Lighting the Living Room
A great living room draws people in and makes them want to sit down, relax, and stay awhile. It’s a space people go to converse and tell stories. It should feel relaxing and welcoming, and the lighting and furniture should reflect this feeling. The furniture should be relatively comfortable, but not so comfortable that you want to go to sleep there. The living room is a midpoint between lighting where you want to see everything and where you want to see nothing. The lighting should complement the furniture and the people inside the room. Lighting may also be used to display certain things in oyur living room, like expensive pieces of furniture or artwork. You don’t want the lighting to conflict with anything else in the room, especially if there’s a television in that space, which produces its own, distinct kind of light.
The living room is a versatile room suitable for many different activities. It’s usually somewhere you go to relax and socialize with your family or guests. It may also be somewhere you go to read a book or watch a movie on your own. You want it to be well lit, but not too harsh. The living room almost always has windows for bringing in natural light, but what if you host a dinner party? No one enjoys the hassle of having to manually turn on 4 or 5 lamps just to keep the living room lit. Having one central light that’s more efficient in providing enough light to the whole room is what I think most people would prefer.
Ikea knows how to make lampshades. I’ve already found a lot of inspiration for this project just from scrolling through their website. They have a wide variety of pendant lamps using varying thicknesses and texture of material. They also have a good balance of lamps that feature geometric and organic forms in their shades. They even sell some lamps with a moving part. Exciting!
11/17/2020
Over the weekend, I created four sketch models of my lighting engine. Through these initial experiments, I learned that I prefer lighting engines that are simpler in form.
11/19/2020
Between Tuesday and Thursday, I created three more sketch models.
Questions I was asking myself as I created these models:
- Is this the central light in the room? Is it intended to be the only light in the room?
- Is this light comfortable in the space it’s occupying? Is it being swallowed or overpowering the space?
Characteristics of the light that I attempted to eminate:
- Larger scale
- Emitting more light, not being too dependent on other lights
I enjoyed the effect of the light with the tracing paper as well as the sort of tiered chandelier look, which is a trait shared by all of my sketch models. I initially intended for my second model with the cardboard concentric circles to be balanced and even, but I actually enjoy how it turned out uneven. If I was more precise with the fishing wire then I could probably make it even, but I think the imbalance gives it more a mid-century modern look. I don’t like how the bulb is exposed, however. I enjoy the gradient of light that the third model produces, but the paper I used is too thick and does allow enough light to come through for a living room setting.
I think for my next model I’m going to try to find a way to combine aspects of the first two models. I prefer the effect of the paper on the first one, but the form of the second one. I may even try to find a way to bring in some traits of the third model if I can.
11/22/2020
Talking with Steve, Stacie, Nick, and Alice on Thursday helped point me in the right direction for my first prototype, even though Nick and Alice brought up a point that I should keep in mind more: you’ll never make any progress if you’re constantly wondering if you’re going in the “right direction”. This project is about experimenting to see what works well and what doesn’t. It’s okay to go in the “wrong direction” sometimes, because this shows you want does work.
I should start to think about what my models do not do well and characteristics that I want to avoid as well as incorporate. Ranking these important characteristics hierarchically. This ranking doesn’t need to be direct or all-emcompassing, but it may be helpful in deciding what I want my final lighting engine to look and perform like.
11/24/2020
For my first prototype, I attempted to combine the first two models I made last Thursday. I also tried two different types of paper.
I wasn’t very happy with how this idea turned out. My mom told me it looked like a cocoon, which would be nice, but that’s not the impression I want to give off. For the sturcture, I used white matboard. For my next model, I think I will use white foam board since it’s thicker. I also don’t like the paper I used for the bottom two layers because I think it looks like hair. I like the paper I used for the top layer, however. I think I will continue to use this paper in my future models. Not certain where I’m going from here.
