夜間night*

Description

Technology has become so embedded into everyday life that it is difficult to detach from it, especially for younger generations who often lose valuable sleeping time because of ‘being online’. 夜間night* aims to discourage phone use in bed and aid the process of drifting off to sleep.

夜間night* starts a soothing mood light when the phone is inserted, encouraging sleep whilst charging the phone. 夜間night* will react to the phone when a notification or message is received by flashing brightly and vibrating, disturbing the user, questioning whether the phone needs to be on or not.

Gallery

Video

Press Release

The press release for 夜間night* is available as a .pdf or a .doc

夜間night* Press Release .doc

夜間night* Press Release .pdf

One Great Image

One great image. It was more difficult than it sounded. There were many hundreds of pictures taken before deciding on this one. I think that it shows the product, the context and the mood quite nicely. The subtle editing done to it gives it a more dramatic feel and was needed to enhance the light coming out of 夜間night*. The subdued colours and darker tones give the impression that it is during the night. And the irritated look on the subjects face emphasises the fact that 夜間night* has woken them up.

It was difficult to get the right look for the picture. I could have very easily fallen into the trap of it being an ordinary product shot, or having no action in it. The huge exposure differences constantly played havoc with the pictures being taken. The dark background was undefined against the overexposed light prism. In this case, a compromise was indeed taken by increasing the ambient light, and I think that it adds to it.

Starting to Appear Places

Just a heads up that my promotion of the project is starting to take effect, albeit this one because I submitted it and not because it was necessarily found. Anyway, it is on DesignSpotter.

Click on the picture below to be taken there.

Proof of Concept

The video below was shot quickly and serves as a good proof of concept video, which isn’t quite the same as my final one. I am really glad that it is still working too!

Manufacturing: Part 1

Back on track with my blogging schedule after a few days of not really doing much and taking in the fact that it as finished has given me time to reflect properly on the project, and in particular, how it would actually be made if it were to be put into production. This is going to be a two part piece with this first one looking at the changes that would evidently have to be made to the design from prototype to production and I will also discuss the electronics and how they would change.

In a sense, I don’t want to write about this because I have to. I am actually writing about the manufacturing because I want to. I think that taking the time to think this through even further than what is deemed necessary will help make the project more believable and like a proposal rather than a project. Thinking about this sort of thing as a designer should also be second nature. You shouldn’t have to finish drawing something and then immediately hand it over to an engineer to make. That wouldn’t be fair. However, being limited by what is already being done shouldn’t happen. Limits should be pushed and tolerances should be questioned.

I have been thinking about the manufacturing all the way through the project, but I feel this is the right time to post them. So without further ado, manufacturing.

Changes

Production Run

This is a relatively big portion of discussion. In short almost everything would have to change in one form or another in order for the product to be mass produced. However starting from the beginning, what sort of production run do I see it achieving? In short it is difficult to determine. First off it only works with iPhones so that limits the potential market. However, taking into consideration that as phone accessories go, ones for the iPhone are far from rare. So based on this the production run could be fairly large, but I don’t really see it, or particularly want it to be too widely available. That way there is always a demand as such, and it would mean it was more made to order than sitting in bulk in warehouses where it might not get sold. So I won’t put of a number any more. I see the production run being in the region of 100,000 to 500,000. Not a small number but then again not an overly large number. This is especially true if you think of however many iPhones have been sold and are used by teenagers/young adults.

Materials

Based on that medium to small production run (in comparison to the numbers that iPhones are sold in) determines the sort of material that can be used and therefore the production method. Production method will be covered in the second part, but material will be discussed just now. Currently made from layered up MDF, this really isn’t the way forward. Taking a month or so to make 2 is by no means profitable. My dad jokingly said to me whilst I was still making it that each one based on material cost and hourly pay for the worker would be well into the thousands of pounds. Not really the sort of price I envisaged for my project.

There are two material options that I would like the product to be made out of. The first one will make the product cheaper to produce and cheaper for the end user. Plastic. It wouldn’t be a cheap plastic though. More of a high quality, possibly even with a soft touch finish, that would help give the impression the the product is securely holding the phone. You don’t really want something that feels bad to the touch to be looking after your prized possessions. Taking inspiration slightly from Apple in this case, the plastic uses would mimic that of the black and white MacBooks from a few years ago. The white one would be glossy with a slightly harder feel, whereas the black one would be matte (or slightly matte) with a softer feel. I know I was unable to achieve this with the prototypes but it was what I originally planned and hoped I would get.

