Getränkesteuer
Getränkesteuer is a haptic user interface for playful control of lighting at a party with a bottle in hand. The pressure-sensitive top reacts to the pressure applied as well as the angle of inclination of the bottle. Getränkesteuer gives feedback to the user input via two LED rings built into the interior. Beverage control uses an alternative interaction concept beyond the usual controllers, which was iterated over 5 prototypes and subjected to several user tests. The final iteration is a fully functional high-fidelity prototype.
Main idea
After we had sketched and played through some ideas. The team was inspired by the basic shape of a coaster and the sober observation that a bottle is probably the most used object at a party. In order to influence the lighting mood in different ways, it was decided to choose the colour of the light as the first parameter. The second parameter was the blinking rhythm - also called mode here.
Interaction possibilities
As soon as the bottle is placed on the coaster, the device sends two short flashes of light as visual feedback for the successful detection of the bottle.
When the bottle is tilted in a circle on the coaster, the colour can be adjusted. If it is placed again, this confirms the selection and there is visual feedback by lighting up
User Testings
Getränkesteuer was tested with 4 Participants to evaluate the Usablity. Following Scenario was used: You are at a home party with about 20 people. You want to use the bottle to control the light in the room with the bottle. (Imagine there is a light installation). Your aim is to change the colour of the light and to change the mode (blinking rhythm). The following 4 key insights were generated from the results of the tests
