the licensor's rules
Mofusand characters are licensed from SpiralCute in Japan, with exact PANTONE colours and drawing rules for every character. We wrote those rules down before drawing anything, kept the licensor's confidential artwork out of the code repository, and put every character in one registry, so the brand side can have any costume switched off with a one-line change.
Quick turnaround on feedback
Feedback from the brand and the client came through the agency in rounds: new copy, an "Explore the range" section, a Selfridges link, a costume restyle. Each round was turned around within days, on a preview link the client could open on their own phone.
Looked after once it went live
There is one command to roll back a bad release, and we rehearsed it against the preview before launch. Errors on shoppers' phones are reported to us with personal details removed first. The app is on our hosting, maintenance and security plan, so it stays patched for the life of the activation.
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