A monkey in your mailbox...

That's a catchy title right? Don't worry, we are talking digital monkeys.

Merry Christmas!

I've signed up with MailChimp to help streamline my workflow. That's a fancy way of saying, my blog will now send you an email if there is a new post and you've signed up for the mailing list. In the past, I've sent out "announcement" type emails separately. If you wanted blog content, then you had to (separately) visit the blog and/or sign up specifically for email updates.

Monkeys love email! Or so I hear. 

I hope this is a positive improvement, and I've merged those lists and now all updates will take the form of blog posts, which will get pushed to your email inbox automatically. Basically this saves me from managing multiple lists and trying to remember where I'm supposed to publish what information. It will also mean those of you on the mailing list will actually get emails from time to time :)

How will we know if it's working? This post (yes this very one) should trigger MailChimp to send you this post in an email at 6:00AM Pacific time tomorrow. You will not get an email if I have not posted any new content during the day. Of course if you have not already signed up on the mailing list you won't be getting any Christmas email from Prometheus Lights! If you feel left out, you can go here and get on the spankin' new mailing list :)

New Prometheus Lights Logo! (again)

Hopefully I'm one step closer to having a satisfactory logo! It seems kind of crazy to keep iterating the brand identity...but the company is so new I don't really have one :) One of the advantages in starting from scratch right?

So, my new banner is at the top! What do you think? I ran a poll here on the blog and on Candlepower Forums as well. My old logo actually won both polls by a small margin. I'm not a (certified) scientist but I suspect there is some sort of bias towards things you are more familiar with :) Also interesting, most people who actually wrote a text comment were in favor of the new logo...but the majority of votes were in favor of the old. Not sure what insight to take away from that.

A few people asked me to provide some explanation on the "what" any "why" of the new mark, so if you are into, that please read on after the jump!

Feedback on my website please

Hi all,

Now that my site has been up for a while and people have had a chance to use it a bit...do you have any suggestions on presentation of information, navigation, layout, pretty much anything? I'm considering doing V4 of the website and I'd love your feedback before I get started.

First question, should the landing page be the page below that allows you to select the store or the blog? I know most blogs link from inside the main site, but the blog content is pretty integral to what I'm doing and I want to make sure people see it.

Second: I'm also hoping to integrate a more sophisticated shopping cart, but one that can be embedded into my existing site and not a complete (template) replacement for my site. Ideally I'd like it to work just like PayPal where I can insert buttons where ever I want; again, not using a template. I'm not aware of anything like this so please let me know!

Third: On the other hand, my navigation is a little crazy...maybe I would be better served by a traditional shopping cart layout? My main problem is making the information now contained in "step 1" and "step 2" easily accessible to someone who is purchasing.

Help me with an instruction sheet!

Hi folks, so one thing I've been messing around with is an instruction sheet. One of those dozen little things that takes some cents out of my pocket but I think it will be both helpful and a nice touch. I'm having it printed, double sided, on post card stock. Please take a look and let me know what you think. Clarity, content, typos, whatever. I'd like to get some printed up sooner than later so please take a sec and comment!

POLL: more input on my logo please!

Hi folks,

I'm not super happy with my current logo so I've been playing some more. I figure my brand identity is pretty flexible at this point so I thought I'd make another attempt. So, without further ado, what's your opinion? I have added a brief description of each, below the poll, but it's probably more scientific to vote on your first impression :) Thanks in advance and I'd love some comments as well!

Which logo do you like better?

#1 - My first attempt. I use circles in most of my designs...kind of my trademark. It also reflects the shape of the light. This is actually based on a font with two lettter "P" placed back to back. My brother mentioned it looked  a bit like a torch (what the rest of the world calls flashlights) so I added the little hotrod flame. I like it, but it looses resolution really fast when it's small.

#2 - Still working with the circle but trying to simplify things and get a little more "iconic." This is based on the Japanese "mon" or family crest. They are always inside circles and contain some sort of graphic element. I started with a hexagonal shape in the center, which is the shape of the LED boards. I added the white triangle (upwards facing) over that because it's the alchemical symbol for "fire." That was cool but it looked a little too much like a recycling symbol so I added the next round layer that actually reflects the shape of the LED dome. So...it's basically a graphic of an LED board with the triangle added.

In general: overall I'd like to get the logo to a place where I can also hand-stamp the shape, and the #2 version is much more conducive to this than #1. I can also have this shape extruded and do an "inlay" on the side of the light (instead of a stamp) which would be pretty awesome. Anyway, let me know what you think.

Best credit card for small business?

Hi everyone,

So now that this is an official company, I'm looking to get a business card. This opens up a world dizzying possibilities. Any recommendations based on your experience? I think at this stage the bar for my actual "needs" is set pretty low. I don't have employees with cards, I don't travel a lot for work, and I don't have a fleet of vehicles that need gas. Mostly I need a credit card to put on file with my various suppliers. Thoughts?

