Pockit
This project considered ways to disrupt by imagining technological futures that are open, transparent and empowering. It builds on ideas about ‘open source’ design; guiding people to make and modify their own technologies as a means to revive democracy with citizens who are informed and actively engaged in creating their technological futures. We worked alongside the Interaction Research Studio, an entity within Goldsmiths that explores design-led research methods. They design products to create situations that encourage playfulness, exploration and insight.
The full breadth of the project can be viewed here.
We sought out to explore how pickpocketing could be tackled through DIY. By examining pickpocketing we were able to identify how the pickpocketing occurred and explored ways to draw attention to the theft at play.
We formed a fictional service; Pockit provides DIY kits aimed at tourist’s ambivalent to pickpocketing in big cities. Through these kits we aim to call out the pickpockets, drawing attention to their actions through sound, material and confetti.
With five kits available for purchase, kits such as the The Buzz off, SeeSee TV, Si-ring and Fan-tastic are made from simple circuits. While Meshit Up and Contact-less are manual, using household products.
Instructions for the kits are available to access online through the Pockit website. The products needed to construct the kits are available at local hardware stores, Poundland, grocery stores or via Amazon.
The project was of particular importance to me as it got me to think about design as open access and elements needed to make it as accessible as possible. Communication was key to ensuring clear instructions are given to make the products possible. This project helped to understand the integration of product and service design, as well as understand more technical aspects such as making circuits.
The next steps for the project would have been to explore root causes of pickpocketing and the frame of mind of people who have been pick-pocketed.