The other option for materials takes another leaf from Apples material storybook and ultimately push the product into a higher market. Anodised aluminium  or aluminium with a brushed finish. Anodising it would mean a better, harder wearing colour finish which would also bring it a more modern appearance that people could maybe identify more with. The only problem, apart from the price increase, with the aluminium option is that there is a section of the product which would be phone against aluminium when inserting and this could lead to scratches or just general damage to the product. Having a brushed finish would mean that it would be softer to the touch, but the surface would not be as durable. It is swings and roundabouts really.

I think that either material choice would suit the project. But I can’t really decide on which. I think the aluminium may be the way to go though. Younger people nowadays are subject to more expensive goods all the time (just look at the sort of clothes they are wearing) and they are not really likely going to end up buying it themselves. It would also give it a bigger feel of quality to it. Plastic is good for some products, but when you want to show that it will protect your phone, it needs to be sturdy.

From a recycling point of view, aluminium will be easier to dispose of and then reuse. Plastics tend to need sorted into the different kinds. Aluminium whilst to an extent is similar should be easier. Also from the point of view that it will not be a project that is thrown away quickly should also play a part in material choice.

As for the light prism, the choice goes to two materials again. One is plastic, the other is glass. The reasoning is the same as above. The plastic is softer but will accumulate more scratches. The glass whilst having better optical quality would be much more brittle. It will depend on the material used for the main body. If plastic is used then plastic should be used for the light prism. If aluminium is used for the main body, then glass should be used for the light prism.

Electronics

Whilst the electronics may seem like an overly complicated part of the project in terms of prototyping, putting it into production should be a lot simpler. The use of the Arduino at the moment screams out that it is a prototype. When put into production it will have proper printed circuit boards and will use something more alike circuit boards and cpu’s that are found in mobile phones. It will quite possibly be a lower powered ARM microcontroller. It doesn’t need to be anything too fancy either.

On to the functions, I don’t think there is much that needs to be changed. Maybe there is a better way of detecting when the phone receives a message. Not that the LDR that is currently used is unreliable, more that it may just need something to make it better. I am sure that something can be used to detect a message and then transmit it to the product through the 30 pin connector. Talking of which, the implementation of the 3o pin connector will be much better and it will be integral to the product. It will also be used to determine whether or not the product has been inserted or not.

Apart from that, there isn’t much more that I would do with the electronics. They seem to be robust enough (touch wood) and reliable enough that they could do it. Obviously they would need proper long term testing and certification for being mains powered or USB powered, but it is almost there.

Part One Wrap Up

On the whole, the materials and the electronics seem fairly straight forward. Whether or not it is the case if the project is actually put into production then I don’t know. This part was definitely the easy part. Coming up in part two (either later on today or tomorrow) will be manufacturing method, joining of components, retail price and shipping. Production run was included in this one (by accident) I didn’t read my plan properly. By the looks of things it’ll be much longer so I should probably get writing now…

Fourth Year: Fixing Some Issues

As mentioned in my post last night, there was a fairly significant issue with the width of the MDF pieces in relation to the acrylic block. The problem was, I thought, that the layers of spray paint added too much width to the product. It turns out that it was partly because at the end of last week I skimmed the bottom of the main body off. I didn’t realise it was tapered as much as it was so hence it was 1mm larger than what I wanted it to be. In all fairness it doesn’t really help that the acrylic block is 79mm and not the 80mm that I wanted it to be.

So with the joining edges to the acrylic block fixed and now repainted, there are still worries with the project. A lot of worries…

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Updated Degree Show Image & Draft 100 Words

After the last post about the image I uploaded here showing what one I was submitting for the degree show one, I found out after rereading the submission form that it had to be portrait and not landscape. This meant that I had to sift through my photos in Aperture again and pick one, make the changes and make sure it looked right.

