Prototyping
Designing and building our final project
After a long and arduous process, my team and I finally decided on a direction for our final pitch event this August. Foci is a digital workplace ecosystem that helps users manage their distractions and workflows to help them get the most out of their workday. An integral part of Foci’s ecosystem is the device: a spherical desk lamp that changes color to alert those around the user that they’re busy. It also can alert the user when an important notification comes through, such as a message from a family member, by flashing a different color.
My task for these next weeks is to design a high-fidelity prototype of our device. After the team ordered the spherical lamp on Amazon, I dove into the design process for the base. Our team decided on something warm and simple, made of natural light-stained wood. But we also wanted it to feel custom to our brand, and have unique aspects that really made it ours.
I started by sketching out some concepts and landed on this one. I liked how the slant of the base mimicked the slant of the “i” in our logo. It also gave our product a unique sleekness that other desk lamps didn’t have.
I have a background that includes knowledge of laser cutting, and the ultimate goal was to laser cut the pieces out of basswood to give the end product a refined, realistic look. I drew out each piece to scale in Illustrator. Part of the unique aspects I decided on were to engrave our logo into the side of the base, and engrave a QR code on the bottom with our tagline. The concept of the QR code is to link the device and the app, but in reality it links to our product website.
Before laser cutting I tested the shape with a cardboard prototype. I didn’t want to waste bass wood, so I used an old Amazon box to cut out the pieces I had drawn up in Illustrator. It fit the lamp and the charging cord underneath perfectly, so I decided to move forward with the design.
From here, I laser cut the pieces out at the Boulder Public Library and then assembled them.
