HELEO

// SUMMER * 2026

— PROJECT OVERVIEW

Integrate ambient and direct lighting into a single form. Design a custom tactile interaction rather than relying on stock hardware. Explore color as a functional signal, not just decoration.

— CONCEPT

HELEO explores what a single lamp could become if ambient and direct lighting were treated as one integrated form rather than two separate fixtures. A hinging shade pivots between the two, letting the object adapt to whatever lighting a moment calls for.

HELEO explores what a single lamp could become if ambient and direct lighting were treated as one integrated form rather than two separate fixtures. A hinging shade pivots between the two, letting the object adapt to whatever lighting a moment calls for.

— IDEATION

Sketching a range of base forms before narrowing toward the strongest direction allowed the design to be pushed further through color and material testing. That process led to HELEO's hinging design, built around a single continuous pivot.

— BUTTON MECHANISM

Rather than relying on a stock off-the-shelf button, I engineered a custom mechanism designed to deliver a satisfying, tactile push.

— COLOR & LIGHT LANGUAGE

A continuous light edge runs along the shade's leading corner, with red accents at the pivot hub and base button marking the exact points where the user makes contact with the object.

— DEVELOPMENT/PROCESS

Prototyping
Before committing to final fabrication, I built a small 3D-printed mockup alongside cardboard proof-of-concept models to test form and proportion in physical space.

Post-Processing
I treated the 3D prints as their own design problem, using a rotary sander with acetone and Bondo to smooth the surfaces and mimic the finish quality of an actual injection-molded part.

— INTERACTION SEQUENCE



01 | Lamp at rest, ambient mode

















02 | Hinge pivots for direct lighting

















03 | Button press toggles power

— FINAL PRESENTATION

— REFLECTION

This project reinforced how much serviceability matters in physical product design, specifically designing an enclosure that allows easy access to the electronics for repair or maintenance, rather than treating assembly as a one-way process.

I also came away with a much deeper understanding of injection molding, particularly how gate placement affects a part, and how multi-part molds use internal mechanisms to release more complex geometry than a single-cavity mold could. This final model is a high-fidelity proof of concept rather than a production-ready product, one that demonstrates the design and interaction intent while the underlying engineering for true manufacture remains a next step beyond this phase.