Lightbox

Following the first Carousel study, and taking into consideration some of our learnings, we came up with new concepts and built prototypes to test internally. One of these concepts was the Lightbox concept which allows users to print and display their photos in an engaging and familiar form factor. It addressed several issues with the original carousel concept. Firstly, it took the carousel off the table and placed it on the wall, making it more of a display piece. Secondly, it addressed the issue of organization, as users felt that picking up photos off the carousel broke the aesthetic order of the piece. Thirdly, it addressed the issue of constant printing in carousel. With Lightbox, the user initiates printing of the next photo by taking one from the printer; they could choose to keep it or place it on the board to display it. The carousel was viewed as passive in that the user doesn’t initiate printing, nor do they choose how to display the print; Lightbox made the object more interactive and engaging. Lastly, it references familiar objects such as the marquee and the ticket dispensing machine, which create emotional resonance.

Why it matters: Taking feedback from user studies and using it to inform product concepts lends validity to new concepts and enables one to uncover issues with the concepts that one can later address in new iterations. Lightbox addressed various issues with the Carousel concept while retaining the character of the original concept, making for a more emotionally resonant product.

Contributions: Concept, industrial design, physical prototype, user study.

Team: Eric Faggin, Mithra Vankipuram, Brad Wittke.