For our final project, we were tasked with designing a lighting engine — an object that produces and modulates light. Our designs would be based around a task or purpose, such as illuminating a path, reading in bed, or in my case, working on a project at a desk.
Our lighting engines were to be constructed with only paper (all types included) and use a standard bulb and socket assembly. The full requirements were as follows:
• must use the IKEA E26/27 screw socket/power cord assemblies we provide
• must be lit using a bulb that you choose and purchase or the one we provide
• must be constructed of white paper stock
• must be shown and illuminated at the end of the project and at final review
• must be shown used in context through a series of mounted photographs
Inspirations
With this project, I was initially lost as to where to start, since the only two types of desk lighting were overhead and desk lamps, and they were largely based around the same shapes — cones to direct focused light at a table and a sturdy base to elevate the light to a certain level.
To get some inspiration on modern desk lamp and lighting designs in general, I walked around Carnegie Mellon’s campus and observed how lighting was executed for its function in different areas.
I noticed that around campus, most lights were well-hidden behind scaffolding or covers to avoid exposing a bare bulb, which would be harsh on the eyes. Additionally, in the case of lighting with LED bulbs, which were used in strips of multiple lights, care was taken to avoid making individual LEDs visible to give the lighting a smoother look.
I paid special attention to lights that served a similar purpose to my prompt of desk lighting. I found that the food display cabinets at dining locations around CMU did a good job of hiding the spotty nature of LEDs and provided smooth lighting on the food. The tables at Resnik Cafe were spot lit with narrow cylinders; although the resulting light was a small circle, it wasn’t very distracting. Finally, when I was studying for a midterm in my dorm room, I used my desk lamp to work and observed its pros and cons.
From using my desk lamp, I noticed that it was extremely bright — it could’ve dimly lit up the entire dorm room if pointed upwards. It was so bright, in fact, that pointing it downwards was uncomfortably bright, and I ended up pointing it upwards to use the less-intensive reflected light. However, knowing that were cases when brighter spot lighting was needed, for example, working on visually intensive tasks like sketching. I decided that I wanted my lighting engine’s brightness to be adjustable by the user.
In addition to surveying the lights on campus, I looked online to see what how others had designed desk lamps recently:
I was surprised to see examples that did not look like a traditional desk lamp, but rather a complete, uniform unit. I made it a goal to create a design that did not resemble a usual desk lamp.
Initial 3D Sketches
Before starting on making functional prototypes, I made quick “3D sketches” using paper to understand how it interacted with light.
Different types of paper: Depending on the type and weight of paper, the amount and color of light tended to vary:
Miscellaneous Ideas: I also created quick models of ideas I thought of before starting the project. These didn’t necessarily have to do with my prompt, but were more to understand how they would look when lit:
Area of Illumination: I made cones of varying angles to test how much the opening affected the amount of focused light emitted. Through this testing I found that up to a certain angle, the opening width didn’t matter too much. Only for very narrow angles did the amount of focused light drastically decrease.
Prototype 1
My first prototype was more exploratory than polished, and it was to learn more about different aspects of designing task lighting:
- how to support the weight of a bulb and socket
- making a cohesive lighting engine instead of a traditional “desk lamp”
- attempt a mechanism to reduce the intensity of light
This design was based on the shape of a lava lamp, but more geometrical and angled on one side for easier placement of the bulb. I also added a moving flap that controlled how far the light was cast by the bulb.
I relied mostly on foamcore to construct this prototype, since it was thick enough to both support the weight of the socket and bulb while blocking light from illuminating the construction. Each face of the design was cut individually, and the edges were cut angled instead of straight down to allow the sides to join up fully without gaps that could expose unwanted light. Only the opening panel was cut out of Bristol paper, since just enough light could shine through it to act as a mood light when fully shut.
This prototype had many more issues than successes which are outlined below:
- Due to a narrow base, the light would fall over if the socket wire was bumped the wrong way. This design also exposed the socket and wire from the top, ruining the otherwise minimalistic design.
- Despite cutting foam core panels out an angle, light was able to shine through every edge, though I thought it was interesting how the light “outlined” the form of the lamp when lit.
- The user had direct eye contact with the harsh brightness of bulb when the folding panel was opened, and the folding panel only controlled the area where the lamp could shine, not how bright it was.
I did find the idea of the lighting engine being a continuous form worth pursuing, and I considered unity in all my future prototypes (maybe not quite as strictly as this first one, but it was present to a degree).
Second Prototype
Given the number of faults I found with my first prototype, I decided to move in a different direction for my second iteration. My goals for this second prototype were:
- Making an intuitive, effective brightness control for the bulb.
