‘define and inquire’
in this project, we were to create a toy that shows the conversion of energy or the transfer from one type of energy to another. The design should be aimed for a specific group of audience and serve its own purpose. When thinking of energy conversion, a lamp is the first thing that came into my mind, it is the most common seen and useful design to demonstrate the science concept of energy conversion. Additionally, the lamp will serve its purpose in solving one of my problems. when I sleep alone in my bedroom, I am usually afraid of the dark, but it would be too bright in my room if I turned on the big lights on my ceiling. Therefore, a small ambience light (mood light) that can sit on my bedside cabinet would be a great alternative than the big bright ceiling lights. It not only serves its purpose of producing soft lighting for the dark but will also be for decoration and enhance the room environment and make it more aesthetically pleasingly.
problem: the fear of a completely dark environment at night and that the regular lights in the room are too bright for sleep.
targeted audience/user/beneficiary: people, especially young kids, who is afraid of the complete dark environment in their bedroom at night; and for people who is attracted to or pursues an aesthetic and pretty bedroom environment.
success criteria:
- light is soft and dim
- portable
- small
- aesthetically pleasing
- environmental friendly
- fairly easy design to construct
- able to be finished within 5 class period
constraints:
- type of material
- limited time (5 class periods)
with all in mind, my partner and I decided to make a lamp to show energy conversion. The energy conversion demonstrated in a lamp is from chemical energy to ‘electrical energy’, and electrical energy to light energy (the desirable form) and heat energy (the undesirable form).
keeping in mind the two minimum requirements of my design, dim light and aesthetically pleasing, i started to search for precedents and evaluating them by my success criteria.
idea1: use led lights instead of regular bigger light bulbs.
my first idea is inspired by the precedence below. these are photos of a mood light in one’s room for decoration purposes. i really liked how they had led strips around them to make the light soft and not as bright as the lights coming from the bigger light bulbs. another aspect that drew my attention was the irregular shape of the glass to make it unique and aesthetically pleasing; however, considering the skill and time required to build a such shape, it is not really realistic for me to make such a shape within five class periods. one thing i didn’t like about this lamp is the size of it: it is a little bit too big for my design purpose.
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idea2: use acrylic glass for the outside container and put the led lights inside it.
my second idea is inspired by precedent #2, the ‘moon-shaped’ room light. i really liked the design of this lamp. without showing the led lights, it would hinder any possible wires from being seen, which will greatly improve is aesthetics. additionally, a outside container would prevent the light of LEDs from directly going into our vision, which makes the light produced dimmer and softer. luckily, there was material of glass (acrylic glass) that i was able to use, so that became my second idea. nevertheless, the color of the light produced by the precedence is not the color i wish my lamp would produce. the color is a bit too ‘cold’ and i want the color to be warmer, creating a more comfortable environment.
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idea3: warm (white-yellowish) light
my third idea is inspired my multiple designs, the two pictures below are two of them. what really attracted me for the two designs below is their color of the light. personally, i prefer warmer colors than cooler colors not only because it makes me more comfortable and relaxed, but it also helps me sleep instead of keeping me awake. those cool color lights offers a vibe of distant and cold, which is not desirable for a sleeping environment. however, these two designs below are both too complicated to be constructed within five classes and both requires specific materials that my school might not have.
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idea4: square acrylic box as a container + a wood base
by coming up with the fourth idea, i was able to picture my complete design outcome in my head, and i got inspiration from the precedent below. this precedent is the one i liked the most, and the one i got most inspirations from. i like the ‘minimalistic’ style of the lamp, there is no complicated patterns for shapes for the container, making it easy to make. moreover, the wood base enhances the overall aesthetic, making it ‘clean’ and comfortable. i’ve taken the square glass box idea from the precedent and applied it to my design so that i can make my success criteria: “easy to construct” real. on the other hand, the light produced from this lamp didn’t quite attract me. though it is pretty and aesthetic, it is a big too bright and too ‘sumptuous’.
idea5: bubble wrap on outside covering the container
this idea is where the ‘original’ aspect of my design comes from. i wanted to make my design as ‘environmental-friendly’ as possible, so i’ve decided to use the recycled bubble wrap to decorate it, and to reuse materials.
my ideas:
1. led lights instead of regular bigger light bulbs.
this idea fits into the ‘environmental friendly’, ‘soft and dim’, and ‘aesthetically pleasingly’ criteria. since smaller led lights requires much less energy than the regular big light bulbs, which saves a lot of energy. also, smaller lights are more delicate and better looking than ones that are big and is mundane.
2. acrylic glass for the outside container and put the led lights inside it.
this idea fits into the ‘aesthetically pleasingly’ criteria. acrylic material is better looking than plastic or wood materials for a bedroom decoration/lamp. it is also more ‘minimalistic’ than the others, which is a style i really like.
3. warm (white-yellowish) light
this idea fits into the ‘soft and dim’ criteria. yellowish lights can be much less ‘aggressive’ than cold colored lights, which serves the purpose of accompanying someone to sleep.
4. square acrylic box as a container
this idea is ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘easy to construct’. it is eco-friendly because acrylic sheets are synthetic, so it is easy to reuse and recycle, they can be easily made into other things once my lamp isn’t necessary anymore. a plain square box doesn’t require a lot of designing and cutting, which fits into the criteria of ‘a fairly easy design to construct’. however, a simple design like this might not be as pretty as the other ones where there’s intricate and detailed designs.
5. wood base
this idea is also ‘eco-friendly’ since wood material is renewable, meaning that it has a much smaller impact on the environment, and it is more environmental friendly than other materials such as steel..
6. bubble wrap on the outside of the container
this idea is also created to be ‘eco-friendly’ since there are abundant recycled bubble wrap sheets around school and by using them, it could be a way to reuse materials. however, by putting bubble wrap around the container, it might not look as aesthetically pleasing than without bubble wraps.