Practicing / Prototype
Since Halloween isn’t widely celebrated in Korea, I wanted to experiment with something related to it. I sketched a cute bat design, but sadly most people couldn’t immediately recognize it as a bat. Some said it looked more like a fish. To play with that ambiguity, I added eyes on one side to suggest a bat, and a button detail on the other side to resemble a fish.
Quick three ideas
1. Boiling Egg Lamp 🍳💡
Inspiration
At night when I feel hungry, I often boil eggs as a quick snack. But I usually forget the time. I don’t like staring at the pot for six minutes, and if I lie down or check my phone, I easily forgot it. That’s why I thought about turning the egg yolk itself into a timer light.
How it works
Push the yolk → the light turns on.
After 6 minutes → it turns off by itself.
Even when I’m sleepy or distracted, I can still cook eggs easily. The glowing yolk makes the waiting time visible and playful, not stressful.
2. Hanging Bat Light 🦇🌓
Inspiration
While making the prototype, I started to connect the bat with the red led(?) I was using. Later I found out that bat eyes are not actually red, but I liked the symbolism of it. The “red eye” feeling gave me a strong image to work with, so I used that as part of the idea.
How it works
Daytime → only the bat’s eyes glow softly.
Nighttime → the moon behind the bat lights up.
The lamp shows the rhythm of day and night in a simple way. I like that it can be seen differently depending on time and angle.
3. Cat Paw for Calm 🐾🫀
Inspiration
I noticed that cat paw pads change color with mood. When cats are tense, the paw pads turn deeper pink. I thought this was interesting and used it as the idea for a plush lamp.
How it works
When you hug the plush, the paw pads light up red, like tension.
During 4–6 minutes the light slowly changes to light pink, guiding you to breathe and calm down.
The paw feels squishy and warm, so you naturally want to hold it or touch it. At the same time, the changing light makes you relax, almost like the toy is calming with you.
This project may also require an additional Force Sensitive Resistor.
Great brainstorm, Jisu! For this project, we aren’t using interactivity, just light on/off, but I really like all your ideas! You are welcome to include future features in the story, and focus on the form and light diffusion for the prototype due week 5. Are you leaning more towards one of these ideas than the others? I could see them all being very successful. My advice is to make the form nice and big so it can easily fit your battery pack and have space to fully diffuse your LEDs. Let me know if you have questions!
Hi! I love all of these ideas, the idea of the cat paws illustrating tension is interesting. This seems really feasible, I like the idea of the cat paw being larger in scale. I think you should photograph it in use, like being hugged during some emotional turmoil.
Hi Jisu! The cat paw is such a cute idea. I think using a different LED color light for the four different paws would be so fun. I also think you could experiment with different colored paws and maybe create something unique? It would perhaps be fun to photograph this in cafes (like a cat cafe) or with some flowers.
I really like the concept of the calming cat paw! Adding a squishy texture inside the plush could enhance the tactile experience and support your idea even further. I also think warm-colored lights would strengthen the relaxing and soothing atmosphere.