Light Switch

Light Switch Hardware Interface

An alternative approach to the light switch for the domestic environment.

Light switch

Light switch usage

This 1-week project looked at the control of a lighting environment within the home.

Rather than designing a binary light switch, I wanted to look at the whole lighting environment within a large room. The concept I proposed is based around the premise that people will use a living room for many different activities. Each of these activities will likewise have a different type of lighting associated with it. This would be focused in particular areas when dining or reading, or subdued in others when watching TV, for instance.

My design maps the relative position and intensity (size) of each of the room's lights to a vertically sliding control. By drawing a control downwards, the corresponding light can be gradually intensified.

The design concept builds on patterns of usage. Over time, users would remember how the room's activities relate to the physical shapes generated when configuring the lighting controls. In effect, this maps human activities with three-dimensional shapes. However, rather than requiring a learning process, it is an acquired realisation by the user.

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