An Immersive Light Experience

Three questions to the project team

What was the particular challenge of the project from a UX point of view?
The main UX challenge was not to represent light itself, but to translate complex knowledge about light into an intuitive experience. At the same time, the experience needed to address users with very different levels of expertise, from students to professional lighting designers. Initially, we structured content into categories such as perception, effect, and technology. However, we found that this separation created additional complexity. Our key insight was that users do not want to learn first and act afterwards. They want to explore, experiment, and learn through experience. Therefore, we designed an experience that makes lighting knowledge tangible and provides deeper information only when needed.

What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha!-moment, was there a low point?
A defining moment was the midterm presentation of our first concept. Feedback revealed that, despite our efforts to structure the content, the experience still felt too complex and information-heavy. This low point became our most important aha-moment. We realized that effective knowledge transfer is not achieved through more structure, but through experiences that encourage curiosity and exploration. As a result, we fundamentally reworked the concept and created a more intuitive, experience-driven journey. Another personal highlight was building the immersive environment. Since none of us had worked with Unreal Engine before, we taught ourselves the necessary skills to bring our vision of a walkable lighting experience to life.

Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
We still see great potential in the concept, particularly in the combination of immersive technologies, AI-supported knowledge transfer, and spatial learning. The relevance of the project was also reflected in ERCO’s strong interest in further developing the concept and exploring possibilities for a continued collaboration.

After completing our bachelor’s degree, however, we consciously chose to gain experience in different professional fields and develop our own areas of expertise. As a result, the project was not pursued further. At the same time, we can imagine revisiting this idea, or similar concepts, in the future, once we have gained more professional experience and new perspectives.