Reducing Complexity of Interaction with Advanced Bathroom Lighting at Home (Reduktion der Interaktionskomplexität bei hochentwickelten Badezimmerbeleuchtungssystemen für die Heimanwendung)

Summary Developments in lighting technology provide a wide range of new opportunities for domestic use which have been demonstrated in several interior design projects. At the same time, available user interfaces providing full control over these systems are too cumbersome to use and are not acceptable for the majority of consumers. To reduce this complexity, we aimed at creating an intuitive user interface control for advanced multi-source lighting systems. Based on participatory design techniques, we invited end-users to help us design and evaluate the new interaction concept. In the final evaluation the user interface design was rated highly with regard to its perceived usefulness and “ease of use”. New designs for ad-vanced lighting systems should aim at user-friendly interfaces that make the transition from ordinary light switches to these new interfaces as simple and natural as possible.