Smile Phone

One of my favorite things is to use public art to fix something that has been forgotten and has fallen into disarray. There was an ornate phone booth in the heart of downtown Granville, Ohio, but a phone hadn't been installed in it for over ten years. The booth had exposed wires and peeling paint. I had an idea of installing a phone back into the booth, but instead of it being a working payphone no one needs, it would be an interactive positive mood-boosting experience. After a lot of tinkering, recording, and sourcing an old pay phone from eBay, I created the "Smile Phone." It's powered by solar, and I used a Adafruit circuit board to program and control the various positive messages that play when the receiver is lifted off the cradle.

I sanded all the peeling black paint from the original booth and gave it my signature "happy" yellow facelift. The vintage blue color of the payphone contrasts great with the yellow, and I designed a custom logo/graphics to pull the entire project together perfectly.

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