I spent three years as the design lead at Graypants obsessing over the form and usability of their first entry into the consumer portables market.
Wick is a portable electronic candle designed to harken back to a time when light was respected and appreciated rather than expected. My goal was to create a design that evoked semiotic links to familiar products of the past while elevating the design to play well with some of my favorite modern architectural spaces.
In order to test and validate our decisions regarding material and color temperature I developed virtual rendering environments that would accurately simulate our aesthetic choices. I obsessed over virtual material finishes and camera settings to accurately mimic locations from our previous product photoshoots.
Developing an intuitive area for the touchpoint to turn the product on and off involved various tests of material finishes paired with functional testing using virtual prototypes.
Our physical product decisions allowed me to easily adapt the established aesthetic of the product to a logo, instructions, and packaging. Recyclability of both the product and the packaging were constantly considered.
It was amazing to see the product get as much attention as it has. It landed in features by Dezeen, Design Milk. My friends kept telling me they saw it on Instagram and in Molbaks.
I'm thrilled!
