Define and Inquire

This engineering task revolves around designing and making a product that converts energy aimed at a specific client. Since the end product will be taken home by me, I decided that the “problem” to be solved for this design would be particular to myself and those who require the same “solution.”

I share a bedroom with someone who has a different sleep schedule than me. This poses a problem as my bedroom’s lights are all incredibly luminous: having the light on wakes up my roommate, but if I turn them off, it’s exhausting to my eyes (as I would be staying up working in front of a device in the dark). Hence, I had the idea of making a lamp for my project as it fits the requirement of turning electric energy into light energy. This lamp will not only be specific to clients with such conditions as mine, but the product serves to produce a small light source and to decorate (rooms with a minimalistic, bohemian style like my own).

Knowing that I wanted to make a night lamp, I began surfing for designs on the web, keeping in mind the four criteria of a lamp design I wanted to meet:

Aesthetic:

One of the intents of this design is to decorate. Aesthetics is a vital aspect of the plan. Looking at the photos below, my room is a mix of a vintage, minimalistic, and bohemian aesthetic. Therefore, the lamp would have to match such moods.

Doability:

With a five day limit to this engineering task, the lamp shouldn’t require much effort to finish, especially since the engineer is a fourteen-year-old with no arts and crafts skills.

“EcoFriendly”:

I am making a lamp so the product will not be releasing much waste or pollution when functioning. However, the lamp must operate on LED instead of the typical light bulb. This is as LEDs use “much less energy than incandescent bulbs because diode light is much more efficient, power-wise, than filament light.” Essentially, using LEDs would save a lot more energy. I also want to make sure my lamp would be made primarily of recycled material.

Portability:

The outlets near my desk are all in use; hence,  the lamp I make must be portable.

 

Here are some designs I found and wanted to consider:

#1

I like how this design seems easy and doable and the effects of the light shining through the holes. It also meets my criteria for portability because there isn’t much need for a wire to connect the light. It’s also easy for me to change the lampshade material to a recycled material such as cardboard or an old cereal box or change the lights to LED.

However, I’m concerned about the aspect of hiding the battery pack. Also, when the lights are off, the lamp might look out of place, and a bit childish, primarily if I use recycled material as the shade and the stars aren’t cut out perfectly. Additionally, the vibe of my room is more vintage and rustic bohemian, and I feel like having something so geometric and perhaps childish if not executed correctly would be unfitting. Therefore, in terms of aesthetics, I would say this does not pass as it does not fit the vibe, but if I want to meet my criteria for being eco-friendly, it will look silly. Overall, I would say this design is unsuitable as I could easily find another plan with the same or better effects of this lamp which wouldn’t have as many cons.

#2

Keeping in mind the pros and cons of the first design, I went to find the following design idea. I saw this lamp and thought it was doable and looked cool like the first one. However, this design fits the vibe of my room while being eco-friendly since it’s a recycled bottle that gives it a rustic look. However, looking at the design, you would have to use a wired plugin to power the lamp, and I want to use batteries and LEDs. The lamp would lose its aesthetic of the wire going through the transparent bottle if I switched to LEDs. Also, I think without a light bulb, the lamp would look a bit weird, seeing as it’s a typical lampshade with an “unusual” LED strip lighting instead of a “classical” light bulb. Overall, I think this design meets the criteria for eco-friendliness and aesthetics better than the first plan. It also is doable over a five-class period. The only con is that it’s not portable; however, I like this design the best.

#3

Then, I ran into the third design Idea, the hanging string light. It’s doable– I’ve found many youtube tutorials on this. The bohemian-ness of the strings matches my room for a rustic look, especially since my bedside tray is also stringy/ woven/basket-y  (look above in the aesthetic section). I feel like this design would look cohesive to my room. Also, I think that having an LED strip instead of a lightbulb would not look outlandish but aesthetic in this design, seeing as the lampshade is quite unusual/ not classic, so the lighting unit wouldn’t look weird if it weren’t a “classical” light bulb. I also think I could easily hide the battery unit to make it look good and meet my criteria for being portable. So, this lamp ticked all my aesthetic, eco-friendliness, doability, and portability boxes. However, I want to put this in my room, and I think hanging it on the roof would pose some difficulties seeing as I would have an irrational fear of the lamp falling down because I would be the one attaching it on the roof, not a professional. However, I really liked the looks, and it checked all my boxes, so I decided to, with this idea, however, adjust the attachment of the lamp to one that would stand up and not hang.