Light

Introduction

For this project we are going to make a light stand. First we are asked to go around the campus to shoot pictures of different lights and think about their functions. Then we are provided a cord and a light bulb to make a paper light for certain contest. I am assigned to the “support reading in bed” group.

Some beginning thoughts

The bulb we get is a 400 brightness LED that is yellow toned. This bulb fits my task because it is not too bright while the yellow light gives a coziness and does not hurt eyes.

At first I sketched some very basic shapes of the light stand to go with my task. Because my context is “reading in bed”, I think the light should look simple so it does not distract people’s attention from the book. Also the light has to be bright enough so that people can read with this light. So Here is the two beginner prototypes I made. Since they are the try outs I didn’t do a good job with the details of the light. One light is a normal cylinder light that is placed on the table. The other one is designed to go onto the wall and the shape of this light looks like a light bulb.

What I find after the first design

Apparently the cylinder light I built was way too simple and not aesthetic enough while there is no interaction with the light. The other light didn’t do a good job either. The yellow tape I used for the lights also distract people’s attention from the light.

Second tryout

With the experience I got with the first two prototypes, now I know better about the paper material and the structure of the cord and bulb. After sketched some more models, I decided to focus my attention to interaction because I want to keep the shape of the light simple. Then I come to this idea of turning the direction of the light. What if there are two person reading in the bed, like a couple or a mother and the child, instead of just one person? I come to this idea of a triangular shaped light that each layer can be turned freely horizontally so that the direction of the light and the level of light can be adjusted. When one person wants to go to sleep, simply turn the light to a different direction will do. Because I need to make the sides to beam different levels of light, I bought tracing paper from the store. I also bought some white paper tape with the tracing paper to go with my project.

Before actually making the light, I wanted to test if my thought works. So I made two tiny triangular shaped cylinders and some ball shaped thing to go into the middle of the two to connect them. Apparently it worked. So I started to make this light.

The difficulty I faced with this light is that I can only make one layer that turns freely. More layers means there is a central cord needed to let all the layers stay in the same axis. Also the friction between layers can make the turning of the light hard, because when I turn the direction of one layer the other layers can turn with this layer which I don’t want to happen. Anyway with the doubts about if this would really work, I started with making one single layer that turns.

Before making this light happen I was hoping that both the top and bottom layer would have the same level of brightness so that you can adjust the light to be 50% bright and 100% bright. But apparently the way I placed the light makes the bottom layer almost does not receive light. The only layer that beams light is the top layer. The good thing about this light is that the top layer does move [almost] freely and it is fun to play with.

Some comments I received with this light

Here I received professors’ and TAs’ comments about this light.

1. The shape of the light is too sharp to be placed into a bedroom.
2. The position of the light is a bit uncomfortable: if placed in the middle of the bed, it has the potential to be knocked down and cause some dangerous situations.
3. The thought on two person reading in bed is good.
4. The size of the light is a bit big.
5. Work towards to make the tapes unseen or at least more comfortable to look at.

Third attempt

Before sketching the third light, professor has taught us some ways to think about our light before designing the light. It is a bar chart that emphasis the direction of the light we are looking at. For my light, I choose to emphasis on these directions:

And now I start to sketch the third attempt I want to try on. I am keeping the spinning technique that was successful in my second attempt, and now I am just focusing on changing the shape of the light to make it more comfortable to be looked at. Cylinder shape I think is the least harmful shape to be looked at, so I changed rest of my design to a shape that is similar to a cylinder. Also because there is the bottom layer that serves to support the light and the top layer to light up the room, I made the bottom layer smaller and top layer bigger to show that the focus is the upper layer. The way I want to spin my light now is to rotate the light from the top since there is no flat faces on the side that I can turn now compared to the previous one. Because I am going to turn the light from the top, I have to make the top of the light the size that fits most people’s hand, so it have to be relatively small. I asked peer’s opinion on which shape I should try to focus on, and we come to an agreement on the bottom middle one.

