Lumogram is an interactive, backlit diorama pendant, made with environmentally-mindful materials (wood and paper) and bespoke, re-usable touch-activated electronic lighting.
As the tangible component of an educational discovery workshop for young participants (16+), the goal is to demonstrate design through technology (touch-sensitive optics) and creative ideation (backlit dioramas). The cutout design’s flexibility also enables engaging with wider communities to craft customised thematic narratives with the help of templates. The backlit cutout designs enable a multitude of combinations to suit any theme.
Lumogram was a DIA Awards 2024 Finalist (Use Category), and evolution of this work is ongoing.
A kit for one to complete
As a creative practitioner working across digital, tangible interaction design and their related technologies, I adopted a transdisciplinary ethos to this project, to evaluate what it means to engage with slowness* in a technological creative practice. This meant working with material and technology as an integral process, affording active reflection during prototyping. In return, the practice results in the design of products that reciprocate this focus: we value the craft and the self-curated possibilities that go into a product’s design.
Introducing an intriguing capacitance touch-sensing feature in the form of a pendant also allowed participants to appreciate the role design has, to consider technologies beyond typical ‘mainstream’ applications, and discover what it means to critically assemble things.
Lumogram’s design also minimises material loss by utilising waste offcuts as ‘accessories’ for the pendant, and optimised layout of the laser cut material.
Education focus
The Lumogram continues to provide a platform for creative technology workshops to be designed and facilitated around–one of its core design goals. Cutout design templates are made available for participants to customise and build, and the nature of each workshop can be curated to align to any desired theme.