2021 Senior Exhibition Artists 2021 Senior Exhibition Artists: Naeem Wilson

About Naeem Wilson

Naeem Wilson is a maker from Boston Massachusetts. When he’s not tending to his three 3D printers, he’s often found designing props from movies and video games. Throughout high school and middle school, Naeem has been working at the South End Technology Center [in location] as a youth teacher, fab lab steward and a college mentor. In all three positions, he had spent every year teaching others how to make projects with tools such as laser cutters, 3D printers, microcontrollers and more. When he wasn’t teaching, Naeem often learned how to apply his skills to personal projects made solely for the enjoyment of the craft. While pursuing a degree in graphic design, Naeem had also grew passions for jewelry & metalsmithing, sculpting and hand building with clay. He had also self-taught himself how to operate different additive manufacturing tools in his bedroom. Overall, Naeem aims to enjoy the different processes of making and hopes to inspire others to do so as well.

Statement

While skating at night can be fun, rider visibility is often an afterthought for most which leads to dangerous situations for skaters and car drivers. One solution would be to wear reflectors; however, those only work if light is present (which it isn’t always the case). My solution to this problem was to create an LED system that adds under glow to the bottom of skateboards and longboards. The system will consist of three main components: individually addressable LED strip, a microcontroller housing and a smartphone app to communicate with the LEDs. The phone app will allow for the color and patterns of the LEDs to fit the rider's preference. With this system, riders can express their personality in an aesthetically pleasing way while increasing their visibility.