In my final semester of graduate school, I took a Product Design Workshop sponsored by Motorola. The project focused on exploring the behaviors, needs and wants of "tweens" – a relatively new term for pre-teen children.

Thanks to the kind parents in the greater Institute of Design community, I had the opportunity to interview, talk with, and observe tweens and their interests at the time. To say the least: it was mind-blowing. One child in particular, Eric, was not only a massive consumer of media and entertainment, but he was also the creator (and seller) of his own entertainment. He made Flash animation videos with his friends then sold the characters that he and his friends developed as stickers in their school.

It was pretty clear that kids like Eric were interested in much more than simply consuming content. They wanted to make their own content. They just needed more tools and platforms to just that.

I designed this interactive device to allow kids to not only consume but also produce their own stories. Not only that but I envisioned a platform with a shared device where kids could pool together their ideas and build stories together on a larger pooled screen.

The concept (along with several others in the classroom) was introduced to Motorola's design team at the end of the semester.