Eye Candy Can Ltd.

Offering a consumer product we would love to see in the shops

Eye Candy is one of our sensory substitution projects that have spanned over the years 2007 and 2008. Following a BBC segment on how blind people can see with the help of tongue displays, we took an interest in how this could affect the lives of sighted people. Our use of physical sketches has since left a trail of engaging prototypes (Eye Candy, Mind Chair Polyprop, the working Mind Chair). Some have been displayed in museums or bought by private collectors.

Our latest prototype has been part of the Eye Candy Can prototype range, which has been used as a viral marketing campaign to create awareness for this technology and possible consumer outcomes. Whereas the museum piece was a theatrical communication piece, here the focus was on the whole story, who bought Eye Candy, why, at which price and how the lollipop is to be consumed.

Eye Candy Can Ltd. represents the last phase of our project, where a spoof company was set up who offers the different flavoured Eye Candies available to order. As part of the campaign, blogs and magazines were involved in order to spread the word. Our aim for this project was not apparent from the start, though slowly the question of innovation in consumer products came up. As orders came in through the website we approached the maker of the technology and while it is unclear whether the product will be made, it proved that a bottom-up approach in product design and manufacturing is a definite possibility.

Between August 2008 and April 2009, 68,000 unique visitors from 15 different territories visited Eye Candy Can Ltd. and we received orders for altogether 100,000 Eye Candy lollipops, one of them from one of the UK’s major retailers. Eye Candy is based on available technology which makes the production of it an entirely realistic option.

Beta Tank loves to work and collaborate with many people and this project would have never been as good if it were not for the help and hard work of:

Joseph Malia, Paola Antonelli and Patricia Juncosa, Robert Beckman, Marcus Fairs, Kenneth Chung and Neil Usher

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