SIALOS is a modular desk lamp with multi-axis control and adaptive light tones to reduce children’s eye fatigue during nighttime study.
1. RESEARCH
Childhood myopia is rising in the U.S., with diagnosed cases increasing from "6.75% in 2016" to "7.24% in 2019."
-National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Myopia: Causes, Prevention, and Treatment of an Increasingly Common Disease, 2024.
"Parents choose the products, but children live with the experience.
When design overlooks children’s real behaviors, safety and comfort risks can go unseen."
— “Child Safety in the Smart Home,” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 2021.
PAIN POINTS
DESIGN STATEMENT
Visual
Comfort
Study
Pressure
Silent
Discomfort
Bright light can create glare, harsh contrast, and shadows, making study uncomfortable.
Under academic pressure, children often study for extended hours, increasing the risk of eye fatigue.
Children may feel discomfort before they can explain why, causing habits to go unnoticed.
≈7.24%
≈35.22%
0%
100%
Children ages 0 - 17 affected by myopia by 2026
ESTIMATED PREVALENCE
1 in 14
United States
7.24%
35.22%
Children ages 0 - 17 affected by myopia by 2026
1 in 3
ESTIMATED PREVALENCE
East Asia
100%
0%
SIALOS re-images the desk lamp as both an adaptive study tool and a sculptural lighting object, addressing nighttime visual discomfort through personalized control while bringing a cleaner, softer, and modern presence into the study environment.
Year
Designer
Tools Used
2026.
Jan.
6 Weeks
Jimmy Wang
2. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
With a better understanding of design features, I developed an understanding of the project’s mechanical and visual direction through the mood board. I studied mechanisms, assembly details, and texture references to guide both function and design language. With problem insights in mind, the next step is to sketch, iterate, and validate decisions through use.
I tested three existing study lamps through a writing task to compare comfort, glare, shadows, adjustability, and interaction. If these issues caused discomfort for an adult, they may affect children even more. Thus, the testing phase is essential for defining what SIALOS should keep, improve, or rethink before material testing, sketching, and prototype validation.
Clip-On Lamp
Flexible Arm Lamp
Wide Light Bar Lamp
Saves desk space through clip-on mounting.
Flexible pole allows customized positioning.
Best overall light coverage and useful tone variation.
Unstable clipping made adjustment feel unsafe.
The Freedom creates inconsistent lighting, weight creates imbalance.
Limited rotation causes shadows when the user shifts position.
Compactness is valuable, but SIALOS needs a more secure structure and locking system.
SIALOS should offer adjustability with controlled, lockable positions.
SIALOS should maintain wide, soft illumination while improving directional control and adaptive tone.
Rapid sketch iterations helped me break down structural details from visual references and translate them into a focused form language for the project. The next step is to select key mechanisms and prototype them to test scale, handling, and user feel.
“Shape can also be used to strengthen symbolic associations between control and function.”
-Cornell University Ergonomics Web. “Control Design.” Cornell University Ergonomics Web.
“Surface texture of the control can ease identification.”
-Cornell University Ergonomics Web. “Control Design.” Cornell University Ergonomics Web.
“Shape encoding is especially important if the operator’s eyes cannot leave a primary focus.”
-Spirkovska, Lilly. “Summary of Tactile User Interfaces Techniques and Systems.” NASA Technical Reports Server, 2005.
“Even subtle micro-textures can be felt by touch, giving a surface a distinct tactile quality.”
-Tactile Perception of Randomly Rough Surfaces.” Scientific Reports 10, no. 1 (2020).
TEXTURE EXPLORATIONS
FINAL INTEGRATION
IDEA SKETCH
MOOD BOARD
USER TESTING
Texture Behavior Translation
Research insights helped me articulated what a successful texture should support: control recognition, better grip, intuitive adjustment, and safety enhancements. I also consulted with my professor regarding the purpose of texture making. I learned that each texture can be iterated to observed user-experience issues, turning material into research-driven design decisions.
Subtle noise bumps give the shell soft tactile without making the lamp feel visually heavy.
Woven cable texture makes the electrical component feel softer, safer, and more child-friendly.
Circular cut texture helps users locate and turn the lock wheel to secure or release the extension pole.
Triangular texture provides a clear holding point and added resistance during rotation.
Repetitive circle cuts make the 4-tone switch easier to read through touch and motion.
Hatched slider texture helps children quickly find and adjust the ON/OFF control by touch.
PROTOTYPING
Drawing to Prototype Translations
I 3D-printed small-scale mechanical parts to translate insights from user testing, mood board takeaways, and rapid sketching into physical tests of structure, movement, and handling. I produced high-fidelity prototypes within a short timeframe, using 1/6-scale prints to refine tolerances, dimensions, and detail resolutions before moving toward the final model.
From Mechanism Studies to Working Prototype
Assembly + Interactions
This full-scale prototype helped me move from testing individual mechanisms to understanding SIALOS as a complete product, revealing how movement, assembly, proportion, and interaction perform together at real scale.
3. FINALIZED FORM
DESIGN DETAILS
360° rotating light diffuser shell
Textured steel shell
Redirects soft, even light across different study positions without requiring the user to shift the entire lamp.
Provides secure hold across rotating mechanisms, improving control and lamp stability on desks.
Tone-switch system uses four task-based color modes, with each mode corresponding to a defined rotation and locking position.
BRIGHT
WARM
FOCUS
REST
Adjustable Height
Rotate to Lock / Unlock
Adapts to different user heights, chair positions, and desk setups, helping place the light above the workspace while reducing direct glare.
Allows users to secure the lamp after adjustment.
Pitch-Axis Rotation
the diffuser rotates within a defined path to make adjustment clearer, more intentional, and easier to repeat.
Instead of selecting from preset numbers, users can adjust brightness through feel and lighting feedback, adjusting the light to what feels comfortable in the moment.
0 – 100% Brightness Trigger
CMF Explainations