<aside> <img src="/icons/brightness-high_blue.svg" alt="/icons/brightness-high_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Ray is a friendly lamp who provides the visually impaired control over the atmosphere in their house, by controlling the light. Ray is a companion and a help to be the perfect host, while at the same time preventing unnecessary energy usage.
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Quick find:
Inclusive Design | User testing | User centered Design | Prototyping | Iterative design | Co-creation | Project lead | Product Design | Workshop facilitation | Programming (arduino)
The aim of this project is to connect a disabled target-group (in this case; people with poor eyesight) to a bay window. This goal is based on an existing project about bay-windows, about how to provide clear added value and communicate the benefits clearly.
<aside> <img src="/icons/bullseye_blue.svg" alt="/icons/bullseye_blue.svg" width="40px" /> GOAL
Design a lamp or light that answers needs of visually impaired potential users.
Use a highly iterative research and design approach.
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AN EMPOWERING TOOL
Ray is an empowering and cosy companion-light for the visually impaired
Ray empowers them to still be able to take care for a warm atmosphere for their guests. When Ray is used as a lamp, he provides the right intensity using a sensor to measure the difference in light intensity between in- and outside the house. Furthermore, the lamp can be seen as a cosy companion; he gets warm when he is taken out of his stationary.
A COSY COMPANION
Every once in a while, Ray will sigh to indicate he is still there and there is still energy being used. Touch Ray and he gives you an impression of the outside world by turning on the sound that is recorded outside.
This also gives the owner a tool to prepare an appropriate welcome for guests. The dock in the bay window is Ray’s home base, where he is charged.
This project consists of five iterations, all aimed to provide something for visually impaired to enrich their home situation. The first iterations were aiming only on designing and creating one aspect while the last iteration was about creating a complete package. With five iterations, five designs were created and evaluated. The most interfering sessions done were: programming the **arduino** to provide certain responses by the design, a user test with the result of the fourth iteration, and a creative idea generation session at the beginning of the fifth iteration.
The last session included a brainstorm session on what experiences and wishes the lamp should perform and the wished actions by the user to result in an experience. Based on these experiences, a session was done to select a variation of desired qualities of the lamp. This was followed by a form study using clay, to create shapes that fit the desired (interaction) qualities.
FINAL DESIGN
IDEATION & VALIDATION PHASE
