Final Thoughts & Reflection

We’re about to submit our project for evaluation, but wanted to wrap up with some final thoughts and reflection.

We began by taking an idea from Pinterest and made it into a low-tech tool that provides users with flexibility while still allowing for a cool effect in low-lit areas. Our tool allows users to attach it to any cellphone device (or potentially a small camera / tablet) and create a blacklight through their flash.

We strayed a little bit in our thinking when we attempted to determine an invisible ink substitute to place under the blacklight, but righted the ship when we determined that our goal was to make a blacklight, not figure out what works under one.

The prototype / building process took shorter than we anticipated (thanks in-part to Preyansh’s design instincts) and we ended up creating a viable product with little speed bumps along the way. Reflecting back on the process, we could have spent some more time delving into the actual look of the product. It doesn’t look like the sharpest tool on the block (despite the fact that it works quite well) so we could have determine some ways to make it look more aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps spending some of the $20 budget may have helped with this.

Overall, though, we’re happy with the results of the project and feel that we successfully fulfilled our goal of creating a DIY adjustable UV blacklight.

Having Fun with the Blacklight

Khaleel had some fun with the Blacklight earlier this evening. Here are some photos of him with the blacklight on in a dark setting, so you can see how it looks!

(Don’t mind his ugly faces)

Financial Breakdown

We get it – not everyone has a ton of money to work with all the time. Both of our team members know this, which is why we strove to create an effective multimedia tool with inexpensive items.

Here is a breakdown of all the materials we used and how much it would cost you to make:

• Sharpie Markers (Blue & Purple): $12 [normally, they don’t come in individual packs, but Amazon sells them for pretty cheap]
• Black Paper Clips: $5.60
• Clear Tape (Scotch Tape works too): $5.40
• Elastic Bands (if you don’t already have them lying around your house): $3.65
• A Cell Phone (just kidding, don’t go out and get one just for this tool)

Total Expenses: $26.65 (provided you can’t find any of this stuff around the house)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Our team did not spend this amount of money on our projects. For a detailed look at our expenses, please see below:

• Sharpie Markers (Blue & Purple): $0 [DONATED by Preyansh Patel]
• Black Paper Clips: $0 [DONATED by Khaleel Gandhi]
• Clear Tape: $0 [DONATED by Khaleel Gandhi and Preyansh Patel]
• Elastic Bands: $0 [DONATED by Preyansh Patel]

Total Expenses for the Design Team: $0

 

Second Meeting

Our team’s second meeting was held today at Mills Library at 10:30am. Here is a recount of our progress and what our team’s next steps will be:

Discussion of Invisible Ink:

In a previous post made on 05/03/18, we noted that Preyansh found that yellow highlighter created a cool effect when the blacklight was held up to it. We had a discussion on whether we should proceed with testing out bleach or not, and both determined that we should not test bleach under the black light.

Preyansh noted that our project shouldn’t extend beyond testing different UV-compatible substances, because our original goal was to create just a blacklight that’s adjustable for different phones/devices. We decided to include some suggestions for creating cool effects with the blacklight, but not actively test them, because it would extend outside the project scope.

Making the Walkthrough Videos:

We then proceeded to make walkthrough videos to post on YouTube for viewers to see our thought process and visually see how to create this project.

To view the videos, visit the top of the site and click “Videos”.

Next Steps:

Our project was deemed as complete by both of us. Our next steps are to complete the blog, finalize any outstanding matters in the tutorial meeting on 07/03/18, and submit the project.

Meeting Adjourned: 11:15am

Highlighter > Bleach

Building off our last post, Preyansh set out to determine whether or not bleach would work as an appropriate substitute for invisible ink. Before he tested bleach, he wanted to try out a safer, more user-accessible option for showing cool effects under blacklight – and a yellow highlighter was a perfect substitute.

Writing on a white piece of paper, Preyansh wrote a simple message in both yellow and blue highlighter. He then turned off the lights, turned on the flash (with the blacklight mechanism) and it created a cool visual effect with the yellow highlighter.

You can view the experiment here: https://youtu.be/z1TePXnnv6w

(WordPress doesn’t let you put videos directly on here)

Advantages & Disadvantages:

Highlighter is a strong substitute for using bleach to create an “invisible ink” effect on paper, especially when you’re writing notes to people. However, highlighter is limited to strictly that – writing messages on paper. Unless you want to highlight physical parts of your body (which we do not endorse)!

Things that can glow under blacklight that you can have fun with:

• Fluorescent Paper Board
• Glow Sticks, Bracelets, Necklaces
• UV-Reactive Paint

This can work especially well at parties (in dark rooms) or if you’re just looking to have a fun night in with some cool effects to play around with.

 

First Meeting

Our team’s first meeting was held today at Mills Library, beginning at 3pm. Here is a recount of our progress and what our next steps will be to further develop the project:

Step One: Creating the Ribbon

To do this, we took a long piece of clear tape and folded it in half, colouring both sides with blue sharpie marker. Then, we took another long piece of clear tape and folded it in half over top of the existing piece. This piece was coloured purple, to create a mixture of darker colours that would create a blacklight.

MATERIALS USED: clear tape, blue & purple sharpie markers.

Step Two: The Adjustable Mechanism

We had the ribbon sorted out, now we just needed to determine how we could make it adjustable for users with different types of phones. We took a standard black paper clip organizer (the smaller kind) and wrapped an elastic band around the inside.

Then, we taped one end of the ribbon tape to the inside of a clamp, then fed the other end through the elastic band (see the second picture) to make the ribbon itself adjustable. Observe in the right-hand side photo that Preyansh’s hand is holding the piece of ribbon in the middle, which is the adjustable piece, and pulling it either tightened or loosened the other two pieces around the clip. This way, users can tighten or loosen the ribbon to fit the dimensions of their phone.

 

MATERIALS USED: Completed ribbon, elastic band, black paper clip

Step Three: Applying the Device to Phones

Now that the ribbon tape was secured to the black paper clip organizer, we tested it out on two major types of phones: iPhones and Samsungs.

To fasten the device on the phone, we simply clamped it onto an area of the phone that did not interfere with user operation:

 

When we put it on, we made sure that the ribbon tape properly covered up the flash on each phone:

 

In order for the picture to properly work with the flash, we used the adjustable mechanism to tighten the ribbon on the backside of the phone, to make sure that the ribbon was firmly secured against the flash. We also used the adjustable mechanism to loosen the tape slightly on the front side of the phone, to avoid interference with touch screens.

The Result: Here is a photograph taken with the ribbon tape tightly fastened against the flash of the iPhone:

The result turned out to be the same when tested on the Samsung phone as well.

Next Steps: Our next steps will be to attempt using bleach as an invisible ink, and seeing if it will create a unique effect under the black light. Once we determine whether or not bleach works, we will reconvene and determine next steps from there.

Next Meeting: Monday, March 5th @ 9:30am

Meeting Adjourned: 3:30pm