It's official, Dark Sucks is now Prometheus Lights

Don't worry though. My tag line still says Dark Sucks! Thanks so much to everyone who voted. It makes my process a lot more fun and I hope you enjoy the fact that you get to participate in the creation of my venture.

I'm not going to post an image...because you can just look at the header of this page to see the winning logo/text combination. It was actually a pretty close race. In retrospect, it occurs to me that maybe the choices were just too similar, but hey, it's still a result :)

The paperwork for the name is still being processed but I thought I'd at least change the name on the blog to break in the new branding and see how it sits with me...and you. Thanks again!

New Name/Logo: I Need Your Vote! (only six days to vote)

Okay folks, this little project is in a time of transition. As you know, I just did a big overhaul on the website. You might not know that I'm on the edge of a big "all or nothing" marketing push. I'm going to be sending lights out to some big national magazines and top tier blogs. It's pretty hard to do that since I'm going to be flushing a bunch of lights down the toilet, but hopefully one or two will generate some badly needed big press. Yes, it's psychologically difficult to send out a bunch of my (very few) lights to someone who might just throw it in a drawer and never look at it again...but I know I need to suck it up and do it.

It's kind of like dating...hey, call me back...okay? 

Anyway, the last piece I need to put in place (immediately) is becoming a "real" company and incorporating a business. This also means I need a grown up name and a new logo. I was hoping to have you, dear public, pick my new name; but time is not on my side. So I bit the bullet and I'm going with "Prometheus Lights." I hope it doesn't suck...too late now anyway. In case you don't know, Prometheus is the Greek titan that stole the secret of fire from the gods and gave it to man. Of course he was severely punished for this but let's just ignore that part of the story for the moment. In Greek, the name also means "forethought" which seems appropriate in light of Wired Magazine's latest article on the future of LED lighting.

I was also hoping to have you, dear public, help me pick from a variety of logos I've been working on; but that pesky time thing is still a problem. I need to have all this sorted...say, in the next week. So, I spent a few days beating myself up about my lack of community engagement in the business design process, but here we are.

Click this image to see a full size version

What I need your help with now, is the final refinement! I've provided 4 versions for your viewing pleasure. Which one do you like the best?

Which combination of logo and text do you like the best?

Design for Dissasembly

I've always been frustrated by things that break and that I may not fix. Notice I didn't say that I "can't" fix. I mean things that are designed and constructed in such a way that it's impossible to fix them. Or rather, the only fix is to throw them out and buy a new one. My breaking point was about four years ago when I had a drip coffee maker overflow out the top. The water ran down the front of the machine and shorted out the circuit board. I won't even get into how ridiculous it is to put electronics in a coffee maker in the first place. Anyway, the water fried the circuit board. A call to the manufacturer confirmed the repair solution was to, "send it back and they'll send me a new one." Great customer service, incredibly stupid design.

My current coffee setup

So, I decided to deconstruct coffee making. One great way to avoid the disassembly/repair trap is to not assemble the parts in the first place. It might spread out the footprint more but it means every part functions independently from other parts. The part that actually makes the coffee is on the left...the clear vacuum flask and ceramic Buchner Funnel. Now I let gravity do the work instead of a circuit board. I won't explain the whole thing, but if you want to know what all this has to do with flashlights, read on after the jump.

Behind the Scenes: Cutaway View

Just a quick peek inside the anatomy of a flashlight. I posted the exploded view a while back and this post is a follow up to that. A cutaway! I've always geeked out on cutaway views so I thought it was time to do my own. The main reason was so that I could actually check fit and clearances on the battery. If I can't physically see inside it's just a bunch of math. I'm an applied research person, not a math person. So, this is what it looks like.

Click the image for a 1024x768 size version

Turn out the math was correct...or at least my 3D model. I left the band in the center of the body so the whole thing wouldn't collapse as I was machining it. You can also see the substantial piece of solid aluminum that sits just behind the LED. This absorbs the heat and then transfers it to the entire head of the flashlight. This means the body will also start to pick up heat. It's hard to see but the first 1" of the body is bored out so the battery "floats" and does not touch the walls, preventing direct heat transfer to the battery and driver.

infotuners Question Answered!

infotuner said...
"how are you keeping track of all of the automated machining operations as well as manual operations, jigs and fixtures and setup steps, bill of materials, tooling requirements and most efficient order of operations, labor and materials budgets, and the like so that you will be able to do things such as: properly price your end products while accounting for and allocating all of your costs (so that you are not operating at a loss or break-even), making sure that you can remember how to replicate the work that you've done with one batch on subsequent production runs (so that you don't have to 'reinvent the wheel'), figuring out what operations are most "expensive" in time or effort or materials so that you can simplify or improve them, keeping track of suppliers and placing orders with sufficient lead times while optimizing economic order quantities, and so on."

