Research

This issues of lacking adequate lighting and interaction-solitude balance emerged after guerrilla and semi-structurally interviewed 10 student entrepreneurs and panel-interviewed a leadership team of 8 in the startup space at Indiana University, IU Innovates. 

Two significant user quotes came from Julie, the director, and Parker, a community manager at IU Innovates, summarized my solution directions.

Problem Statement

How can I enhance lighting and foster social norms that balance interaction and personal boundaries in the naturally engaging but distracting environment of IU Innovates’ second-floor startup space?

Idea Iterations

The project started as an adaptive light concept that changed colors based on biometrics to support focus and flow. Inspired by research on lighting’s impact on creativity, I explored key qualities like temperature, color, and luminance. As this was my first time working with Arduino, I embraced the challenge of learning LED control. The concept evolved into a light system using intuitive color signals to show whether users prefer focus or interaction, with portable lights recharging on a wall-mounted deck.

To wire the mechanics, I conducted research, created diagrams, and used TinkerCad to prototype before testing on a breadboard. The breadboard prototype successfully changed colors when tapped on the touch sensor.

Although the breadboardd prototype wasn't working well when scaled down to fit inside the light tube, I got the wiring and the light fixture ready and hypothesized a couple reasons for future iterations.