MFA Design and Technology Students Joselyn McDonald and Nicole Messier need help to spread Blink Blink creative circuit kits far and wide! Learn more about their project below and check out their Kickstarter here!

Why did you make Blink Blink? We (Joselyn & Nicole) met in graduate school at Parsons while studying Design and Technology. While in school, we fell in love with all things code, wearable tech, and soft-circuits. Our passions aligned where tech and creativity intersected, and we saw other women having similar experiences. We both had the same thought, “Why didn’t we come across this earlier?” and “We need to get this in front of girls!” This inspired us to design an experience for young girls to explore making and crafting with technology and art. We have been developing Blink Blink for two years by hosting workshops with girls to get the kit and experience just right.

Nicole studied aerospace engineering, in class and the machine shop she experienced male dominated and unwelcoming environments. As a filmmaker and someone interested in creative technology, Joselyn had similar experiences. Only 11% of engineers are women. We want to change these sorts of STEM gender imbalances by providing fun entry points into technology and engineering – through creative circuits!

Research shows that girls can become disinterested in science as young as 8 years old. Mainstream culture, television, and marketing campaigns often portray science and engineering as fields where boys thrive. Blink Blink is here to show girls that science and engineering can be fun, and that they can make awesome projects that light up while learning basic circuit-building concepts!

What is Blink Blink? Blink Blink designs creative circuit kits that provide all the necessary materials to engineer arts, crafts and fashion projects embedded with circuits and simple electronics specifically focusing on young girls and their beautifully inspired and uninhibited creativity. For ages 8+.

What comes in a kit? The Blink Blink Creative Circuit Kits provide all the necessary tools to engineer your own arts, crafts, and fashion technology, specifically focusing on girls & their beautifully inspired and uninhibited creativity.

How do I get started? With our comprehensive blink blink Creative Circuit Booklet and website tutorials (videos and step-by-step instructions), we fully support girls through the creative circuit exploration process.

The blink blink circuit building teaches introductory circuit theory concepts – power, electricity, parallel circuits, series circuits, and more! The booklet also provides 4 tutorials on projects that cover how to use all of the materials in the kit. We designed this experience to be playful and exploratory. Girls can start building immediately and learn about circuits, engineering, and science along the way!

How can I get involved in teaching girls the fundamentals of making projects with creative circuits? Back our Kickstarter!