Whew, that really illustrates the complexity well :) As such, there is no simple answer...but I'll give one anyway. Answer: Your tolerance for ambiguity will tell you how fine the teeth on your comb should be. It seems like you have a much better grasp on what is actually involved in implementing something than most people do. The first step in this process is to be aware of the scope. Little details like lead time and product availability can make things really hard. (See one of my previous posts). When you start implementing, even the most simple things get complicated quickly.

You have to work with what you've got

That said, if you try to control ALL of the complexity you will never have time to actually get anything done. It's a trap. You'll spend all your time connecting dots and filling out spread sheets when you should be getting dirty and getting experience. If you can, start small and ramp up. I think a lot of people make the mistake of trying to go big out of the chute. Unless you've done it before (or several times) you are just digging a really deep hole.

The next step is probably budgeting. Start with your big number (for example, your credit card limit) and start breaking it down into the component parts. At some point you should realize you are counting pennies when you ought to be counting dollars. Dial the resolution back as needed. As an individual, or even as a few people, you'll never have the resources to count all the pennies...if you want to get anything done. That probably sounds like bad financial advice, but you can't have both timely execution and perfect information because they are mutually exclusive since they both require time.

Bloy's question answered!

Bloy said...
"How many of these will you be making before you retool/progran and offer a second piece? What do you have in mind? Maybe a flex-head torch for increasing the range of usability? Or maybe an item completely remote from the first flashlights utilizing your skills? How will you be marketing these works-of-art?"

First, hi John! Excited to see a name from way back. Bloy had some really good threads on CNC Zone about getting his Shoptask machine set up. That was my first metal working machine.

Anyway, "how many will I make before making changes?" That will always be different. The lights might change from batch to batch or not change for several batches. I expect there will be more changes in the beginning. Fewer changes down the road...and then perhaps a big leap in a new direction.

The evolution of Coke...notice you only see the changes on the outside.
Coke, I forgive you for coming up with "New Coke." 

Now a lot of changes in the beginning might make people freak out. For example: you just bought a light and I made some improvement on the next batch and you would rather have that. Think of it this way, the same holds true for any product: cars, computers, cameras, books (new editions), bicycles, etc. We've been conditioned by the current market to think that changes should only take place, what, every year or so? We are "comfortable" with that particular time frame...but shorter starts to make us feel anxious. I have this feeling a lot, particularly when dealing with computers.

Cheryl's question answered!...with a question

cheryl said...

"One of my concerns is dependabiity, warranty and repair. Seeing that this is your first attempt at custom flashlight building, what assurances would we have that these light will perform as advertised? Being a one-man operation, I can foresee the possibility of you being overwhelmed if things don't go as planned. 

After reading your resume and accomplishments, I am quite impressed and have great confidence in your abilities. However, this endeavor of yours is monsterous and I would want a guarantee of the light's performance before I purchased."

So, I wrote a big long blabedy blah blog post in response. I deleted it. Let's try something different. What do YOU (as a customer) want the guarantee/warranty to be? That means anyone reading this by the way. Also, try and put yourself in my shoes: what do you think is sensible/reasonable to offer from a business standpoint?

Personally, I'd like my guarantee/warranty policy to be: "no reasonable request denied" I stole that line from Mark Dwight at Rickshaw Bagworks. I like it because it implies the company and the customer are in it together...not that the company is there to "serve" the customer.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this one and it's a hard answer. It's also the kind of issue where consumers and businesses often find themselves at odds. One of the reasons I'm writing this blog and speaking in the first person is that I represent myself...and I'm trying to manage expectations. You are right, this is a one man operation and I hope my customers will relate to me as an individual and not like a faceless corporation. I'm also a little old fashioned in the keep your word, do your best, deal on a handshake kind of way. I want to attract like minded customers.

A couple more thoughts after the jump but PLEASE WEIGH IN ON THIS ONE !!! :)

Erik's question answered

Erik E said...
"Jason, What do you see as the "opportunity space" in this (lighting) market? Both in terms of "un-met user needs" and emerging "technological affordances" that are expanding the bounds of the possible?
It looks like you are pushing into both these areas. If you had greater resources, what additional capabilities would you like to have so you could develop further into the leading edge of this space?"

Hey Erik, I guess I've already answered some of your questions tangentially in other posts. However, I think an opportunity exists because of the combination of "unmet user needs" and "technological affordances." In other words, the technology is making it possible to meet new user needs.

Everything is a matter of perspective. Sometimes not having the technology makes it hard to see needs which that unknown (or simply new) technology might address. Take cars for example; when they first appeared on the road a lot of people were still asking, "why would you need to travel faster than a train or horse?" Just three or four years ago it was unfathomable that a single LED could produce over 750 lumens, let alone a small hand held light. I think we are just beginning to understand the possibilities.

