User experience of smart wardrobe lighting systems: identifying pain points and prioritizing core elements

Smart wardrobe lighting has been predominantly studied from a technical perspective, with limited understanding of user experience. This mixed-methods study investigates user experience in this context, combining interviews and a questionnaire survey targeting young adults as the core early-adopter demographic. Based on the User Experience Honeycomb framework, factor analysis identified five core dimensions: Usability; Findability; Value; Credibility; and Accessibility, while the Criteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation weighting method further revealed that Desirability and Usefulness carry the highest importance.

The findings reveal an “Efficacy–Access Gap”: although users’ interactions are primarily guided by functional dimensions, their satisfaction ultimately depends on whether lighting effects meet situational needs. Credibility, manifested through concerns over data security and system integration, emerges as foundational for long-term engagement. Originality lies in applying the User Experience Honeycomb framework to this underexplored context, empirically quantifying dimension weights, and identifying this context-specific gap.

The findings extend user experience theory and offer actionable design guidance, prioritize usability and findability to unlock perceived value, and embed credibility from the earliest design stages. This research received valuable support from experimental participants and dedicated volunteers alike. We extend our sincere gratitude to every individual who took part in this study and offered constructive suggestions for improvement.

This work was supported by the 2020 Jiangsu Postgraduate International Smart Health Furniture Design and Engineering project (Grant No. 202002). This work was also supported by the 2022 International Cooperation Joint Laboratory for Production, Education, Research, and Application of Ecological Health Care on Home Furnishing (Grant No. 20220602) and the Qing Lan Project (Grant No. 2022QL06). College of Furnishings and Industrial Design, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, Jiangsu, China Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, Jiangsu, China School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG1 4FQ, UK The authors declare no competing interests.

The human-participant component of this study was reviewed and approved by the Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee of Nanjing Forestry University (Nanjing Forestry University Science and Technology Office) on 20 February 2024 (Ethics Approval No. 2024-02-20-07). The study was conducted in accordance with relevant institutional ethical guidelines and regulations. Informed consent was obtained from all participants between March 18 and April 2, 2024, prior to their participation in the study.

Interview participants provided written informed consent before each interview, including consent for audio recording and transcription. For the questionnaire survey, which was conducted both online and on-site, participants were informed of the study purpose, confidentiality measures, and their right to withdraw prior to participation. Informed consent was obtained electronically from online questionnaire participants and in writing from on-site questionnaire participants before they completed the questionnaire.