balineum
joint university project / 2 semester
BALINEUM transforms the way people interact with their bathrooms by offering a unified dial system that integrates adaptive water control, NFC-powered user profiles and gesture-based music management. Developed through user experience research and iterative prototyping, this solution resolves conflicts between multiple users in households thanks to its regulatory-compliant hardware engineering and tangible interface design.
Research-Driven Development
UX research in family homes and shared apartments revealed three key issues: inconsistent temperature recall between users, unwieldy music control mechanisms and disorientation in relation to time during showers.
Technical validation revealed that capacitive touch was unreliable in humid conditions, leading to the adoption of hybrid physical interactions inspired by the Nest Thermostat's rotational paradigm. Six hardware iterations were needed to refine the 94 mm anodised aluminium dial, with IP68-rated seals and radial groove patterning being implemented and validated through 3D-printed foam prototypes.
Core Interaction Architecture
The dual-axis interface combines rotational precision (temperature control from 2 to 45 °C and flow control from 5 to 25 l/min) with quad-directional tilt navigation. Circumferential RGB LEDs (#40798C, with cold to red warmth gradients) provide mode feedback via steam-resistant displays. This is complemented by haptic pulse confirmation for mode changes. Magnetic docking allows for tool-free reconfiguration, and inductive charging maintains IP68 compliance.
Adaptive User Profiles
NFC-paired wearables such as ŌURA or Apple Watch activate:
- YOU Profile: Custom water-music combinations (e.g., 25 °C massage jets + the favorite Travis Scott playlist)
- Scene Presets: Preconfigured experiences like “Arctic Ice” (2 °C jets + Nordic ambient tracks)
- Guest Mode: Safety-locked defaults with 40 °C thermal caps
Key Insights
Our exploratory design process yielded several conceptual findings through hands-on methods. Paper prototyping sessions utilising Wizard of Oz techniques revealed that users preferred tactile feedback during mode transitions. This suggested that haptic pulse cues could be a potential design solution. Final refinements introduced rotational momentum principles for intuitive menu navigation and ambient light patterns to address temporal awareness. These were presented as speculative design recommendations rather than functional implementations. These insights remained strictly conceptual, focusing on interaction design exploration rather than engineering execution.