Company Lutron
Project Duration 6 months
Team Size 3

My Role
I was the lead researcher. I had a teammate accompany me on interviews and another teammate help with synthesizing the data

User Research
Research Synthesis
Solution Design
Solution Validation

What is White Tuning?

White tuning is an emergent technology that dynamically changes the color of light to be warmer or cooler. Academic research has shown links between the color of light and wellness & productivity. Applications include using cooler light to increase alertness, warmer light to promote relaxation, and mimicking daylight to regulate the biological circadian clock.

The Business Problem

White tuning quickly gained momentum in the lighting control industry. Despite the increasing demand, many construction projects ultimately did not choose to incorporate Lutron’s white tuning offerings. Meanwhile, many of Lutron’s competitors continued to release product aimed at white tuning applications. Lutron needed to understand the pain points & opportunities to stay competitive in a market that was turning out to be anybody’s game.

The Target Audience

We chose lighting designers as the target audience because they are the primary influencers on construction projects that would consider white tuning offerings. Lighting designers specify the functionality of a space and determine which lighting control manufacturers are selected for a given project.

The Process

There are many research methodologies that we could have chosen for this project. Intentionally, we did not outline this research plan from beginning to end at the start of the project. Instead, we worked in 2-week sprints at the end of which we assessed our findings and adjusted the approach as necessary. This allowed us to steer the direction of the research for high quality and increased speed.

The Outcome

We discovered that lighting designers experience a number of pain points that ultimately made the technology not worth specifying on construction projects even if the end customers had an appetite for it. We ideated on solutions to address these pain points and by the end of the project, had a leading concept that was validated with several lighting designers as a solution that would empower them to specify Lutron’s white tuning offerings.

Since the product is not released, I cannot publicly discuss the key insights or proposed solution. Please get in touch if you would like to chat further.