Week 8 – Dario Narvaez – Midterm

Instructables link to see the step by step process: https://www.instructables.com/id/Connecting-Dots-Lamp/

For this lamp I found inspiration by the drawings created by connecting a sequence of dots, as a playful way to interact with materials and to create icons and symbols. The idea is grounded under some questions: Can you draw your own lamp? Can you activate the lamp by drawing it? Can you control the light by doing doodles? I’m also extremely interested in how icons such as the light bulb with dash lines that represent light, or a lamp, or a candelabra, can powerfully serve as elements for creating memorable interactions. In this case, as you draw the icons, the circuit closes, and therefore turns on. If the drawing is erased, the circuit opens, and the lamp turns off.

This idea can be scaled to other icons and images such as candlesticks, other type of light bulbs, lamps, etc…

The idea was born when I learnt about the technology with erasable conductive markers. Although this technology can’t be used in this case due to the limitations in terms of material and the fact that the object will be linked to a specific marker, in this proposal I’m using magnets to close the circuit. Of course, there should be other interesting ways to do it! Think about this project as a working prototype. I will keep continue exploring this concept with other mediums and technologies.