11/25/2020
During the peer review, the people who viewed my work said they liked the form, that it “…has a nice balance of simplicity but also movement. Maybe if the transitions between paper was more seamless it would be cleaner looking.”
Other comments:
- When the light is on, there is a stark contrast in materials from the top and the bottom. We suggest making it all out of the same type of paper.
- It creates a really nice soft light which in a living space. We are unsure if the bottom closes up or not — not saying that is a bad thing. Think about how high up the lamp will be and if the bottom is exposed too harsh of light might come through.
- We wish the form was more consistent in material and that the shapes has a cleaner seam.
For my next model, I will stick with just using the plain translucent paper, because the more decorative ones takes away from the form and looks like hair. I will also work on my craftmanship so that the seams are cleaner.
11/28/2020
Over the weekend, I was feeling a bit lost as to where my lighting engine was headed. I emailed Steve and Stace with my concerns, and I’m glad I did that. These were there responses.
11/29/2020
I tried to brainstorm some new ideas. These were what I came up with.
I think I will pursue the last idea that’s highlighted for my model.
11/30/2020
I went to Stacie’s office hours, mainly just to check in because I felt like I seemed like I was panicking when I emailed that. I think I was anxious from trying to move out of my dorm before Thanksgiving break, and trying to get everything done all at once was stressful. The fact that my model didn;t turn out how I imagined it would in my head only added on to my anxieties and stress. I really just needed to reassess and work through my ideas.
When I spoke to Stacie, I was in the middle of creating my model. She reassured me that my ideas were developing well. She told me that young designers have a bad habit of scrapping entire ideas when they hit a minor road bump, when these ideas likely still have a significant amount of merit. This made me feel better. She also gave me advice on cutting foam board. I should use an X-ACTO knife (not the Olfa), stand up when I cut, and not try to get through the entire foam board on one passthrough. It will likely take two ore more cuts to get through the entire board.
This is how my idea turned out. I’m a lot happier with this design compared to last week’s. I think this idea is welcoming and warm because of the quality of the light, also because there aren’t many harsh lines. I think for my final I need to work on general craftmanship. I will likely use double-sided tape as opposed to hot glue to connect the paper to the foam board. Hot glue is great but it looks messy. I can probably still use hot glue to connect the cylinders themselves.
I was also a bit concerned with the lack of light in the bottom, smallest cylinder. I spoke with Nick and Alice about my concerns. They suggested that I try gradually adjusting the heights of the cyclinders to make them smaller as they go down. I thought maybe just getting a brighter bulb would help this too. But then when Steve and Stacie came into our breakout room, they mentioned that the gradient of light diffusion was appropriate and looked nice. So I don’t know whether or not to change the heights. I actually tried this in one of my earlier sketches, but if the smallest cylinder has too short of a height, it looks extraneous and unnecessary. I think all of the cylinders being the same height contributes to the balance and flow of the overall piece.
12/03/2020
For my final model, I used double-sided tape instead of hot glue so that the craftsmanship of the lighting engine would be stronger. I also paid more attention to how I cut the foam board.
I bought a new, brighter bulb in an attempt to bring the light further down to the lower cylinders. I kept the sizes of the cylinders the same as my last model. I’m glad I did this.
Overall, I am very satisfied with my final product. It’s something that’s I believe strikes a good balance between aesthetics and functionality. I will probably keep it hanging in my living room for awhile.
Throughout this project, I learned a lot about persevering when your ideas don’t pan out the way you hope they will. Facing obstacles, adapting, and overcoming them is a part of the design process. I also learned the importance of reaching out for help when you need it. Asking Steve and Stacie for advice when I was feeling stuck was very helpful, and I only wish I had done it earlier. Although I think I worried them, they knew where my head was at and why I was feeling the way I was.
What I’ve learned from this project will be useful in a lot of future projects. When designing something, you have to take into account seeing the object from multiple perspectives. You should also consider the object in multiple states (resting/active). It’s also important to consider form, context, and tasks that you’re designing for.