The next factor, from an economic standpoint, is the cost/availability of that technology. Many markets follow the "sweet spot" example I'll give, and the LED lighting market is now in the sweet spot...in my opinion. They easiest example is the cell phone. There was a tipping point, in the past, that allowed the cell phone to become mainstream. I attribute this to the pure economics of, not only the final consumer cost, but the cost of the ancillary resources required to support the final product...network capacity, battery energy density, individual mobility, the internet, etc.

Kathryn's question answered!

Kathryn said...

"What are your adjacent markets? Do you plan on only doing flashlights even a few years out? Will you be expanding into other markets like theater lighting?"

The blanket answer to all of your questions is, "Who knows?" Okay, I actually have better answers for that...my adjacent markets. Honestly, anything that requires a light source. Some obvious choices are specialty applications like dive lights, bike lights, head lamps, and other standard stuff. Probably some money to be made there, but there is also a lot of competition.

This is a smart-alecky graphical answer to the question of horizontal markets...
but take a look at the larger image. It's actually incredibly fascinating. For one,
take note of China's population and how little lighting there is. 

I'm more financially and philosophically interested in markets that have relatively low competition in the LED space: fixed outdoor lighting, interior lighting, industrial lighting, marine lighting, automotive lighting, and as you suggest, theatrical lighting. For me, the flashlight market is a strategic entry point into the market pictured in the photo above.

Kate's question answered!

WARNING: DESIGN STRATEGY CONTENT
katerw said...
"Who is your customer? Or customers? Have you profiled/interviewed the type of person you imagine using your product?"

To answer your last question first: yes and no.

The "yes" side actually explains why I got into this in the first place. The short version: about nine months ago I started working on an old project for a canister-style dive light targeted at the commercial/military/technical diving community. In order to get familiar with the in's and out's of light design and manufacturing I came up with a small prototype light. I started showing it to people and the response was almost universal: "Holy smokes, that is incredible, can I buy one?!"

Virtually no one has ever seen anything so bright in such a small package. I decided to go where the interest was and abandon dive lights (for the time being) and decided to focus on small hand held lights for every day use. I normally work on super niche products, so excitement from the general public was pretty catalyzing. That response is a lot more rewarding than the usual, "errr....riiiiight....that sounds nice." If it's dark out I don't even have to give a "product pitch," I just push a button on the end of this cylinder thingy.

This is the light that got everything started

On the "no" side, my research has not been extensive and I don't have a ton of resources at my disposal. Any individual starting a business is in the same position. This is a significant factor in my decision to start the blog in the first place. In order to be efficient, I decided to try and bring people to me instead of seeking them out one by one. I hope to attract a user community that will help me understand the market, new technologies, and user needs on an ongoing basis.

Kendall's question answered!

WARNING: FLASHAHOLIC CONTENT

Kendall the CarpentryHero said...

"Will you make your flashlights with an upgradeable, replaceable Pill like a better version of the P60 and host idea. An upgradeable light even if I'm mailing it in for the upgrade ;-) ?"

Sort of! For those of you that aren't familiar with the terminology, a flashlight "pill" is a component comprised of an LED emitter, driver electronics, and a metallic body to hold those components and act as a heat sink. Sometimes the pill is combined with a reflector to create a "drop in" module. A P60 module is an industry standard size so P60 pills should fit into any P60 host. This is actually an interesting concept and I may do a P60 format light in the future.

A section view of the light head. The walls of the copper
sleeve are actually thicker than what is depicted here.

My current design does not use a "pill" for a few reasons...that I might get into in another post. Suffice to say I think using an LED mounted on a 20mm star MCPCB (Metal Core Printed Circuit Board) is the best option, for me, at this time. The head is a solid, one-piece design to maximize thermal transfer.

One of my primary design principles is "design for disassembly and repair." So yes, these lights will most definitely have the ability to be upgraded with newer LEDs or electronics. One reason I went with the MCBCB is that it makes it really easy for me to swap out LEDs. 

HELP: Getting connected to Facebook?!

NEED SOME ADVICE! 

Don't get ahead of yourself. YES I already have a Facebook page.  My question is slightly more sophisticated than "how do I create an account"...slightly.

So, hello people more expert in social media! Part of the plan with this blog (and product) is to reach as many people as possible. That's the point of advertising right? Facebook is one of the cheapest and most connected tools out there...so I might as well leverage it.

Something like 500 million users and counting? That's a pretty good potential customer pool. For starters, they all use the internet and when my first production run goes up for sale it will be online. Nice, my first layer of segmentation. Anyway, my primary question is about "step 2" Facebook connectedness.