The Placebo project is an experiment in taking conceptual design beyond the gallery into everyday life. We devised and made eight prototype objects to investigate peoples’ attitudes to and experiences of electromagnetic fields in the home, and placed them with volunteers. Made from 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.

Once electronic objects enter people’s homes, they develop private lives, or at least ones that are hidden from human vision. Occasionally we catch a glimpse of this life when objects interfere with each other, or malfunction. Many people believe that mobile phones heat up their ears, or feel their skin tingle when they sit near a TV, and almost everyone has heard stories of people picking up radio broadcasts in their fillings. We are not interested in whether these stories are true or scientific, we are interested in the narratives people develop to explain and relate to electronic technologies, especially the invisible electromagnetic waves their electronic objects emit.

The Placebo objects are designed to elicit stories about the secret life of electronic objects – both factual and imagined. Homes for the objects were found through a variety of means, including adverts in a London listings magazine, workshops at the Victoria & Albert museum, a window display in Selfridges department store on Oxford Street and an article in a national newspaper. Potential adopters filled out application forms detailing any unusual experiences with electronic products, their attitude to electromagnetic waves and their reasons for choosing a particular object. Once their allotted time with the adopted object was up, we interviewed the people taking part in the project and collaborated with a photographer to create images that pick up on and amplify details revealed during the interviews.

Designers cannot always solve problems, we cannot switch off the vast electromagnetic networks surrounding us. Although we cannot change reality, we can change people’s perception of it. Like a medical placebo, the objects in this project do not actually remove or counteract the cause for concern, but they can provide psychological comfort. The Placebo project is definitely not scientific: although aware of ethnographic and anthropological methodologies, we chose to adopt a more informal process in this case. We wanted to prove that people are more receptive to radical ideas than industry acknowledges, and to test our ideas about aesthetic meaning and electronic technology. We accept that the group of adopters was self-selecting. We also accept that they are probably exceptional people. But they are real people, and anything we discovered would be grounded in reality rather than fiction.

It is unlikely that any of the Placebo prototypes will make it into ‘reality’, at least not through the commercial marketplace. As one-offs, these products would be prohibitively expensive, and even if they were affordable, or mass-producible, their highly specific aesthetic function would mean they might only be useful for a limited period of time, like a book or video. We like the idea that these products would be available for rent, providing a service in the form of a reflective experience. Living with them for a while might encourage the borrower to think about their environment in a different way, especially in relation to electromagnetic fields.

This table reminds you that electronic objects extend beyond their visible limits. The 25 compasses set into its surface twitch and spin when objects like mobile phones or laptop computers are placed on it. The twitching needles can be interpreted as being either sinister or charming, depending on the viewer’s state of mind. When we designed the compass table, we wondered if a neat-freak might try to make all the needles line up, ignoring the architectural space of the room in favour of the Earth’s magnetic field.

An electric field sensor and antenna are mounted beneath the seat of the chair. When the chair is placed in an electromagnetic field, two nipples set into the back start to vibrate, and the sitter is made aware of the radio waves penetrating their torso. It is up to them whether they stay and enjoy the gentle buzz, or move to a ‘quieter’ spot. As fields can also flow up through the sitter’s body from electric wiring running underneath the floor, the chair has footrests so that you can isolate your feet from the ground. We like that it is slightly anthropomorphic; it’s as though you are sitting on its lap.

This object is a classic placebo. Though the draught excluder is made from conductive foam, it is not grounded, and therefore does not really absorb radiation. We were interested in whether or not it would make the owner feel more comfortable. If you are working near a TV, for example, you might place the object between you and the TV to create a sort of shadow - a comfort zone where you simply feel better.

This lead-clad box on top of a ladder is a place to store precious magnetic mementoes such as answerphone messages, audio cassettes or floppy discs away from potentially harmful electromagnetic fields. It is a loft for people who live in flats. This object signals to visitors that you have a special place for special items, but that it is out of bounds. Accessing the loft might become part of a ritual.

Some people who are hyper-sensitive to electricity drain excess electricity from their bodies to alleviate their symptoms. They wrap a piece of wire around their fingers which is connected to a plug that only has an earth pin. This literally grounds the person, by enabling electricity to flow from the body out into the system. This stool works in the same way: you plug it in and sit naked on a stainless steel plate in the seat. We are particularly interested where people will keep this object: in the bathroom? Bedroom? Sitting room? Is it a hygiene product, meditative piece or functional chair?

This table has a global positioning sensor inside it. It can only display its position in the world when it has a clear view of the satellites, the rest of the time it is lost and indicates this fact. The ideal owner will need a conservatory or large window, or a garden so that they can at least bring the table outdoors from time to time so it can connect with a satellite and fulfill its potential. We like the idea that people might feel a little cruel keeping it indoors.

This table is an attempt to domesticate the mobile telephone, whose synthetic and urgent squawk can be difficult to resist. On returning home, the phone is placed inside the table with its ringer switched off. Whenever the phone is called, the top of the table glows gently. The table suggests how electronic objects can use a more gentle language to capture our attention or mediate human contact. When it does glow, it is much easier to resist than a ringing phone. The phone table can be positioned behind the TV if a call is expected, or out of sight if you would prefer not to be disturbed.