Project Unicorn
Project Unicorn started something special.
When Jordan came up with the idea of a prosthetic arm that shoots glitter, she had no idea what kind of joy she had created.
How it started
Project Unicorn evolved from a BOOST workshop in January 2016. After the five-day event, Jordan continued to work on her prototype with a professional designer, who became her partner on the project. She met with Sam Hobish every week over video chat to continue advancing the Project Unicorn design. Her collaboration was noted in a FastCompany article and it started years of interest in her joyful project. The video included in that article went viral and has almost 100,000 views. (Which was a lot of views back in 2016.)
Sharing the joy
Jordan and Sam continued to work on new versions of her design. The big addition? Compressed air. She had a chance to show this version at Maker Faire Bay Area, and it launched Jordan into a long stream of public speaking opportunities. She presented her invention to a Maker Health event through the U.S. Department Health and Human Services’s participation in National Maker Week. Jordan presented to schools, scout troops and eventually showed off her designs at two different TEDx events: TEDxCoMo and TEDxBlueSlidePark. (The second was featured on ted.com.)
Going big on The Rachael Ray Show
Jordan’s next version of Project Unicorn was on display during an episode of The Rachael Ray Show. Jordan and other inventive kids had a chance to show off their concepts to members of the Shark Tank show. Afterward, Jordan got to stay in touch touch with Mark Cuban who encouraged her to keep working hard.
Spreading joy everywhere
The final version of Project Unicorn remains on display at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry as part of the Wired to Wear exhibit until 2027. It was also featured during Toronto’s EDIT: Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology in 2018 and for a short time in the traveling Design Museum. It was also included in an exhibit in Munich’s Deutsches Museum.
Her positive experiences with spreading joy and disability awareness through a fun design helped her launch a nonprofit with her mom, Design With Us. They also wrote a book, Born Just Right, that shares this experience and other thoughts on changing the world.
Jordan showed off iterations of the design on NBC Nightly News, The TODAY Show, the AIGA National Conference, SXSW, and in backyards, parks, and streets of many different towns and cities. She’s not allowed to fire it indoors or near her dogs. Her organization, Design With Us, has a partnership with Bioglitz and only shares her glitter joy in biodegradable form.
Huge thanks to Design With Us partner ColorFabb for supporting Project Unicorn through beautiful donated filament.
“Believe in yourself even when times get hard. Be confident in your personality no matter how annoying the stares may get … You can do amazing things. Don't let anyone hold you back.”
— Jordan Reeves