- Minimizing direct eye contact with the bulb during normal use
- Increasing stability of the base (making it less likely to tip over)
- finding a a design less sensitive to craftsmanship issues (not because I wanted an easier way out, but that humans are inherently not perfect and therefore any prototype will have small imperfections.
- Hiding the socket and wire up to the base of the prototype
For inspiration about the overall design of this iteration, I referenced an idea about brightness control I had while sketching ideas during my first iteration. A rotating drum with progressively wider slits could be placed around the bulb. By rotating this drum, the user would control how much light could pass through the drum, and consequently the output of the lighting engine.
Additionally, I switched to a brighter, cooler bulb, since the provided bulb didn’t shine brightly enough for the purpose of task lighting, and the warmth of the light emitted would make a user sleepy, rather than concentrate on their work. Here are the two bulbs and their specifications side by side:
- 5 → 9.5 watt
- 2700K → 3000K temperature (colder)
- 400 / 800 lumens (brighter)
As shown by the specs and pictures, the new bulb is much brighter and less warm, conducive to desk projects where focus and clarity is needed. I later tested these two bulbs in a later prototype and immediately felt less sleepy when working with the new bulb!
I made a rough mini of the rotating drum concept out of Bristol paper and fit it over the old bulb to make sure it could reduce the amount of light emitted:
After turning the bulb on, I confirmed that the mechanism worked to reduce brightness, but needed thicker paper to avoid the drum itself from being lit up by the bulb. From there, I made a more polished template for the drum in Adobe Illustrator:
The grilles were rounded at the corners to reflect the rounded form of the drum. Because of the sheer number of rounded corners and holes in this design, I decided to use a laser cutter rather than hand cut this design. I ended up cutting matboard, a thick but foldable paper that blocked out unwanted light.
The cut turned out very well, and once I curved the paper to form a drum, it worked to reduce the brightness to a certain degree.
I settled on continuing the cylindrical form of the the lampshade and grille down to the base, joining each cylinder at a right angle to avoid the slab sides characteristic of other prototypes in my group:
Unfortunately, crafting this design was much trickier than I anticipated; areas where curved surfaces met other curved surfaces were pretty much done by trial and error, cutting and refitting several times. Thankfully I used Bristol paper for this section: a medium-thickness paper that could hold its form well but remained easy to fold and cut. I even made a stand out of wire to hold the socket up while I marked cut locations for each piece of the base. And that was just the stand…
Having a rotating element in this prototype also introduced a surprising amount of complexity. Since light needed to be directed downwards towards the work surface and away from the user’s eyes, a lampshade needed to be added to the top to block the top-facing slits from shining too brightly. I still needed the drum grille to rotate, so the solution seemed fairly simple: one end fit over the lamp, the other end would poke through the lampshade, allowing it to turn on an axis. What I didn’t realize was that due to how well my drum design was integrated to my bulb, there was a very specific order in which I had to attach parts:
The drum grille was almost like a cage for the bulb, meaning it was secure but impossible to access once glued shut. Additionally, I had trouble getting the grille to spin freely since the two ends needed to be aligned perfectly, and the seam on the drum kept catching on the lampshade:
In summary, although I loved several aspects of this prototype…
- using alternate tools/methods to achieve unique results (eg. laser cutting)
- socket wire could be hidden within the lamp
- degree of interaction with lighting engine (brightness control)
- smoother form compared to last prototype
- brighter, cooler bulb great for task lighting
…the design brought some complications as well:
- moving parts difficult to align with overall form
- limited functionality of moving parts
- no access to bulb
- light mostly shined directly on base, not towards user
During class in studio, we split up into groups and critiqued others’ lights, taking note of how we were or weren’t drawn to the prototypes, our associations with the form, and how the form reflected its intended purpose.
From having several perspectives, I learned a ton about my latest prototype. My assigned group felt that the overall form was too bulky, compared to their image of a desk lamp / task lighting. My prototype most resembled a boat engine to them, which spoke to me about how inorganic my design turned out; this was the opposite of what I wanted to achieve. Most importantly however, people noted that the majority of emitted light fell towards the base of the lamp instead of the desk. Realizing this was a turning point for me, in which I made sure to pay equal attention to functionality as form.
Prototype 3
With peer feedback fresh in my mind, I set out to achieve the following improvements from my previous iteration:
- Create a more “organic” form that does not resemble machinery
- Simplify construction, even if it means reducing interaction
- Improve access to the bulb
- Shine light towards user
A lot of my classmates incorporated curved paper folds into their designs at this point, and since they allowed for natural-looking forms while providing structural support, I felt that it was worth exploring.
