Product Design - "The Lamp Man"

Katarinakelly

Katarinakelly

New Member
Hello everyone!
I'm currently in my last year of school and I'm study towards my product design A Level, and I have an idea for a product! My teacher suggested that I post the idea on a design forum in the hope of getting some constructive feedback! So here we go.
My product is a small bionic man made entirely out of light absorbing acrylic. I wanted to design a lighting source that was both efficient and fun to play with, and I think I am on my way to achieving this (see in the pictures below). In the future I hope to complete my model with a circuit board equipped with 5mm white LED's.
When it's fully manufactured I hope to use it as a desk lamp.
I would really appreciate it if you could all give me some feedback :) please feel free to be as critical as you like it will really help me out!
Thank you :)
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I have no experience in product design at all, but it's pretty damn neat! :)

Just going to pop this into the Product Design forum for you!
 
Thank you very much! Iv'e only just made an account on this site and I'm not sure where the product design forum is? :p
 
Keep scrolling down that massive list of things haha! Or, CTRL+F "product" :)
 
Unfortunately I don't have much knowledge in this department either, best to wait for Levi to respond!
How would the LED lights be positioned, I'm struggling to imagine how it it would look/work as a lamp? I do like the concept though, it certainly looks unique! However I'm wondering how sturdy it is, does it fall over easily?
 
Hello, In the chest there is a large gap, I plan fit a circuit board in there. I already have 6 pre drilled holes, three on each side of the interior for LED's (if you look closely you can see them in the photos :) ) Originally I though a circuit board wouldn't look great in comparison two the product but I now feel that it may compliment it and make it look more "robotic". He doesn't stand up yet, but he can sit in a number of different positions. I plan to fit him onto some sort of a stand which will keep him upright. Thank you for your comments :D
 
before I comment can I get some bigger pictures please, they're a bit small for the details :)
Sean - If it's how I think it works then it would look like the edges are glowing while the sides are lightly illuminated, it's all about refraction inside the materials
 
right first off my memory about refraction in transparent plastics is very very rusty.... so I'm not 100% sure this is accurate but I am 99% :)
Led lighting will and wont work, it will work in that you could put an led into a panel (drill a hole and stick the led in it) and the edges would glow when it's on, the problem is you'd need a lot of leds (see lower down) and as such cables, not to mention some way to support the power supply/lamp etc. Now you could do in a way that the cables become a kind of skeleton but I'm not sure if that would work with your idea.
The biggest problem is that each of those acrylic panels are stuck onto each other in layers and they have no way to transfer light, if they had another rectangular (or oval) piece at 90 degrees going through the middle the light would transfer because they have a flat edge against a flat edge. The current cylinders won't work as the light will only come out of the flat ends (in the same way fibre optics work).
If I was you I would look heavily into optimising the design around how light refracts in transparent materials such as the acrylic you're using so you can minimise the amount of lights you'll need because at present you could need up to 44 lights to make every panel glow.....
 
Thank you very much for you feedback Levi! It's very constructive and I've taken it on board! :) I will include this in my modifications and feedback section for my coursework and then I'll start designing!
Kind regards,
Katie
 
Katarinakelly said:
Thank you very much for you feedback Levi! It's very constructive and I've taken it on board! :) I will include this in my modifications and feedback section for my coursework and then I'll start designing!
Kind regards,
Katie
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When you start, get some more stuff posted up :) It'd be really good to see how this develops through the course of the project if you were alright with that? :)
 
Great post Levi! Yeah, I'm with Tony. I want to see how this turns out!
 
Nice one Levi for stepping in with the learnings. It's a really fun idea Katarinakelly. It's not my area of expertise but I'd love to see how this develops. If the design manages to require just one or two LEDs at the finish, it'd be fun if they were the nose or eyes or something like that.
 
Jimlad said:
If the design manages to require just one or two LEDs at the finish, it'd be fun if they were the nose or eyes or something like that.
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In theory there is nothing stopping that idea if you can get the light to transmit between the sections, which means fixing the issues I mentioned above (not that easy if you still want the joints to move)
 
Now thats really cool idea. I like the form of the design & articulating parts. If dont mind me asking are the Acrylic laser cut?
As for the electronics you could conside adding some research into microcontroller board such as Ardunio or Raspberry Pi. Pretty much they are little electronic boards that are programable. Which lets you do some interesting stuff like control leds light strength and colour, add sounds, motion sensors, etc. This kind of technology could help re-enforce the playful/Fun element of your idea in your research documentation.
 
Wow thank you all for your feedback and support! I really appreciate it :) the acrylic pieces I designed first on 2D design and then used our laser cutter at school to cut them out. Thank you Levi for your opinion on the acrylic panels effecting the intensity of the LED's, this really helped me during the testing and evaluating stages of my product. It gave me the opportunity to explore different design ideas and concepts. I also really like the idea of the eyes and nose LED's :DThank you ivezsy for your ideas on possible electronics, I've researched rasberry pi and ardunio and they look really cool and I think my model could benefit from them! Electronics really isn't my strong suit as is evident by the fact I don't have lighting in it yet so I really do appreciate the help :) I'll let you all know how my product is getting on when I have made the necessary changes that will make it better. I would have developed it sooner but I found it difficult to focus on my final a level exams and the project but I'm going to continue on with it at the Isle of Man college where I have been accepted to undergo an art and design diploma. Thanks again!Katie
 
Do you have any photos of the finished product we can see? :)
 
I will do once my product is fitted with the circuit board :) plus it's also at school at the moment because its being moderated but I should have it back soon.
 
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