FLIP
FLIP is an origami inspired toy made to engage and entertain kids of all ages with a visual, tactile, and educational experience. A seemingly simple toy masks a sophisticated linkage of hinges which create a captivating endless loop to flip through.
I was awarded a notable project in the 2016 COLLAB For Kids Only student design competition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, placing in the top 30 entries and put on display on the second floor of the museum.
December 2016
KEY FEATURES
Sewing Pattern
This was my first venture into sewing and developing a plan and layout for FLIP proved to be a lot more convoluted than would appear from the simple toy. The hexagonal illustrations were spliced into six individual triangles (24 total), which were then rotated and paired together to form 12 diamonds. Each diamond has a counterpart which, when sewed together, create the six triangular pyramid elements of the toy.
Visual and Tactile Feedback
The primary feedback I received from the COLLAB judges was to experiment with scale and make the interaction easier for less dexterous kids. With this in mind, I created a second, larger version of the toy that snaps into place and lights up. I incorporated LEDs, and reed switches to sense which face is open and accordingly illuminate the leaves of the tree in the illustration. There are also magnets located in the corners of each faces that create an auto-aligning snap. The scale was increased to 16 inches in diameter making it a lap toy as opposed to something hand-held.
PROTOTYPING
© Julian Mickelson 2021