last updated---2022.5

MINI TELEGRAPH PROJECT
a small device that makes phone messages tangible

*work in progress

As a part of me trying to get better at Arduino and making things in general, I designed this mini project where I make a small “telegraph” that prints out messages sent from the phone using bluetooth.

Although digital messages has made it so much easier for me to communicate with my loved ones, I’ve always found handwritten notes or cards the best gifts I could ever receive. There’s just something different with the tangibility and the personalization that makes these notes one of the best forms of expressing love. Thus I thought this telegraph project will be a good way for me to explore how to bring more tangibility and personalizations in everyday messages between loved ones.


Tools
Adobe Illustrator
Laser cutting
Arduino Nano
Bluetooth module
Servo motor
Stepper motor
Solenoid
and others


Part I: tangibility
This part involves me creating the physical object. I followed instructions from here except adapting it to the Arduino Nano.




What it currently looks like. Now I just need to fit all these wires inside that box to make it look pretty :)


Part II: personalization
Next, for the second part of this project, I hope to achieve the “personalized” part of what I think is very special about handwritten notes. Although it’s impossible to have the notes all handwritten, I’m hoping to design personalized fonts that belong to each individual, so that the message still feels personalized. Please check back here in a few weeks to see my progress!