September 22, 2007 • 5:36 pm
so I’ve been testing with photocell for night light modules,
then realized two major issues.
First, the sensitivity of photocell is pretty low and the light emitting from previous module may not be strong enough – it even varies depending on the distance between the modules, and the distance is totally arbitrary for each user. When testing, with the amount of light from the module, it had to get close about 1 foot close to draw noticeable range change on photocell.
Second, day light and ambient light issue. In order to avoid unnecessary lighting during day time, the module needs to distinguish between day light and emitting light from other modules. But also, the ambient light at night may interrupt the reading, which makes it tricky to set threshold for each the modules.
I could put a switch in addition to photocells in order to turn off the module during day time, but it will be an annoying task for users for sure. I wouldn’t mind having one microcontroller for each module if it solves much problems. I really hate to give up on photocell controlling idea, but I feel so stuck at this stage!
Filed under: Design for Constraints
Last night, I actually got to test out the prototype myself as I was having a little after-effects of St.Patrick’s day tradition – drinking.
As I woke up and stumbled toward a bathroom, the hazy green light was surprisingly pleasant and easy to follow. It was definitely easier to bring myself to a destination when there was a focal point as a indicator. Although, I thought the light could have been perhaps less brighter, and it could have been still effective enough yet less stressful to eyes. So I think I am going to make second iteration of prototype with a fewer/ dimmer LEDs.
And need to prototype the light for toilet! I could simply place the rope-light around the rim, but want to design more elegant and creative way.
Filed under: Design for Constraints
I made a prototype for my Nighty Light(working title) project. It is now simple wall fixed green light emmitor. The choice on the color green was from the research that green is the most effective yet comfortable light in the dark. I used translucent milky case to soften light.
Although I considered hand-held devices as well at the stage of sketching, I decided to leave out the options for two reasons: First, with the project, I want to make a use of the device as simple as possible, so didn’t want to make users even to hold anything or do anything. Second, while the hand-held device will shed light to proximate distance, therefore, make users to consciously find their way, the fixed light on the wall or on the edges will work as a indicator that users can follow with a mere instinct. It will be a matter of fixing the lights on the right spot when they first implement it.
For now, the lights are battery powered without any switch or a sensor – I would like to put a trigger around the bed so that the user can power the lights when he gets up. Also, I would like to place lights around the rim of toilet, so that the user can get a clear recognition of the necessary tools in the toilet.
Filed under: Design for Constraints
update 1.
i played with timer IC(TLC555) today to see if i can get a simple glow behavior from it, but i couldn’t get it working properly. my guess is the capacitors i had to use instead of the ones that was suggested on datasheet but ones i didn’t have. i will get the right numbers tomorrow and test it further.
-> I actually just realized, for the glow I am gonna need PWM so timer might not work for the use…
update 2.
i was planning to use white lights simply because i like the simplicity of white, but as younghyun advised that green light is supposed to be more visible in the dark and also comfortable for eyes, i am going to test green as well. I tried to find scientific resources for the effect of green light, but all i could find so far is some documents in Korean – it said, green light is effectively visible in the dark or from distance. also green has a soothing psychological effect for people.
I will sketch up the designs for prototype and build them shortly.
Filed under: Design for Constraints
i surveyed more people about their behavior and use of bathroom at night, and here’s some interesting answers i drew:
-most people use bathroom in the middle of a night occasionally and most(actually all among the people i got answers from) people don’t turn on light to avoid the interruption of light
- someone uses acoustic sense to find a way – hums to get a sense from the wall in the dark
- someone answered that she feels the necessity of dimmer lighting solution, but she wouldn’t want to get an extra device for that – but rather have a controller or a half-bright option for the light
from the observation, i think my design for the lighty light should be either cheap and easy enough to implement and play with, or make it more useful than as a mere night light – add aesthetic aspects when it’s not in use..
Filed under: Design for Constraints
for my final project ‘nighty light (working title!)’, i’ve been doing some research on people’s behavior at night regarding bathroom use. From 4 of the girls around my age, I could find a similar pattern as mine, which is quite occasionally waking up in the middle of a night to use a bathroom and have an issue with whether to turn on bright light to find a way and towel and such or rather stay in dark to stay half-asleep.
One girl answered that she has a little lamp in the bathroom that she usually uses at night.
For guys, for some reason, they seem to have less reason to use bathroom at night except when they had many beers..
I would do more research with different age groups – elderly and moms are the target with high potential for ‘nighty light’.
Filed under: Design for Constraints
motivation:
from my homesick. i miss talking to my friends back home, and curious what’s going on in their life.
constraints:
there are already a bunch of online social networks i could use to share stories,
but the problem is my friends are not motivated for them.
we used to stay in touch through cyworld , korean version of myspace,
but for some reason, they seemed to lost interest in it recently. no one really updates their pages nor respond to others.
Also, those social networks for mobile such as radar but it doesn’t work cross-country.
idea:
if i can create a simple interface where they can upload easily from their cellphones (which they usually prefer to do), they might be encouraged to participate more to share their life with me! the main structure is going to be designed for stories of a group mapped on a calendar so that members can follow the story from everyone on each day, but also will be able to navigate by members when they want to get a story around a specific member.
Filed under: Design for Constraints
After meeting with Michael and Allistar on Thurs, developed the idea further reflecting some of the feedback and also the survey on people’s habitual interaction with alarm clock.
The fundamental idea to keep the interface as simple as possible is still valid, yet I figured if I designed the order of the system right, it would be possible to keep it simple with more options and functions.
Therefore, for new design, I added more functions for repeat option. It has ‘once’ and ‘daily’ as before and for more, ‘mon-fi’ and ‘weekend’ option for those who have regular schedule over weekdays. However, the most respectively popular option(once) will be displayed on the top so that people can avoid absurd steps to go through if they don’t need to.
Also, from the feedback that they want to have control over anything that is related to alarm function, I decided to display tone and vibration setup at the bottom, so that user can scroll down only when they want to make a change. It actually is similar to the design that current BlackBerry Pearl integrated.
As I opened up the possibility that people can set up fixed schedule for weekdays and weekends, I also added a initial page where user can either choose to add new alarm
schedule or to modify the existing one.
Select/ Done/ Cancel will be displayed at the bottom of the screen all the time, so that user can interrupt and finish the operation anytime they want.
Filed under: Design for Constraints
I am continuing the project with the alarm function design for Nokia N80.
so far, the basic image layout has been set up, and the screen bar is moving with left/right arrows, and shift key functions as select key.
next step will be setting up screen changes according to the users input.
Filed under: Design for Constraints
