golden hour

kenna designed . . . "golden hour"

The prompt for this assignment was to make a product that made people interact with one another. Many of my peers took this in the literal sense but I chose to take a more metaphorical route with this project. To me, the best things in life you can't share because they are either an experience or an emotion. With this idea in mind I chose to my challenge myself to see if I could accomplish the impossible. One idea that kept sticking into my mind was the idea of sharing a sunset with someone. People often talk about how no two sunsets are ever the same and how they are always something that makes you connected to those you are with. Then it hit me, what if you aren't with the person you want to share it with? Thus, Golden Hour was born.

Golden Hour serves as a table top ambiance light that mimics the light of the sun as it rises and sets. This allows the user to program it to run on any time zone around the world, that way it can serve as a constant reminder of what loved ones are experiencing around the world. Golden hour also lets you or your loved one experience their sunset without actually being there in person. I truly find the poetry behind this piece to be beautiful in the story it tells and would love to elaborate on this idea in the future.

My design is made out of plastic that contains a strip of LED lights around the top rim on the inside of the light. The light then illuminates according the time of day and placement to the sun. There is also a barrier placed slight offset from the rim of the light that allows light to bounce off of its surface bouncing back onto the back panel which in turn makes the lighting effect mimicking the sun. *see video below for reference