Reflection & Insights
Light Pollution & Sleep
Living in Hong Kong for more than 20 years means that I was exposed to light for a very long time in my life. I never realized how harmful light was to me, as the government and media praise lights on the street as a cultural and iconic symbol for Hong Kong. The neon light board on the side of the streets, bright billboard screens on buildings, light shows every night in the Victoria Habour, and fireworks in Disneyland… all of these are light sources that illuminate Hong Kong every night.
However during Covid, with fewer tourists the light emitted reduced and I realized a subtle change in my sleep cycle. The positive changes are more notable after arriving in Cornwall, I experience better sleep – in both quality and duration. While I was still in Hong Kong the light was so intense that my body was adjusted to it, but after coming to Cornwall where the lights are less intense, I experienced better rest as my body can regulate itself to the exact time of the day.
Although the change was subtle I didn’t realise it at first, but during the Bonfire night, the dark sky with bright stars sparked me with the realisation of how beautiful nature is, and how my body is regulating itself when I am in a less “artificial” environment. As I was handed the brief for the Intersection module, the idea of making a human-centred design based on Light Pollution came into my mind. I hope to showcase the importance of having a good light environment for our body while reducing the impact of the light environment on us.
Product and UX design
This is the first time I engaged in product design and UX design, in general, the challenges are a good lesson for me about how to design an app and sunglasses. The feasibility of the product, the cohesiveness between the app and the product, the theme in general and the touchpoint in general.
At first, the sunglasses idea revolved around the concept of pigment-changing lenses, but I faced the challenge of “Can it be real?” I have thought about implementing photochromic technology into the lens, however, it is impossible to achieve a pigment-changing lens at the moment. Further research into the field of lens and light wavelength, I found out that putting on a filter in front of a light source changes the wavelength of light, which could achieve what I aimed for initially.
For the app UX design, I have learned about how to design an app in general - the theme, the touch point and the cohesiveness. As I used to work in the printing field, I am familiar with colour themes and fonts, however, on-screen fonts and colours work differently than on print, the generally thought to be “thin” font on print gives off a minimalistic style while on screen; colours are more vibrant on-screen and works differently with each other than printed. The cohesiveness between the app and the product taught me the importance of using the theme in all aspects as well. I first designed the app logo and put it on the loading screen. However, it didn’t make its way into the app interface or the lens, which made it a kind of waste. With suggestions and advice from professionals, I utilize the logo and the name more on the glasses.
On the touchpoint, now when I reflect and evaluate what I have done for this project, I realized I missed out on the “night mode” for the app. Night modes are designed for eye protection in the first place, but I designed an app for light intake without this function.