Sketches
I also began sketching out ideas for how the lamp could look like. I think I decided to go into round and soft forms quick, since they intuitively feel more calming and emotionally inviting than angular or rigid shapes. I feel I was guided more by the emotional tone of the object – a gentle presence on the desk – than by the function for now.
Some initial inspirations:
- Lava lamps: their fluid, continuous motion has a calming and almost hypnotic effect, which aligns perfectly with the idea of supporting focus without creating stress.
- Organic shapes: neutral, timeless. These shapes don’t scream “technology,” which is important for creating a non-intrusive and emotionally grounding experience.
- Japanese lanterns and soft-diffuse paper lights: I love the ambient softness and the quiet presence they have in a room.
I didn’t only sketch the shape of the lamp itself but also how the dock, where you put the phone, could look like. The first try was a square shape which fits the phone – but then as soon as I cut the cardboard, I realized the whole lamp + dock is probably too big, because it would take up a lot of space on the desk.
First Quick and Dirty Prototype
To move from the abstract idea and the theories and frameworks in the background to a tangible experience, I built a quick proof-of-concept prototype using ZigSim, Max/MSP, Resolume Arena and a basic lightning setup with some led-strips for the quick testing for now. This is actually less about the design of the lamp but more about the technology in the background and the core interaction loop:
- Phone placed on dock > soft, calming light is triggered
- Phone removed from dock > light changes
I also experimented with using transparent paper as a diffuser to soften the LED light, aiming to create a more ambient and less direct glow.
This was just a quick prototype as a proof of concept for the interaction loop.
Next steps
- Prototyping with Arduino
- Integrate a proximity sensor to detect whether the phone is in the dock or not.
- Redesign the dock and where to put the phone + sensor
- Use a different source of light which is smaller than the LED strips
- build a prototype of the lamp itself
- Experiment with softer shapes and better light diffusion to create a calming, ambient presence that supports focus