The Horizon lamp is one of the lighting project I worked on when I worked at "Peter Stathis & Virtual Studio" in 2009. This is a lamp we developed as part of a collaboration with Mike McCoy and Humanscale who brought this product to market. When we first started developing this lamp, we knew that we wanted to use a Thin Film LED light, a brand new technology at the time. After going through a phase of drawing design iterations, we quickly identified that we wanted to construct this light utilizing a straight rod with ball joints mechanisms on each ends. This more functional part of the light paired with the softer form of the base and light made for an iconic design aesthetic. Although we were able to dial in this aspect of the Horizon lamp early on in the design process, we also dedicated time to go through an in-depth exploration of form and proportion. We made mock-up models and compared the different models, analyzing the strength and weaknesses of each prototype. Utilizing these preliminary models, we used a human-centered approach to further refine this design and dive deeper into the finer functional aspects of this lamp.
The final product needed to be practical as it moved in a range of positions to diffuse light where necessary but equally important was the fact that this lamp had to be intuitive. Since this lamp moved in a rather unfamiliar manner, we were very deliberate in our choices to draw attention to visual cues such as the ball joint. In fact, we had initially considered using a semi-opaque light diffuser, and we concluded that a clear diffuser would be preferable because it celebrated the ball mechanism, enabling anyone to instantly understand the lamp’s pivoting motion. This diligence in our details helped catch people’s attention and get them to engage with this dynamic light.
Shortly after releasing the Horizon lamp, it received a Red Dot Award as well as a Next Generation Luminaires Award for product design and performance. Finding the right balance between the familiar nature of a task light and the more playful Juxtaposition of this lamp’s form was no easy task, but through our rigorous design process, we were successful in developing this intuitive, visually striking, innovative light.
https://www.humanscale.com/products/product.cfm?group=horizon2.0
The final product needed to be practical as it moved in a range of positions to diffuse light where necessary but equally important was the fact that this lamp had to be intuitive. Since this lamp moved in a rather unfamiliar manner, we were very deliberate in our choices to draw attention to visual cues such as the ball joint. In fact, we had initially considered using a semi-opaque light diffuser, and we concluded that a clear diffuser would be preferable because it celebrated the ball mechanism, enabling anyone to instantly understand the lamp’s pivoting motion. This diligence in our details helped catch people’s attention and get them to engage with this dynamic light.
Shortly after releasing the Horizon lamp, it received a Red Dot Award as well as a Next Generation Luminaires Award for product design and performance. Finding the right balance between the familiar nature of a task light and the more playful Juxtaposition of this lamp’s form was no easy task, but through our rigorous design process, we were successful in developing this intuitive, visually striking, innovative light.
https://www.humanscale.com/products/product.cfm?group=horizon2.0