Luckily it didn’t take too long as I could just copy layers in photoshop from one image to another. Here is the updated image that was submitted on Friday:

A description of the project also had to be submitted. Because this fits in nicely with the 100 words hand in at the end of the project, it was easy enough to make them the same. Here is the submitted 100 words, but they my be liable to change within the next three weeks.

Technology has become so embedded into everyday life that it is difficult to detach from it, especially for younger generations who often lose valuable sleeping time because of ‘being online’. 夜間 night* aims to discourage phone use in bed and aid the process of drifting off to sleep.

夜間 night* starts a soothing mood light when the phone is inserted, encouraging sleep whilst charging the phone. 夜間 night* will react to the phone when a notification or message is received by flashing brightly and vibrating, disturbing the user, questioning whether the phone needs to be on or not.

Fourth Year: PAINT

I’m edging ever closer to finishing the project. This was only aided by a certain purchase yesterday. Paint.

It might seem like a mundane thing to post about, but then again, you may or may not have seen the rest of the posts regarding this project. It has definitely taken over my blog! Anyway, back on topic, a trip to Kirkcaldy yesterday secured one of the final pieces of the jigsaw that is the project. In a toss up between Halfords and B&Q, the latter won out and it was searched for the right paint.

I opted not to look in Halfords for the reason that the paint from B&Q will probably end up being more suitable for use on wood than the equivalent found in Halfords which would be for metallic surfaces. I am hoping this is right, but then again, when it comes to primer it shouldn’t really matter too much. As for the finished surface, unlike what seems to be what everyone else in the class is doing, I am not having primer as my finished surface, but instead glossy.

A good few posts back, I said that I wanted one of the two products that I am making to be glossy white, and the other one to be matte black. After speaking to two different people, they disagreed and said that they both should be the same, so instead of matte black, it is now going to be glossy black.

Another point that I am wanting to resolve just now is the sort of white that the product should be. In my mind it should emulate the very cool snow white-esque of Apple. I was told that this has a lot of yellow to it. Whilst I respect the opinion of the person who told me I’m not too sure. The iMac G4 that is sitting on my desk from 2002 looks like a very bluey white to me, as does the Magic Mouse that I bought for my 2008 aluminium iMac in November last year. They seem pure, for lack of a better word. In all fairness there wasn’t a lot of choice to choose from in the shop. I will have to see what the white looks like when it is on the final product in relation to a white iPhone. If it is right, I can leave it. If it is wrong, I can go searching for a different kind of white and sand down the product ready to be resprayed.

I am allocating a good few days for the purpose of painting. I want to get this right first time since the finish is one of the most important aspects of the product.

 

Finish is within sight.

Fourth Year: Chloroform

Went down to the workshop to see what I should do about gluing the plastic pieces together. I was advised to go to the jewellery department and see what they said since they do that sort of thing more often. After I tracked down their technician, and tripping over a step, I was told to give chloroform a go. It would melt the plastic together and hopefully provide the sort of join that I was looking for. In a way it was. If it was clamped properly it did provide the exact sort of join that I was wanting with my plastic pieces. However a downside was that it completely got rid of all the etching that I wanted to keep. Once I run out of trial pieces (shown in the pictures below) I had to think of something else. But I am not quite sure what the alternative is at this point.

I’ll get back to you on that.

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Fourth Year: Forging Ahead

Despite waking up to snow, I was in a good mood. Though that doesn’t really make so much sense because I like the snow. Anyways. Tests from last night show that the light travels through the new blocks of light the way that I want them too and it gives a strangely desirable effect. So riding on this high, I got cracking with preparing the blocks of acrylic as I was wanting them completed today.

I etched, using the laser cutter, the name on to the block and with a fine grit of sandpaper, I ‘brushed’ the side the name was on. For the purposes of this project, it has a nicer aesthetic than sandblasting.

After the good of the morning the afternoon was where things started to go wrong. I had done so well up until that point. It was time to start thinking about gluing the pieces together. Without going into too much detail, it didn’t go that well. The glue ruined the effect of the prism and it didn’t look good at all. Thankfully I was able to pull the pieces apart and the glue peeled off leaving no marks at all. Tomorrow I am going to head down to the workshop and see what they say I should do if I want a seamless join.

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