Failing is an essential part of design, or in fact any form of evolution.

In product design failure is utilised as early as possible into the design process to find issues, technical limitations and also to force the designer to design for the real world, a world where plastics aren’t evenly extruded, your Arduino is strangely triggered by someone switching on a lamp (true story) and your windows computer BSOD’s when you insert a USB drive.

In order to understand as how materials work out-with data sheets one needs to get their hands dirty.

Meet BareConductive Paint (or ink).

From the Bare Conductive Website:

Bare Paint is the first non-toxic electrically conductive paint available to consumers today. This unique child-friendly material is designed for people of all ages to explore and learn about electronics with an inclusive, easy-to-use material.

Bare Paint provides a dramatically different method of interacting with electronics as it can be applied to almost any surface, including cardboard, paper, wood, wallpaper, walls, textiles, and some plastics.

Bare paint can be used to replace conventional acid etching, making it a great electronics prototyping tool. Nontoxic and water-soluble, Bare Paint can be used without gloves or mask. The paint dries quickly at room temperature, and can be removed with soap and water.

Application Methods Include: painting, screen printing & spray painting among others.

I’m certainly looking forward to having a good play!