Lighting Engines
So far we have started with just understanding the light and how it is meant to work. We were given 2 big LEDs, 1 smaller one, 1 tilt switch (depending on the way its facing, so up or down, it will either continue or cut off the electrical current due to the mercury inside the glass bulb), 2 batteries, and 1 battery holder. Steve taught us how to do the basic tilt switch to battery to LED connection, and sort of sratched the surface when it came to the more complex connections. I personally think I’m staying with my simple connection just because I didn’t realize until now how bright LEDs really are. If anything I might add the smaller LED, but for now I think the the single LED will do the trick.
I personally am really excited for this project. However, I am completely stuck. I don’t know where to start. I wired the light, and played around with the tilt switch, but I don’t really know how to continue. I decided to just play around with shapes and foam, just because ofr some reason I can’t put my ideas down in paper.
As I was playing around with 3d shapes, I was having a lot of fun. I made shapes that were form fitting and that were fun to hold. I also knew however that they would be hard, if not impossible to make out of paper and foam core, and also have the same effect that the foam already has.
I did really like the idea I had of 2 seperate shapes to make 1 cohesive set. That idea is on figures 4, 5 and 6. I was thinking about if put in a certain way, the organic shape would fit, and be off. And when put at a different angle, it would fit in the deeper hole, and be on.
I then tried to move on the make it with paper, but, again, it didn’t have the same effect. Also it presented me with more problems such as: where will the wires fit, where will the battery go, how will that compromise the overall look of the light engine.
Since I was starting to have ideas, I moved on from 3d experimenting to 2d idea visualizing. I still didn’t have much and I just thought since this isn’t a 2d project, I can’t just focus on the drawings and stick to that, so I just started modeling again, but with these ideas in mind and with the paper and foam core.
I didn’t focus too much on craft and how it was made, and focused a lot more on how the light turned on and off (I decided to set the craft for late, not just completely disregard). You will see the inside of the foam core on the outside, as well as the wires and the battery hodler. There is also light unintentionally spilling from the sides/through the paper. However, there are instances where I think it might kind of work. Since we only have one light, we have to keep be able to build these light where we can remove them, and the whole structure won’t just fall apart. This was a pretty hard challenge, especially on my second light because it was pretty intricate. However, I found a really easy way to put it together and take it apart, which I think really added to my design.
This was my first light. I was at first focusing on the movement, and again I liked the idea of 2 seperate pieces forming 1. I was trying to experiment also with the different ways to restrict or allow the amount of light given out by the light engine. This alos was a reminder as to how bright that LED can really get.
Overall I liked this idea but I wasn’t sure how cohesive it looked. And is also reminded me of a toilet, so I knew I would definitely need to change the shapes, by either making them more similar, or resizing.. The movement though, was what I liked the most about this light, just because I reminded me of an abstract version of the traditional on/off switch.
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Light 2 is probably my favorite. It is also the light I spend the most time on, just because figuring out the pulley system to make the tilt switch move up and down was pretty difficult. I really liked the simplicity of the shape, and how subtle the shape and movement is. To diffuse the light I used tracing paper
The inside is really intricate, and because of the wires interlacing, and how small I made this model, I was constantly having to re-wire the lights.
So far, main dilemma/question is will people understand how it works, or how they’re supposed to interact with it? Will they be scared to touch in case it looks fragile?
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Light 3 was my simplest light. I decided that I also want to try something that was focused more on the light it made.
I made a “facade” where I put a random pattern of paper lines on top of tracing paper, where I could have light diffusion, as well as light complexity. I’m not really sure how well I executed this idea, but I’m happy that I tried it. I don’t think I’ll move on with this one though, as while I do like it, I like the second light a lot more.
However, I do like that at first you don’t know what it is, so you pick it up and you get a small element of surprise. At the same time, I feel that’s how everyone’s light is at this point, because you don’t really expect all these paper structures to light up.
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I ended up picking my second light. It was the one I think was the most successful: it had the element of surprise (while minimal, when people saw how to use it they were impresses), it had the clean aesthetic, and it has a nice movement. I also sized it up, and worked on craft.
There are a lot of craft issues: the top moving light is crooked because o the measurement, and there is a lot of friction that makes it hard to lift up with only one hand. You can no longer see the inside of the foam core, however, the light shines through, and you can see all of the construction on the inside. I know it’s just a prototype and I can just continue working
I made little tabs on the sides to let people know where to put their fingers. The top stayed the same as the first prototype, in the sense that the light still came from the top.
After having a chance to chat with some of my classmates, they all said they really liked it. They liked the fact that you could use the tabs, and that they helped you where they should grabbed. After that peer review, I asked Robert, a little more about what he thought he told me that while he enjoyed the movement, he thought I should expand on where the light could come from. He said if there was a way I could make it so all of the pannels could be translucent that it would be really interesting. I agreed, and when experimenting, I came up with this:
I stayed using all of the same materials, including the tracing paper. I think that did work against me because of the way the tracing paper reacts to glue.
This is the one I showed my peers, and I had a chance to talk to Stacie. While people really liked the light, Stacie said thet the craft was really distracting, especially on the top where the light emerges. She said to experiement with different ways the light can come out.
There were also some problems with the inner craft. I talked to Temple for a bit, and he told me how important the inner craft is, because just because it looks good on the outside, doesn’t mean it has the ability to fulfill it’s purpose due to problems on the inside. So that would be one of teh main details I want to focus on. I decided to drop the ‘step-level’ tool thing for foam core, and do it all by hand after asking for help from some of the upper classmen. At first I had really wanted to use only 4-ply board, but I found that mytering was causing some really big problems in the function of my light.
Because I didn’t want to completely give up on the 4-ply, I made another light that I had come up with. I really liked the idea because it was similar to the one I already had, except this movement was side to side instead of up and down.
While I did really like this idea, I felt like it was too bulky. It felt like a bulkier version of the light I already had, and it felt like the one I had was more refined.
I moved on, and I started coming up with different ideas for the top of the light that I already had. I also decided to change materials. I used vellum, which has a more even translucency, and it’s stronger. I decided to go with a simple yet complex design, where the real work was put in the inside.
Then my battery holder broke: the red wire broke off. I had a moment of panic, and since I was tired and frustrated and kept trying to remake my lamp, it felt like a huge stepback. I emailed Steve and Stacey, and since Sam had a soldering iron, I was able to put it back together. It was still sensitive to breaking, so I improvised and also put some hot glue. Moving on from there, I kept having to remake it because of craft issues on the inside. I remade it so many times, and resized, and experimented with which sizes worked best…
Final
I ended up with refined and clean version of my light. I have to say, I think I re-did it around 5 times trying to find the right size, whether it was the size of the big piece or the smaller piece in the inside.
I also decided to take out the tabs as the translucent sides and the little gold pin in the middle I feel invite people to interact with it. Also, some of the feedback I got, was that the change of the materials between the top and the bottom pieces invite the idea that there is movement to be invited, as there is an understanding that these two pieces are seperate.
Without illumination, the light has a presence, but it’s not overwhelming or distracting. With illumination, it brightens and gives off an ambiance, but doesn’t take over the table. Also, due to the use of vellum, there is an even amount of light produced from the top.
