HomeWizard mini
Most home automation systems requires users to control their home using smartphone app. This makes them unnecesarrily complicated for anyone other than tinkerers.
The HomeWizard mini is a tiny button that aims solves this problem. Because people can place it anywhere around the home, under the dining table or on the side of a coach for example, it provides an intuitive physical presence for home automation. And because the interaction is directly linked to a specific place, it integrates into people's rituals and routines.
The button and the new system philosophy and app concept are designed to help HomeWizard make home automation great for everyone.
Home
States
- I’m home
- I’m away
- I’m asleep
- I’m on vacation
Room
Moments
- I’m having dinner
- I’m watching a movie
- I’m reading
- I’m working
Appliance
Devices
- This light should be on
- It should be 20 degrees
- The music should play
- The blinds should be closed
A new system concept with three levels of interaction
We wanted the HomeWizard system to more closely align with how people live and to be more easily understood. The three levels of interaction allows the user to control what happens in their home on levels: ‘Home, Rooms and Devices’. Each moment in a room is set up for one activity, because people tend to have specific activities in each room. Changing the home's state or a room's moments will immediately change it to fit what the user is doing without having to toggle or adjust individual devices.
A tiny button to have everywhere
The button itself is designed to be put anywhere the user wants to do something. They might actually have a few dozen around the house. Our aim was for it to be as small as possible, be comfortable to press and to fit in every home. We used a variety of prototypes, including working prototypes to test the design, including the visual and tactile feedback.
The app as an alternative to the mini
With the mini becoming the primary way to interact with the home automation system the app may be used to change things when the user needs something different. When they are having a party for example. We designed an app concept to fit the new system philosophy and user tested it using paper prototypes and a working prototype.
The app concept reflects the focus on rooms as the most important level of interaction and introduces a clear hierarchy. The rooms view allows the user to toggle moments for any room and to see the information for any room at a glance. Tapping a room brings the user all advanced features such as adjusting individual devices.
Moments use the power of home automation
Although moments need to be set up just once, they are easily added when needed. The setup allows the user to pick specific settings for each devices in a room. These get applied when a moment is activated. Additionally, they may set advanced conditions for each device such as a specific time of day or input from a sensor. This makes it possible for the user to tap into the power of their home automation system.
Simplified device setup
Device setup is important, because it is a required step when starting to use home automation. The setup makes it easy to find the correct device by organising them by type and brand. It then guides the user through setting up the device step by step.