Tangible Lighting Controls : Designing lighting control systems that are easier to understand and more pleasurable to use

The 'Tangible Lighting Controls' project poses the crucial question: what is the nature of interface designs sought by end-users for maximising interaction with lighting control systems? The manner in which this question is posed implies a fundamental assumption that improved usability and end-user experience are primary goals. Usability is concerned with easier understanding of control functions. End-user experience is concerned with explicating the quality of end-users' experience such as fun/pleasure of use. Usability engineering methods involving survey research, experimental mock-ups and prototyping have been used to enable end-users to evaluate and design lighting control interfaces. The essential difference is to include end-users' viewpoint about ease and pleasure of use along with a technical viewpoint about meeting standards. End-user responses obtained from these experiments challenge manufacturers' claims about the effectiveness of conventional lighting control interfaces, and reveal a different way of thinking about future interface designs. Such a change in thinking could lead to lighting control interfaces that are easier to understand and more pleasurable to use.