FANTASPHERE
Creating illusory moments in everyday life.
BACKGROUND
Fantasphere is a project designed to fit the crowdfunding market such as Kickstarter and
Indiegogo initially. The time limit was fixed at one semester, among three months was allocated for the process from the initial idea discovery to the actual sample production. Therefore, we decided to start the research in terms of the fundraising in the market, conduct analysis through seeking successful and suitable cases, summarize their commonality for success and transfer them into our design guide, and rapidly build products that could succeed in the market.
MARKET RESEARCH
We found that in recent years those “novelty gadgets” has been prevailing and prospering in the fundraising market, and such product does not possess high price per unit or high cost of capital, however, it is attractive and especially suitable for a small team like us.
case study
Foreverspin and Fidget Cube are two of the cases which have raised the highest amounts of funds in this specific category. Thereafter, we summarized the two commonalities, which are “Craftsmanlike Gadgets for Adults” and “ Relieving Emotions and Anxieties”. They provided charismatic brand new images respectively for the conventional wooden scopperil and hand-itchy bubble wrap meanwhile satisfied the intrinsic needs of modern
people, which we think are the main reasons causing their success.
IDEATION
Emotional experience
#peaceful #relief #relax #nature #light #shadow #escape #magical
“Light and Shadow” is an element that has long been widely used by artists and designers, and it exists in every corner of our life just like the air, without much need to use excessive technologies and techniques, a stunning effect can be created by such element. The beauty of mother nature, created by light, shadow, and colors, is the most powerful element that can provide people with peaceful and relaxing experiences.
Changing the image of existing products
Meanwhile, we have been also conducting experiments regarding the light and shade (the cost of light and shade is low but its appealingness is extremely high), considering how to combine it with the gadget in order to achieve innovativeness. Moreover, speaking of light and shade, the product with the most direct connection is the lamp.
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Craftsmanship
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New Image
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prototype
In order to create a sense of craftsmanship, glass has been selected as the material of the lampshade. We found Master Liu and Master Hseih in Hsinchu, known as one of the most famous glass manufacturing industry sectors in the world. After discussing our ideas with the masters, we get to know more about the art of glass and beautiful plasticity of glass is its greatest charm.
Try and fall
We have been trying to apply various treatments on the spherical glass surface, for example, sizes, figures, carvings, sticking glass cullet, to create different kinds of light and shadow. Master Liu demonstrated various professional techniques to help us create numerous prototypes. After several times of testing and trying, we finally selected four of the prototypes who's images are the closest to nature sceneries then go into the color selection process with Master Hsieh.
Designed by: Shy Min Chou, Koun Inn Chen, Siao Inn Kuo
Hou-Jen Chen, Hsuan-Tzu Shen
Responsible for: market reaearch, ideation,
product design, filming