Had trouble with the measurements so I had to think about a new way to solve this problem

During my making process, I faced difficulty with it. I am having trouble with the measurements of the light. I don’t know how to make the inclined side with precise measurement. Then I changed my direction to the basic cylinder shape to at least make my idea come true. (Now the side is a rectangle that I can actually cut out)

The thoughts after the third attempt

I am trying to see how big I should design the size of the cylinder so that people can turn it easily with one hand. (1st one on the left)

1. The top layer is a bit too tall, or the shape of the cylinder is too skinny that makes the light looks too tall. (But I made it skinny was because I tried to make it so that I can turn the light with a normal sized hand)
2. The rotation didn’t come out right. It was difficult to rotate the top layer with my hand rotating the whole thing on the top. So I added a ring to help with the rotating. It is also a visual cue that tells people this light can be turned. But the thing about the ring is that it interrupt the one-piece cylinder shape it previously was. [See the photo below]
3. At first when I was designing the light I forgot to make into account how do I put the light bulb into the shape. While I was working on the light I figured out a way. I put a cap for my top layer so that I can put the light in first and then put the cap on.
4. The rotation is still experiencing some difficulty because of the weight of the light bulb is causing fiction that interfere with the rotation.

Peer review

Here is the peer review comments I get from our neighbor tables.

The comments I got was mostly positive comments with some critics on the tracing paper is not thick enough that the light is too bright and hurt people’s eyes when looking straight at it. So I have to solve this problem in my next model.

Fourth attempt

This is the attempt before the final submission. Since we have the whole Thanksgiving break to design this light, I put much effort into it. At first I know that I have to make the tracing paper part thicker. Instead of simply stick two layers of tracing paper together, I wanted to try something different. There was a thought in my mind for a long time that I want to “turn off” this light without pull the plug. And I have been thinking about ways to adjust the level of the light. So then during the break this thought jumps out of my mind, that I can make two layers of the side for my lamp. And I will have the ability to rotate the outer layer while the inner layer is fixed. If both the outer and the inner layers are half thick paper and half tracing paper, I can then adjust the level of light from two layers of tracing paper to light up my book, or if I want to go to sleep and have a night light, I can turn the outer layer in a way that the thick paper goes all the way around. So here is the sketch of my design and I then made this light:

at first the inner layer and the bottom part are two separate components. When I started to put things together, I figured that the inner layer sometimes moves with the outer layer when I tried to rotate the outer layer. Since the inner layer has to be fixed, I thought about the idea of sticking the bottom and the inner layer together, and I succeed.

Feedback from professor:

1. better visual cue for spinning + hand position that helps with spin.
2. the tape I used creates a dark shadow when the light is plugged in, which distracts people’s attention. Maybe try another kind of tape.
3. I told professor that instead of adjust the direction of the light I switched to adjust the level of light people receive while reading. I asked her if I need to try to put both ability into one design or should I give up on one of them. Apparently adjusting the direction of the light is not that necessary because people can adjust the direction of the light by re-position the light. Also sometimes if I try to “chase two rabbits at the same time”, I might have trouble with both of them.
4. The material of the bottom part need to be changed. Because it was too weak to support the whole light.
5. the ring that helps with spin need to be perfectly round.
6. the size of the light can be a little smaller.

Final project

After thought it through, here is my final design for my light.

I tried to use Bristol paper and tracing paper to make the light instead of mostly normal print paper and tracing paper to make the light more sturdy. Also I tried to cut the bottom and the inner layer together as one piece so that there is less distraction of the tape on the surface of the light. For my previous light I made the outer layer too small that it was hard to rotate the layer, so for this one I increased its radius. And I made the height of the outer layer longer to make sure there is no light leaking from the bottom of the inner layer. I put 8 semicircle 1-inch Bristol paper on the ring to work as a visual cue and help with the rotation. Instead of using the whole hand to pull the ring, now people can simply use one finger to push the outer layer, makes it more convenient.