For my final project in my Introduction to Prototyping class, I made light-up sunglasses. The glasses frame was made from a 3D print file I found on Thingiverse, and I made a custom cut of acrylic for the lenses. I glued a shiny film over the acrylic and then put my NeoPixel strip on top of that.

The wiring is set up so that a user can place it in their pocket/hold it in their hand while it functions. There is a button to change the mode between three different light patterns - off, a traveling pink light, and a rainbow light. There are zipties across the wire to hold them in place and keep them from getting stuck everwhere.

It is designed to be used as a fun fashion piece for events or group gatherings.

Materials Used:

- clear acrylic

- metallic shiny film

- NeoPixel strip

- black spray paint

- high-temp hot glue

- button

- wires

- zip ties 

- Arduino Nano

For user testing, I talked to my sister, mom, dad, and brother. I asked them the following questions: "How comfortable art the glasses to wear?", "How well do the glasses function in your experience?", "How easy is the button to work?", and "Would you wear these to an event/get-together and if no why?". The first three questions were weighted on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. The last question was a simple "Y/N" response.

Overall, the button accessibility was the highest rated out of all of the questions. The glasses functioning was the lowest rated. This had to do with the NeoPixel strip connectors having issues. I originally soldered the strip, but changed to a encasing method when the wires fell off repeatedly. This meant I had to change it from working more consistently when the wires were attached for less consistent power.