Slide 1 – Group Introduction
- Hi, we are Luna Wall coverings, a specialist
company producing glow in the dark wallpaper.
- In our team we have Jinnipa, Jordan, Justyna,
Katie and myself Laura
Slide 2 – Inspiration
- Our initial inspiration for our product came
from Bioluminescence; which is the light emitted from living organisms
- They have a wonderfully vibrant and otherworldly
quality to them, and I thought it would be great to bring this into a product
somehow.
- At this stage there was a lot of questions to be
answered as to whether it would be a plausible idea to take further. Such as,
would it be possible to grow our own bioluminescent algae?
Slide 3 – Surface Design Show
- It was when I went to the Surface Design Show
this year that our idea of bringing light to a product was first supported.
- There was a lot of innovative surfaces that were
incorporating light in some way or another so there seemed to be a trend for
it.
- It seemed to me that these surfaces were aimed
for more of a commercial use and that perhaps there was a gap to bring it into
a more domestic market.
- One company in particular called Light + Matter
+ Dream were really inspirational.
- They had managed to incorporate natural
luminescence into their own hard materials such as resin and stone
- They wouldn’t tell me exactly how this worked by
I felt light was definitely an avenue that we as a company should go down
- We had limited knowledge of how Bioluminescence
could be applied to a product so we looked for other options for how we could
incorporate light into a product.
Slide 8 – Quotes
- We did some research and found some quotes that
back up the idea of young professionals wanting to live in a more personalised
and trendy accommodation.
- They are likely to be reluctant to spend any
money themselves to decorate somewhere that they don’t own. - Therefore, anything
that the land lord can do to give their properties more character and style, is
definitely going to attract them.
Slide 23 – Glow Pigment
- Emits visible light for 20 years without any perceivable
changes in its properties. So the customer would be spending money on a quality
product that will last.
- It soaks up the light during the day, whether
natural or artificial light and then releases it when it gets dark. So it would
recharge every day and so would be a continuous cycle.
- It contains no radioactive or toxic materials so
it’s completely safe for domestic use
- Has a melting point of 2400 degrees Fahrenheit,
so isn’t a fire hazard
- Comes in a variety of colours. Green and blue
shades have the strongest light emission of a few hours while the orange and
red shades are the weakest with only approximately half an hour’s strong glow.
- This impacts the colour range that we are able
to use on our product, being limited to the blue and green shades as can be
seen in our designs. We want the glow to last as long as possible, not fading
after only half an hour!
- The ink is usually made by mixing glow in the
dark pigment in a powder form, with a clear binder.
- It is then suitable for using in a variety of
ways, such as Flexo printing as we will be using to print our wallpaper.
Slide 24 – Prototype
- Flexo printing is a very cost effective method
of printing used increasingly in industry. It uses a flexible rubber like
relief plate to print the imagery. Sort of like a stamp that rotates. So each
colour in the design would have a separate plate made.
- So the design shown here would have four plates.
Three for the grey tones and then the gow in the dark pigment on top.
- We’ve chosen this method of printing as it’s
cost effective and also allows a wide range of inks to be used, such as the
glow in the dark ink. Whereas other printing methods aren’t so flexible.
- For the prototype I have used screen printing instead
as that’s what is available at Uni.
- I decided to build up the design using colour separations,
where I had to expose each layer separately onto a photoscreen.
- The photos here show the stages of the printing
process as each layer gets printed.
- I sourced some glow in the dark paint which is slightly
different to the ink we intend to use, but it shows the general idea. As you
can probably feel, it’s quite rough to the touch so I ended up painting it on
by hand rather than risk it blocking a screen.
- The design is printed on a much smaller scale
than what’s shown on our visualisations, and this was done for the purpose of
you seeing the whole design not just a
small area at the realistic scale.
Slide 25 – Testing
- When it comes to health and safety tests, we are
going to need our product to be tested for:
- Fire resistance as it may end up near a fire
place or heater
- Tearing strength for when the customer puts the
wallpaper us, we don’t want it to rip easily
- Abrasion resistance in case anything rubs
against it
- Wash-ability for if the wallpaper needs wiping
down if it got marked or something spilt on it
- Pollution gasses in case of someone smoking near
it, we don’t want it to get easily discoloured
And finally light, as sunlight can bleach and change colours.
And finally light, as sunlight can bleach and change colours.
Laura x
