User requirements for the design of smart homes: dimensions and goals

The ‘Smart Home’ is a strongly technology-driven field. While user-centered requirements have been reported for specific features, a considerable gap persists for design based on an everyday home context and the social and emotional nature of the home. To address this, we identify specific leverage points and functionalities for energy-efficiency and smart control in a domestic context. A three-step investigation of user requirements, employing cultural probing, participatory design fiction and focus groups allowed us to progress from the home context “as-is” towards a blending of requirements with technological solutions. Our results highlight the home as a complex construct imbued with organically grown routines and individual needs, values and emotions. Based on empirical, real-user data we present features and system expectations that address this multifaceted overall picture. This paper advises the design process of future smart home solutions in two facets: First, we point out several design dimensions, namely time, space, relations, individual factors, and values that allow design for a heterogeneity of users and situations. Second, we derive specific design goals to highlight directions of smart home system design: design for control, low effort, integration, evolvability, identity, sociability, and benefits.