Adjustable Mirror

The casing of the mirror is painted gray with some speckles of dark gray or black to evoke a rusted metallic like finish. This matches the storyboard's setting of an abandoned spaceship. To eliminate the possibility of a user ripping the mirror off of the wall, the mirror is embedded into an extruded portion of the wall. The mirror is very reflective to assist in the reflection of light beams onto the solar panel. There are nubs with indentations so that users can use it to change the angle of the mirror, preventing fingerprints.

After some testing, the nubs fit users' fingers only in certain orientations. We will further iterate to make the design of the nub more ergonomic. For some users, the point of the nub was unclear, and it failed to prevent fingerprints. On the other hand, the mirror was a clear indication that the light had to be reflected off of it.

Solar Panel

The solar panel is where the users will direct the light to using the mirrors. The solar panel will look just like ones that users are probably familiar with, to make the task less confusing. The photodiode will be embeded in the center of the panel, where the red circle is. There will be a protective plastic layer over the panel design to further make the solar panel realistic, and also protect the electronics.

After some testing, it was obvious to most users that this was a solar panel, given the context. Perhaps this solar panel could be hidden behind the corner, because we got some feedback that users can just shine their phone lights at the solar panel. If the panel is behind a corner, users will need to use the mirrors to direct the light no matter what.

© 2018 by Kaymie Shiozawa