Flip

Prototype for a pop-up book stand using in depth mechanics, minimal electronics and plenty of iteration.

This project came from my work within a design collective under the name Stori, you can find that original project here.

Flip is a light box designed to hold a pop-up book. These books are interchangeable meaning that you could swap out a children's storybook with a book designed to be a minimalistic lampshade.

The mechanics of the device move the pages forward and backwards on a programable timer or allow for the connection of Bluetooth. It can be mounted up on a wall or used as a centrepiece on a table surface.

With this design, the main base itself would be controlled and marketed by one company and the right to produce the books would be licensed out for a small amount to encourage creators to produce content for the system. This in turn encourages purchases of the main device so that the pop-ups can be displayed as intended. With a creator community base, there would be more people supporting the brand and therefore a larger amount of exposure to bring in sales for the base product.

Regarding the actual prototype itself, The aim was to create a product that could be produced with minimal electronic parts to make production as cost-effective as possible. This resulted in an intricate internal mechanism to make sure that the display of the pop-up books was not interrupted. This ended up requiring multiple iterations of the design as a whole with some parts needing up to 30 different changes in the end.

These components functioned well on their own but there were issues with friction and tolerances caused by the process of 3D printing that meant this prototype would only be a proof of concept. However, the design and iteration behind the final result was still very satisfying. This was not the first time I had played around with mechanised pop-ups and I doubt it would be my last.

Click here to view an internal concept PDF that was presented to the other designers of Stori.

Click here to view an in-depth log book of the development and prototyping of this project.

Click here to see the technical drawings of the final outcome.