Created for submission to the TEI Student Design Challenge. Students were asked to use a concept of a gadget or artefact that is in a science fiction novel and try to bring it to life.

We took inspiration from the science fiction book ‘Vermillion Sands’ written by J.G Ballard where he writes about singing plants. We wanted to reimagine this as a product that could be used in an everyday context. The concept is that a household plant could be used to relay news headlines once it was watered by the user. The user would select the website they wanted to hear the content from and this request would be received by a bluetooth receiver inserted into the pot. A water sensor also in the pot would react when in contact with water and prompt the website content to be relayed through a speaker to the user by way of a text reader voice. To stop the user from over-watering the plant, we placed LED’s on the pot to inform them on whether the plant can be watered or not. A bang sensor inside the pot allows the user to stop the headlines by tapping the pot. These plants could implemented in a variety of settings. They could also be tailored to relay any type of information or even music. The ritual of the plant being watered would be intertwined with the user getting their daily news fix.

Created by Brendan Flaherty & Paul Savage