Making Toys

DreamLight® • User Testing

User Scenarios:

1.  Subject:  George. 5 years old.

George has a huge problem. He is afraid of the dark.  The only way he can fall asleep at night is by sleeping in his parents' bed, or by leaving the light on in his room. Sleeping with his parents is downright embarrassing, and a burden for his parents. Leaving the light on wastes electricity and is a bad habit in general. The perfect solution is DreamLight. Now when he has friends sleepover at his house, George just needs to turn on DreamLight, and his friends don't think twice about this cool object that secretly helps George fall asleep.

2. Subject: Zeno. 21 years old.

Zeno is a senior in college. He loves to throw parties  at his house.  Unfortunately, his landlords don't take very good care of the estate, and only 2 lights still function in the entire house.  The bathroom and the kitchen.  This is unfortunate because ladies love to dance under groovy lights. Zeno is also broke, and can't afford anything too expensive.  Enter DreamLight.  Zeno sticks a couple DreamLights in his livingroom, and blam he's got a legit club bangin in his house.  A DreamLight in his bedroom has made the cluttered, un-decorated mess look much more appealing. Thanks DreamLight!

3.  Subject: Jimbo. 45 years old.

Jimbo owns a bar / club in the Lower East Side.  Customers have been complaining that the hallways are too dark, as are a couple of the corners of various rooms in the club.  Furthermore, each table in the bar has a tea candle for lighting, but by the end of the night the candles are completely gone. This has become expensive. DREAMLIGHT! for just $10, Jimbo can have lights at each table that last at least 5 years, and are multicolored! the ambience would improve 10-fold, and his customers now feel safe walking to the bathroom! Well done, Jimbo!

Testing Data:

Testers were directed to this page where they were shown 1 video and one schematic:

the only information they were given was this:

NiteLite® is a product to be used in any darkened room. Simply turn
NiteLite® on, and enjoy the vibrant colors radiating from the base of
the product and then watch in awe at the projection of colors on your
ceiling or wall!
Learn about additive color synthesis, as Red, Blue and Green light mix
to make White, and every color in between!

then they were asked these questions:

1. What are your initial reactions to NiteLite®? Are you interested in using this product? ••2. Do you want to have any control, or do you desire any physical
interaction with the product (ie, pressing buttons to alter the light)? ••3. What do you think could/should change about the NiteLite®’s physical design? Size? Shape? ••4. What room of your domicile would you put NiteLite® in? ••5. What sorts of activities do you think you would partake in, while in a room with NiteLite® turned on? ••6. Is there any functionality you would want NiteLite® to have? Features? ••7. Any other comments? ••8. Would you consider purchasing this product, and how much would you pay?

I will now summarize the most useful, insightful, and worthy responses.  For full responses, visit HERE, and check the comments.

(1.) Most people found the product interesting enough to at least try it out; the initial aesthetic and concept of a projection and learning about color synthesis was interesting as well.

(2.) Here, responses were split. One great idea was just to have one single pot, with which you could move through all colors, and then the object would run by itself as well. About 60% of users thought it was better as a simple object, just turn on and watch. One called it a "lie back" product.

(3.) Almost all responses said it should be smaller. The smaller the better, and also the more portable the better. Another said that the brightness of the box itself was distracting. One user made an image:

This was implying that perhaps the colors wont mix correctly if the ceiling is too low.  The implication is that mirrors would be used inside the box to deflect the light.  I am inspired by the idea of using mirrors, but I don't believe that different ceiling heights would destroy the color mixing effect.

(4.) By far, users wrote their bedrooms would be the place for this product. One mentioned a child's bedroom, which is one of my user scenarios. Living rooms were also mentioned.

(5.) This question elicited many "colorful" remarks, ranging from dancing to partying with drugs to being intimate with partners to listening to music, and of course falling asleep. All of these are enjoyable activities, i'm glad no one replied "be bored alone".

(6.) The best idea I received here was to make a built in timer, so that once someone falls asleep, DreamLight will also go to sleep.  Someone mentioned making the object sensitive to sound, however that would require a sensor, and for now I want this to be as simple a design as possible.

(7.) The name. Many people thought "NiteLite" was far too literal, and I agree. I have come to three possibilities:  DreamLight, MoodScape, or MindScape.  I will user test these in the next round. Also, a comparison to lava lamps was made here, although this concept is clearly very different from lava lamps. A company called Mathmos was also mentioned, and I see some similarity to their aesthetic: http://www.innovatoys.com/p/TUMBLFZ

(8.) Most people said they would consider purchasing the product and the prices ranged from $5 – $40. 

Overall, I am going to DEFINITELY

    • include a timer in the code, for automatic shutdown

    • make the encasing of the object as small as possible, much more diffusion to make the box itself much less bright than it currently is

    • make the sequences have as little repetition as possible

and i am going to RESEARCH

    • a new name

    •  using mirrors inside the product

    •  installing a knob for users to interact with if they want –