Modern Piggy Bank Begs for Attention, Chomps Credit Cards

Now that plastic money has more or less replaced paper and metal money, our poor little piggy banks are starving to death. Deciding it’s time for our rainy-day funds to catch up with modern technology, Wang Chao, Maggie Kuo and Jordi Parra designed this slightly needy piggy bank.

Rather than just sitting on the shelf and waiting for you to give it a spare nickel or two, this piggy bank lets you know when it is hungry and begs you to “feed” it with your credit card. You insert the card into its mouth and it takes a random amount from your credit or debit card, then drops the money into a separate savings account.

Built over the course of just two and a half days, this prototype is a clever way to remind users to save. It is more like a pet than a bank, demanding attention when it gets hungry or senses that someone is in the room. The adorable anthropomorphized bank goes from sad (when hungry) to happy (when fed) to sleepy (after a meal), rewarding its owner with some tangible feedback for his or her efforts.

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See more in Industrial Design or under Technology. March, 2011.