The Placebo project

The Placebo project is an experiment in taking design research beyond an academic setting into everyday life. We devised eight prototype objects to investigate people’s attitudes to and experiences of electromagnetic fields in the home, and placed them with volunteers. Made from medium density fibreboard (MDF) and usually one other specialist material, the objects are purposely diagrammatic and vaguely familiar. They are open-ended enough to prompt stories but not so open as to bewilder.