Puppets of propaganda or POPS for short is my final outcome for my major project at Edinburgh Napier university. The project stemmed from dissertation which looked at Guerrilla tactics in design. I undertook this project with the help of my final year atelier group leader Chris Hand.

Taking influence from such projects and groups mentioned on this blog such as Troika’s guerrilla projector, IAA, Tad Hirsch’s trip wire and after a lot of prototyping, testing, user research. I finally arrived at this final outcome which i am still constantly iterating.

The proposed is a Toy for children 6-11 years old which allows them to record a subversive message and play it back without being present…..

A project which looks at subverting the preconceived ideology of toys to promote anonymous audio freedom of speech. Aiming to challenge the social idea that children should be seen and not heard, the puppets act as a medium for social communication in the hope of provoking social commentary. The puppets work by allowing the child to record a message and communicate it anonymously when the inbuilt sensor is triggered.

The puppet has a microphone in the left hand ear and a  tactile switch in the right hand ear. The child records a message by holding in the record button and speaking into the puppets ear. The puppet then listens to the child and the message is saved onto the inbuilt Arduino board which is linked to a SPIKENZIELABS VOICE SHIELD (Pictured bellow)

The child then places the puppet in their desired environment to ensure it has the best effect and there message his heard. The puppet is then triggered by the inbuilt sensor when someone walks within a certain distance ( This is currently a variable which is being explored) by doing so the child’s desired message it replayed anonymously to the masses through the speaker in the face of puppet.

when designing the puppet i undertook a very iterative approach, Modelling and re – modelling over and over again until i was happy with the form of the puppet, This was after a lot of sketching and research. The shell of the puppet is currently produce via a CAD file which is printed of to form the solid shell using a 3D printer.

Soft versions of the puppets are currently being worked on and tested, producing soft ones will allow for the puppet to be hidden around the house, in amongst soft furnishings, cushions etc. Sort of like domestic camouflage.

The puppets were exhibited in me degree show – Napier creative showcase,  along with the rest of my fellow students work to great success and warm review.

I will Also be exhibiting at new designers 2009 from the 14th of July. New designers is one of the biggest design shows in Britain and a must see for anyone interested in the creative industries.

Feel free to visit me at www.rosscoffield.com or contact me at ross@rosscoffield.com.

all images copyright of Ross coffield 2009.