I started by sketching out ideas that incorporated this curved folding style, settling on a two-pillared arch holding up a traditionally-styled lampshade up (think the St. Louis Arch with a light at the top).
At this point I needed to learn how paper responded to curved folds. To do this quickly without wasting too much paper, I made various minis of curved paper “pillars”, experimenting with the direction of adjacent curves the amount of curvature, and the shapes of each face needed to form the pillars:
From making these minis, I learned that the three-side pillars I intended to use worked best when cut out to be vertically symmetrical. The edges of the middle face HAD to curve away from each other, otherwise the paper would not want to be folded naturally. Depending on the direction of the curves (converging or diverging), the pillar would curve inwards or outwards; in fact, S-shaped curves could result in a very organic form that almost resembled a tentacle: a design I would utilize in my final engine but not this one.
I moved onto making minis of my new design. From the start, it was apparent that my original design would result in a very wide base, which would not solve the problem of my latest prototype looking too bulky. Therefore I stuck with a design that used only one support pillar that had a C shaped curve for simplicity of form:
Although this design no longer included moving parts, it was still a bit of a hassle to craft. Bristol paper was used for constructing the pillar since I felt it would be strong enough once folded to hold the bulb and socket up. Glueing the edges of the pillar together proved to be difficult since the paper wanted to unfold by itself. I attached the two free edges with a number of folded tabs; this was a subpar solution because 1) the straight-edged tabs resulted in the natural curve of the pillar getting crumpled and 2) this method left an unsightly gap between the edges.
The lampshade was also constructed out of Bristol. However, since the socket and bulb would have crumpled the cone shape, I added a foamcore disc that acted as a support. By glueing this support in, inserting the socket, and then screwing on the included socket ring, the socket would then be very secure without crumpling the lampshade.
Without a mesh blocking some of the light like the last prototype, this design lit up the work area much better. Subjectively, this design had a lot less visual mass, reducing its resemblance to heavy machinery. However, the lamp had trouble standing up by itself for a few reasons. The base was shifted too far back, resulting in the socket and bulb’s weight tipping the whole lamp over. Additionally, since I was still hand-drawing the templates used to make the pillar, the final form appeared twisted, weakening the overall construction.
In summary, this prototype improved from the last by:
- reducing visual mass
- taking on a more organic form
- allowing easy access to the lightbulb
but needed work on:
- physical balance (refinement, not reinvention)
- craftsmanship / alternate crafting methods
I also felt that a single, C-shaped pillar with a traditional lampshade, though minimalist, was not visually captivating. I wanted something much more attention grabbing.
Other Ideas
Before settling on my final design, I explored refinements to my previous prototypes:
Prototype 2: My original inspiration for this design was the shell of a shrimp or lobster, in the way that the outside was smooth and segmented compared the jumbled mess of legs underneath. In this design, the sides of the base facing the drum grille would have cutouts inspired by the ones on the grille, continuing down all the way to the base. To add structural support and hide the wire, a foamcore support would be added to the vertical section of the base.
I ended up not pursuing this idea further due to the heavy reliance on laser cutting for every design making rapid prototyping much slower. I also concluded that the user of a desk lamp probably would be less concerned about the brightness of a lamp rather than the direction the light was shining towards.
Adjusting lit area: Focusing my efforts on redirecting light, I created a simple 360 degree, adjustable lampshade. This consisted of two sets of concentric rings joined by metal brads, allowing the bottom shade to pivot around “freely”.
An upperclassman suggested I should not worry too much about interaction but rather focus on the lighting engine’s form as a whole. Due to time constraints, I was forced to abandon this idea, but will definitely explore it in further detail sometime in the future.
Prototype 3: Since my original two-pillar concept was too bulky in real life, I continued experimenting with combining pillars of different shapes and sizes. By accident, I placed two similar S-shaped pillars facing each other: not only did the base look much thinner this way, but the lampshade could fit perfectly between these two “arms”.
Given that I now had a clear goal in mind for one of the paths I explored, I stuck with it for my final design.
Final: 1st Version
Going into the final lighting iteration, I was feeling extremely confident in the idea I had. Quickly, I learned that my new design was deceptively difficult to perfect…
Before starting the final lamp, I made a number of mini pillars to finalize their proportions. In order to keep this process consistent, I translated my hand sketches into Adobe Illustrator. In addition to being able to print out multiple identical templates, this also allowed me to make quick tweaks to fix proportions or curvature.
I ran into an unanticipated problem even while making minis: since the lamp shade design I would be using was conical rather than cylindrical, the upper sections of the lamp had to “twist” a little bit to stay flush with the lampshade. As I found out, skewing the whole design also brought a number of fitment issues which I had to spend considerable effort to understand and fix later on.
