A flexible and personal domotica system for apartment buildings
D. Senden · 2012
This report describes the process and the results of an Industrial Design (DfI) graduation project which was carried out for Nspyre in Eindhoven. The project served as a demonstration on applying user centred design in a traditionally technology driven product domain: domotica (home automation). The assignment was to create a tablet-based control application for domotica systems to be used in an apartment complex. There was no actual client involved in the project so a virtual client was defined, the housing corporation. At the start of the project, experts on domotica were consulted, users of existing systems were interviewed and a market study was performed. This resulted in the identification of design opportunities, based on projections of the future market and the evaluation of current products and user wishes. The studies also resulted in an overview of the stakeholders involved in domotica projects and an image of the virtual client in a real world context. From the studies and discussions with experts it was concluded that current systems lacked flexibility and did not allow users to personalise functionality and thus utilise all possibilities of an integrated home automation system. The identified opportunities were grouped into three search areas, of which one was chosen to be the most promising design direction; providing user-level access to system automation. A target group was identified in young professionals, as they will be future users of domotica technology and have grown used to flexible and personalisable technology around them. This makes current domotica systems too static for these users, who are used to systems fitting into their dynamic lives and able to adapt to any changing living conditions. A contextual inquiry with representative users was conducted to gain awareness of their views on domotica, the concept of ´being at home´, and how a domotica control system could contribute to their home lives. To define the design brief, a proposal for the extent of controllable home elements was evaluated by a domotica expert working for a housing corporation. Criteria were set up based on the studies performed and discussions with experts. The design brief specified a focus on the domotica control interface and its supporting system. The interface should enable users to quickly identify home elements on screen, and let them personalise the system’s functionality by being able to program atmospheric scenes and automatic scenarios. Conceptualisation focused mainly on interaction design of the control interface, exploring ways to visualize and manipulate the state of home environment elements like lighting, curtains, heating and power sockets. The design had to be successful in communicating mental models of certain processes which would allow users to personalise the system. To ensure a usable interface, easy and intuitive to use from first usage; many quick and dirty evaluations were conducted with conceptual designs early and often throughout the project. This resulted in a tablet based control application consisting of two main parts: My Home allows for direct manipulation of the state of home environment elements through a visual layout of the apartment and the elements to be controlled. Gestures are implemented where they contribute to making interactions pleasurable and efficient. Users have direct access to creating and editing scenes to control atmospheres. My Moments is a guiding wizard that allows users to program automatic patterns to occur in response to certain events in their daily routine. It allows them for instance to specify that the domotica system should automatically create a comforting atmosphere when they come home, or have the system make it seem as if someone is at home at night by switching on lights and closing curtains. A final user evaluation was conducted with a working prototype, running on a tablet to mimic actual usage. The goal of this evaluation was to see if the usability of the interaction concept allowed users to perform critical use cases without getting stuck or becoming confused or frustrated, preferably while judging the experience as enjoyable. The results show that the interaction model of creating Moments was successful in guiding users while creating a Moment during first usage. The design of the interface allows them to start building a mental model of the process, being able to utilise more options within the interface after some time. Some issues that arose during the evaluation have been addressed in a redesign to ensure a usable and satisfying product proposal as end result of the project. Although the focus was on interface design of the control application, an outline of the system design was created to communicate all considerations that need be taken into account when realising the interaction concept in a real world context. The system design was set up to be supportive of the interaction concept, and provide a pleasurable user experience in all usage phases. The result of the project shows that when domotica system design is approached from a user centred standpoint, the resulting design goes beyond what is currently available on the market and addresses needs that will be present within the upcoming user group of domotica systems. Designing the system to support the interaction design ensures that not only the control interface is satisfying to use, but each interaction between the user and the overall system is a pleasurable experience.