Members and friends of The Design Office designed 1-inch buttons — for sale in a gumball-style machine for 50¢ each. Designs range from left-leaning political commentary, to visual aphorisms and typographic pleasantries. Members were emailed and asked to design a button in less than two days. The prompt was the following: “A button is seen up close and on your person (or bag). How can you engage another human? How do you show you’re part of ‘a tribe’?
The Button machine
The buttons were designed in response to AIGA RI’s “See Us” call for submissions. The exhibition, held in the RISD GD Commons, made for an ideal site for a self-service device. We ordered Busy Beaver’s Button-o-Matic machine and placed the object within the show. Each buttons costs 50¢, the cost of each button (at the quantities ordered). The machine is currently site at New Harvest Coffee in downtown Providence.
Credits
Designs were contributed by Design OFfice members and collaborators: Lucinda Hitchcock, Michelle Bowers, John Caserta, Kristin Silva, Jay Marol, Sarah Rainwater, Benjamin Shaykin and Cyrus Highsmith. The Button-o-Matic is sold by Busy Beaver, Inc in Chicago. 50¢ vinyl symbol designed by John Caserta and cut by Graphic Innovations in Warwick.