To eliminate the problem I had with rough seams in Prototype 3, I glued the edges of the template together differently: After securing the flaps with masking tape, I applied hot glue to the inside of the flaps. Once dried, I could remove the masking tape while the flaps held tightly. For the back pillar, I also added a wireframe for added support since it would be holding up the lampshade.
Instead of Bristol paper, I used Yupo paper to form the basic lampshade shape. Yupo is a translucent, plastic paper with a matte finish. As one of my original goals for the lighting engine was providing both ambient and focused light, I felt that this paper would suit this purpose perfectly. For added strength, a matboard cone was glued to the inside of this lampshade, with the intent of holding the socket tightly while providing a solid base to glue the shade onto the back pillar. To hide the socket wire, I cut a hole into the top of the back pillar and the lampshade, threading the wire through these holes.
When constructing the front pillar, I realized that I didn’t refine the template far enough. Skewing and scaling down the back template resulted in a front pillar with edges that didn’t match and it didn’t conform to the curve of the lampshade at all; even the height of the pillar was not quite right.
The first version of my final is shown below. As the pictures show, there were a few fitment issues particularly in the front pillar. This version also had trouble balancing, mostly due to bad fitment of the front pillar:
However, besides the ill-fitting front pillar, there were other issues that needed to be addressed as well. The bulb was now directly exposed to the user, which was obviously not ideal for a good working environment. Also, the form looked too bulky, mostly because of the wider base.
Final: 2nd Version
Finalizing the final model took much longer than expected: working out certain small problems of my first version was, by far, the most time consuming part of this entire project.
Front pillar redesign:
I removed the front pillar and made a rough wireframe with a new design. Instead of an S-shaped pillar, I changed the front to a C-shape since adjusting the amount of twist might be easier, as well as contour more naturally with the back pillar. Using the wireframe as a guide, I matched the shape of the three sides with paper cutouts and taped them together.
To my dismay, this pattern would not fold flat (in other words, impossible to make a folding template of. It seemed that an S-shaped pillar would still be my best bet.
I scrapped my old template for the front pillar and made another from scratch. As a reference, I cut parts of the old front pillar up to match the contour of the lampshade. I reverted back to making minis out of printer paper to identify which part of the template needed changing to fit the lampshade better. Each iteration of these minis had a small change to a part of a curve, or the angle at which two sides joined. After a number of tries, the proportions and curvature of the mini roughly resembled the reference. From there, I played around with the amount of shear; after about 3 tries of adjusting the degrees by slight amounts, I wound up with a shape that almost matched the lampshade perfectly.
To address the slight bulkiness of my current design, I added a small concavity to the base of each pillar. This broke up the volume at the base of the pillars while conforming to the organic nature of my design. Since the two pillars had differently sized bases, I added a considerable curve to the front pillar to blend it into the bigger back pillar better.
Other tweaks
To eliminate glare from the bulb, I extended the lampshade about an inch outwards. Since the bulb could still be seen if the user leaning over their desk, I also added a Yupo paper cover to the front of the lamp, blocking direct eye contact with the bulb; interestingly, this barely had an effect on the brightness of the emitted light.
In order to achieve the drastic curves mentioned earlier, I added paper supports inside the pillars that pulled certain edges together. I also reinforced the connection between the front and back pillars with wire, and slightly adjusted the back pillar’s wireframe so it wouldn’t tip forwards as easily.
Thoughts on Final
I am satisfied with how the fit and finish of the lighting engine turned out. The slight design tweaks I made from the first draft of the final were easily worth the effort; this revised version feels much more organic and dynamic, capturing ambient light in more interesting ways in its off state compared to before. The final model also illuminated just the right amount of desk space I was aiming for: a fanned-open notebook and a laptop.
Final Reflections
When I first got the prompt of designing a desk lamp, I was very disappointed: after all, how do you reinvent the wheel? Most people have a preconceived notion about what a desk lamp should look like; I certainly did coming into this project.
It turned out that straying from the norm was the hardest part of the prompt. We were told to not think of our prompts as strict categories, such as chandeliers for dining with friends or nightlights for sleeping, but envision our final designs as more vague “lighting engines” — objects that emitted light. Due to our prompt being different than others in that we had to engineer a secure stand, us students chosen to make desk lighting had an extra challenge. However, I found it extremely gratifying to finally create an object that is not merely a hanging lampshade but a working product.
I have also gained tremendous respect for minimalist designers. As I learned through the making of my lighting engine, even the simplest designs often take as much effort, if not more effort than complicated ones, since fit and finish are very important when there are no details to hide flaws.
