Squeak Speak

My creative process starts with grounding an initial idea through having conversations with other people. Once defined, I sketch the concept and use photoshop to make a mockup.

To find inspiration, I go to museums, read research papers, search the internet, make idea boards, etc. In this case, I was inspired by the original mouse design by Douglas Engelbart at the Science Museum to design the 3D printed toy mice.

The mice were ideated to have rgb sensors underneath to calculate what position of the alphabet they were on by counting how many times it passed a color. Connected by reversible zippers, the rug allows special characters to be added for different language configurations.

After visiting the fabric library at Central Saint Martins, I chose felt as the main material and a plastic fabric for the letters. The contrast in texture was designed to make the tactile experience distinct and accessible for visually impaired children.

To create the alphabet ring, I printed it on paper at the desired size and used this as a stencil. Reversible zippers were used for the demonstration, while more affordable standard zippers were used for the rest.

I painted a watercolour map, scanned it, and printed it using a UV printer onto stiffened felt. This material allows the map to be easily changed.

Now it was time to sew everything together, with the help of my grandma, we both hand-sewed, and used the sewing machine.

The Arduino sketch was straightforward, controlling LED lights to illuminate the letters of the word being spelled. Afterward, I designed some packaging for demonstration purposes and filmed it with the wonderful Kate.