DOTTI

What is it? This little square has an 8x8 grid of LEDs on it, which can be programmed from an app on your iPhone to show your own pixel art designs. Why do this? Because you assign these designs to different apps from your phone, and when you get notifications from these apps, DOTTI shows your custom picture! It connects over Bluetooth 4, so there’s no lengthy pairing or anything – you get a notification, and the DOTTI lights up. Easy! It also has a music mode, so it lights up to whatever you’re listening to, and you can send images to it to display your mood. Who can help us design a skull and crossbones in 64 pixels? When’s it due? Very soon. Why are we excited? Why wait for the Apple Watch as a way of seeing your notifications quickly when you can see them with pixel art? We can see the appeal of having a DOTTI on your desk – if you get a notification while working you can just glance up and choose whether to look or ignore it. And hey, designing pixel art is always good fun.