flip forward is a project to to make the magic of split flap displays accessible – and it’s also a side project that got out of control.
This journey started a few years ago, when I had this idea of building a split flap display. I’ve built a lot of displays since then. And learned even more.
As of February 2026, there’s basically three things I’m working on: A hardware display concept that’s high quality, but still affordable and scalable. A virtual split flap display that you can use for whatever content you want to display – and a YouTube channel to share some of the learnings. All of those items put me outside my comfort zone, but I once read that this is where learning happens.
The Physical Display
This was probably the hardest part – learning how to build, and then building, a real, hardware thing. And then making that thing scalable. And then making the scalable thing non-messy. And then making the non-messy thing not burn down a house (a good goal overall).
Right now, the hardware and electronics design for a single display module and a whole installation is complete, and I’ve got multiple displays running. The biggest open topic is to date the manufacturing of the flaps themselves – None of the vendors I worked with so far were able to deliver exactly what was needed. This is the only missing element.
The Virtual Display
At play.flipforward.de you can create and configure virtual split flap displays. That was a fun weekend project, but it’s also the platform that will be used to configure the hardware displays – it’s a great testbed for playing with ideas regarding content.
YouTube
I’ve started documenting this journey on a YouTube Channel – this is still somewhat scary for me, but I’m trying to keep at it.