By Marty McGuire

1. Meet
the
BlinkyTape
Art
+
Open
Source
+
Shenzhen
+
Kickstarter
Marty
McGuire
Applica;ons
Developer,
Blinkiverse
June
26,
2013

2. Your
Storyteller
• “SoGware
Guy”
– 10+
years
of
soGware
– Academic
Research
labs
– 3D
Prin;ng
Startup
• “Hardware
Hacker”
– Joined
Hackerspace
movement
in
2009
• This
story
is
mostly
not
about
me

3. In
the
beginning…
was
NYC
Resistor
• NYC
Resistor
– “Hackerspace”
– Art
&
Tech
collec;ve
• Group
buy
of
a
few
thousand
dollars
of
LEDs
• Interac;ve
LED
installa;on
for
Burning
Man
2012

4. In
the
beginning…
was
DomeStar

5. Open
Source
Hardware
• Release
all
files!
– Hardware
designs
– Firmware
• Pros
• Leverage
exis;ng
designs
• Leverage
exis;ng
communi;es
• Cons
(?)
• Maybe
get
cloned

6. Arduino
• arduino.cc
– Cheap
(~$30)
electronics
prototyping
board
– Designed
for
students
– Free
programming
environment
– Huge
online
community

7. Processing
• processing.org
– Programming
environment
designed
for
ar;sts
and
students
– Built-­‐in
libraries
• Graphics
• Interac;vity
• Interop
with
Arduino!
– Huge
online
community

8. LEDs
are
Hard
• DomeStar
development
;me
spent
mostly
on:
– Power
distribu;on
– Network
architecture
– Enclosure
design
• Lifle
;me
leG
over
for
actual
LED
art!
• This
made
the
DomeStar
difficult
to
duplicate
– A
few
savvy
folks
reproduced
or
built
on
it
– Many
more
requested
an
out-­‐of-­‐the-­‐box
version

9. Along
came…
HAXLR8R

10. Along
came…
HAXLR8R
• Hardware
+
Accelerator
=
HAXLR8R
• 4
month
program
in
Shenzhen,
China
• $25,000
seed
money
• Office/Prototyping
Space
– Located
in
the
Hua
Qiang
Bei
electronics
district
• Mentors,
Factory
Tours
• Na;ve
Administra;ve
Assistance

11. The
Heart
of
the
Electronics
District

12. Making
LEDs
Easier-­‐
BlinkyBoard
• Pros
– Arduino-­‐compa;ble
– Cheap
to
manufacture
• Cons
– Not
cheap
enough
– Exper;se
required
– Must
bring
your
own
LEDs
– Must
solve
your
own
power
problems
– Must
solve
your
own
enclosure
problems

13. Making
LEDs
Awesome
-­‐
BlinkyTape
• BlinkyBoard
+
1m
LED
strip
+
silicone
tubing
• Pros
– Usable
out
of
the
box
– Power
and
programming
over
single
USB
connec;on
• Cons
– Fixed
number
of
LEDs
– Not
chainable

14. • hfp://www.kickstarter.com/
• Let
the
crowd
fund
your
project
• Backers
give
money
in
exchange
for
rewards
• Failure
only
costs
;me
and
a
prototype
• Success
means
many
things:
• Passionate
community
of
backers
• Demonstrated
demand

15. • Limita;ons/Risks
of
Kickstarter
• One
reward
per
backer
(no
distrib.
deals)
• 10%
cut
to
Kickstarter,
payment
processing
• Once
you
succeed,
you’re
on
the
hook!
• You
will
have
to
eat
unforeseen
expenses
• Most
hardware
projects
run
late
and
over-­‐budget
• Plan
accordingly!

16. • What
you
need
• A
working
prototype
• Excellent
manufacturing
cos;ng
es;mates
• Quotes
in
hand
for
100,
500,
1000+
qty
• Reward
levels
(more
than
just
the
product)
• Tons
of
applica;ons
for
your
product
• A
story
• An
awesome
video

17. hfp://kck.st/17m3Rwq

18. • Our
Campaign
Strategy
• Release
new
content
(demos)
every
week
• Minimal
Marke;ng
• Social
-­‐
friends
and
friends-­‐of-­‐friends
• Kickstarter
internal
-­‐
Being
featured
is
key!
• Respond
quickly
to
ques;ons/feedback
• Your
Mileage
May
(Will)
Vary!

20. What’s
Next?
• Working
with
distributors
• Manufacturing
• Itera;ng
on
soGware/applica;ons
• Keeping
backers
in-­‐the-­‐loop
• Delivering
on
;me!

21. Thanks!
• More
about
BlinkyTape
– Twifer:
@BlinkyTape
– hfp://blinkytape.com/
• More
about
HAXLR8R
– hfp://haxlr8r.com/
• More
about
Marty
– Twifer:
@schmarty
– hfp://crea;ngwithcode.com/

22. Photo
Credits
• DomeStar
at
Burning
Man
2012
– hfp://www.flickr.com/photos/52076395@N00/7974621586/
• DomeStar
Strips
– hfp://www.jplt.com/domestar-­‐gallery/dome-­‐strips.jpg
• HAXLR8R
Photo
– hfp://www.flickr.com/photos/worldworldworld/8454484674/
• Hua
Qiang
Bei
Photos
– hfp://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/3299326319/
– hfp://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/3300154884/
– hfp://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/3300182910/
– hfp://www.flickr.com/photos/oskay/3300168364/
• Open
Source
Hardware
gEDA
images
– hfp://www.evilmadscien;st.com/2011/the-­‐open-­‐source-­‐hardware-­‐logo/
• Arduino
– hfp://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno