I assembled a lamp out of a cardboard box with an LED strip inside and a toggle switch. Experimentally, I tried to choose the size and brightness of the text so that a person could see the sign even at a distance when approaching my desk.

The cardboard box did its job, but it turned out to be inconvenient: when turning it on, the box drove around the table and had to be held with my hand. To solve this problem, I also considered adding a button pressed from above. But due to the height of the box, it constantly fell over if the table was pushed. Obviously, it was necessary to either increase the weight or reduce the height.

When will you be available?

It turned out that just a text with my status was not enough. If something was urgent, people still broke through the sign and asked, “When will you be available?”

It became clear that only text about my status wasn’t enough, so I decided to build a new prototype with a display and practical casing. The display would show my “BUSY” status and the remaining time for this status. The new casing would solve problems with stability and strength.

Stay tuned

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