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SARAH HASHIGUCHI
product designer
IRIS LAMP
MATERIAL PLAY AT ITS FINEST
Design Brief: create a warm, glowy, mid-sized table lamp
Solution: an elegant body comprised of steel and porcelain-finish glass that nests safely in a stone base allowing the light to be adjusted from directional to wall-wash
MY ROLE
While I was the lead Designer + Developer for this product, I could not have done it without the feedback and support from others. Throughout each milestone of the process I presented work to my Product team and Creative Services who provided design critique and ensured the product continued to stay on brand. I worked closely with the Engineering team to design within UL standards and create final prototypes in-house.
THE PROCESS
Due to the proprietary nature of the design + development process of new products, the images below are limited. This brief outline aims to walk through the creation steps to fill in gaps of the product story not represented by visuals.
Design Brief – In this case, the given brief allowed the freedom to play with possibilities before carefully defining objectives based on research and ideation. As the lead for this project, I was responsible for presenting information and a point of view to my team in order to guide them through a series of decisions so I could finish writing the brief.
Research – This initial stage included a market analysis and a collection of internal comparisons looking at price, style, features, etc. After analyzing numbers and and user case scenarios, I assigned a customer type and finalized a target budget, retail price, size, and light quality.
Ideation/Modeling – Working from annual and seasonal company mood boards produced by our Creative Manager, I narrowed down the feel and inspiration for this specific product. I sketched (by hand and digitally), wired physical models, experimented with component interactions, and ultimately drove the design by material choices.
Sampling – I created technical drawings of the base component that underwent several rounds of sampling as I worked with our vendor to adjust the design to improve manufacturing tolerances and outcomes for final production quantities.
Packaging – The predicted success of this product warranted its own branded box so I wrote a packaging brief and helped guide our Graphic Designer as she produced several rounds of label options. We worked to reflect the playful nature of the light in both the graphics, label shape, and application.
Launch – The Iris Lamp launched in Fall 2019 and due to unforeseen manufacturing issues, was released in limited initial quantities. That first version with a Sandstone base sold out in just a couple months, quickly becoming a top performing product in our lighting category. The product was then relaunched in Winter 2020 with a limited edition Soapstone base.
Warm / Glowy
Spotlight / Directional
Color Inspiration from Select Mood Board Images
Early Version Material Exploration
Defining Tolerances
Wrap Around Label Development
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