Forget Me Not

Pleasurable Troublemaker by Matthias Laschke & Marc Hassenzahl | 2011

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Forget Me Not is a reading lamp. After being switched on, the lamp closes slowly like a flower, obscuring and dimming its light over time. By touching one of its petals, the lamp re-opens and shines bright again. This involves its user in a constant dialogue about whether she still needs the given light, thereby reflecting on the limitedness of resources and the responsibility of making appropriate use. We deliberately designed it as a reading lamp. This provides a suitable context for the intended dialogue. Using the same idea for the main lighting would be annoying.

See our scientific paper: http://issuu.com/hassenzahl/docs/create_transformational_products_cr Forget Me Not is a reading lamp. After being switched on, the lamp closes slowly like a flower, obscuring and dimming its light over time. By touching one of its petals, the lamp re-opens and shines bright again. This involves its user in a constant dialogue about whether she still needs the given light, thereby reflecting on the limitedness of resources and the respon- sibility of making appropriate use. We deliberately designed For- get Me Not as a reading lamp. This provides a suitable context for the intended dialogue. Using the same idea for the main lighting would be simply annoying. Compared to a regular light switch, Forget Me Not engages in a constant dialogue. Again, we built a functional prototype, filmed it and proposed the concept to peo- ple. One person, for example, argued that „...it should be possible to deactivate the dim-function or to stop it in a certain position“ whereas an other fancied the ever-changing light intensity and said that „...the lamp appeared like a living plant“. www.marc-hassenzahl.de