Copy of Sol Caption tester

Sol

the morning light

We bring together the diverse stakeholders involved

in the product development process - from industrial designers and branding teams, to mechanical engineers

and manufacturing engineers.

This allows us to work with clients and make informed decisions quickly and effectively, focusing resources on

the concepts most likely to achieve customer

experience goals at the product level.

Sol, The Morning Light

Human-Centered Product Design

Master's Thesis Project

Sol is a light therapy device that improves the well-being of those suffering from seasonal affective disorder. The morning light helps you wake up with a ‘sunrise alarm’ feature. The portable device then provides you with comfortable light to make up for the sunlight that you’re missing during the winter - fending off the winter blues and starting your day off with more energy.

I designed this device with a classmate for my Master's thesis project, as part of Northwestern University’s Engineering Design Innovation MS program.

Here at Maestro, we use robust processes to reduce risk in

the product development process. We are intentional about maintaining the product's design intent, from product definition through to product launch.

We are inspired by the experiences that well-designed products can offer all of us. Our process focuses on capturing and maintaining products' design intent as they are developed into real products.

we are committed to crafting products that are experience-driven - by capturing and maintaining the product's intended

We are inspired by the experiences that well designed products can offer all of us, and we are committed to crafting products that are experience-driven - by capturing and maintaining the product's intended

We are inspired by the experiences that products can offer all of us, and we are committed to crafting products that

We are committed to carefully capturing the , maintai

Establishing performance and design metrics early in the design process allows stakeholders to make informed decisions quickly and effectively, focusing resources on the concepts most likely to achieve customer experience goals at the product level. This process allows the team to maintain consistency throughout development of user needs, specifications, and continuing development efforts

Skills

Primary Research & User Testing

In-person and remote interviews
In-home visits & user testing with mockups
Product benchmarking and product tear-downs

Secondary Research

Clinical reports research
Competitive product landscape analysis

Ideation & Prototyping

Research synthesis and insight generation
User mapping
Mood boarding
Sketching, clay modeling and CAD modeling
Low fidelity foam core mockups
High fidelity 3D printed works-like prototyping

What is SAD?

16 million Americans alone experience seasonal affective disorder, a form of seasonal depression caused by limited sunlight in the wintertime.

“It’s not just feeling low energy. You want to tune out completely. Everything becomes grey and the color of the weather becomes the color of your mind.”

- Anonymous interviewee, 54 years old

Luckily, there's help!

Light therapy has been proven as an effective treatment

for seasonal affective disorder by dozens of clinical trials conducted since the 80s.

How does light therapy work?

In short, light therapy provides your eyes with the sun that

your body is missing out on during the winter. This light realigns your circadian rhythm, which in turn improves your mood and increases your energy levels.

However...

We found that current devices are unattractive and inconvenient, and a stigma surrounds seasonal affective disorder.

In-Home Visits

In-home walkthroughs, and having people draw journey maps

of their morning routines gave us a more accurate assessment

of their morning routines. We explored users’ perceptions of different device form factors (e.g. glasses, shoulder-hanging lights, table lamps) through low fidelity foam core prototypes.

sunrise_sun_morgenrot_skies_morning_sun_

How can we increase people’s

receptivity and adherence to light therapy?

This led us to ask:

Research Methods

In-Person & Remote Interviews

We gained an intimate familiarity of people’s experiences

with seasonal affective disorder through in-person interviews, phone interviews and online surveys. We interviewed people with varying degrees of seasonal affective disorder, as well as skeptics and believers of light therapy. We employed tools including photo collages, word clouds and card sorting in our interviews.

Product Benchmarking, Product Teardowns

& Participatory Research

I disassembled competitors' devices and used a light intensity meter to learn of their components and tech specs. Creating

a feature matrix with competitors’ devices helped us position our product and develop our product requirements.

We also adopted competitors’ devices into our morning

routines to develop empathy with light therapy users and

assess the devices’ usability.

Clinical Study Reports & Online Reviews

Reading through dozens of reports from clinical trials affirmed our belief in light therapy. These invaluable resources dictated our device’s technical specifications, including light intensity and light wavelength.

We learned which features users tended to like and dislike, in addition to devices’ common failures by exploring Amazon reviews and secondhand marketplaces like Craigslist.

Insights

Synthesizing our research into interesting, relevant,

and actionable insights

in current

devices, leading users to abandon the devices before they begin to recognize positive changes

Habit development features are lacking

are the norm, especially for those that have trouble getting out of bed, which discourages people from adopting light therapy into their hurried mornings

Dynamic and busy morning routines

Misinformation and improper device usage

create skepticism towards light therapy and cause users

to give up on their devices

Obtrusive and unattractive device aesthetics

stigmatize light therapy and deter people from bringing light therapy devices into their homes or workplaces

.don’t work

across people’s living spaces and are typically challenging

and uncomfortable to use

Unintuitive and inflexible devices

Sol

The Morning Light

We designed and built a functioning, high-fidelity

prototype of Sol.

Sol is a transportable light that you can conveniently place in any setting

Sol helps you wake up with a sunrise alarm, which gently illuminates your room

Just 25 minutes of light in the morning can increase your energy in the winter

Design Principles

& Features

Approachable Appearance

Sol’s form is tastefully modern and elegant, to fit in across different home styles.

The round shape recalls the sun, and the body has a soft, touch-friendly texture.

Morning Routine Integration

Sol is designed to work harmoniously with your morning routine. You are free to carry the battery powered, docking light from one morning activity to the next. Clean intuitive controls, and light intensity and angle adjustments are only a touch away.

Encouraging Habit Formation

Sol adds structure to your morning, which encourages habit formation.

The light’s sunrise alarm feature helps you wake up by gently and gradually illuminating the room in morning. The Sol app syncs the alarm, can send you encouraging reminders, and provides the option to track light usage.