Investigation I — Handheld Lamp

Intention

My project is about the new relationships we can have with objects when we have to spend more time and intimacy with them. I made a lamp that only fully turns on when you're "holding hands" with it.

Context

This speculative Amazon product mock-up is definitely what first got the ball rolling on my project. The first round of feedback I got inspired me to think more about how our relationships with entities change when we have to spend more time with an interaction that is otherwise fleeting (flicking on/off a switch for a light).

During the class activities, I also realized a trend within my brainstorming was physical intimacy and the anthropomorphizing of everyday objects. 

Prototype/Outcome

https://youtu.be/SYGMT8owHCs

Process

The first idea for my project didn't flush out the fabrication for covering and uncovering the light part of the lamp. Therefore, in terms of the physical nature of the project, I ideated most on how the shade would look.

The main conceptual development of my project came from pushing the aspect of "conversation" with the lamp. How could a relationship turn into/benefit from a specific conversation? 

Therefore, I drew out many high-level user flows that were then diminished into one, based on what was most reasonable to physically construct by the deadline. I decided there would be three main states: 1. OFF, 2. asking for PASSWORD, 3. ON. 

In the project I have to present, the OFF state is represented by the light not yet being switched on. The PASSWORD state is when the light is switched on, but blocked so that only "PASSWORD" can be seen. And the ON state is when the "password" (aka handholding) is unlocked and the password shade moves to reveal full light. 

One last detail in the physical design is that I also played around with the typography of the "PASSWORD". I eventually decided on scattering the letters to look more like alphabet soup, and also turning one of the S's upside down and having the D backwards, to add this sense of a developing sentience of the lamp.

Open Questions and Next Steps

My next step in this project is to add more complexity to the three different states. For example, the password state itself could first be initiated by the handholding, and the unlocking could be done with something such as facial or voice recognition (or vise versa). I think I could really take advantage of that face that to see the PASSWORD face of the lamp, the user has to learn down to look up at the "face" of the lamp. I think there's definitely something worth exploring with that extra physical action/interaction.

Reflection

I think the project went well for me. I learned a lot through the video documentation of it, and realized that I could really tell a story with the demo video itself. I shot a few takes of the video, and realized I really liked the ones that show me attempting to "let go" of the lamp once it turned fully on, only for it to revert, for me to go back to holding on to it, and then for me to eventually realize I should give up. 

I also enjoyed the pace of prototyping this project and realized how fast and easy it can be for me to make some fun and spooky low-fi hacks to the different objects/technologies around me. It's much more fun for me now to have this password lamp on my desk vs. a regular Ikea lamp.