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About Lighticians
Lighticians are a team of experts in lighting for video production. The company approached us to work on a highly specialized project: to redesign a remote light control app for fixtures.
For over 20 years, Tim Duff, Richard Ulivella, and Michael McDonald have worked on sets of many studio productions — e.g., Younger, House of Cards, Greater, and Pitch Perfect. With their combined experience, they founded Lighticians, a company that wants to make remote light control on video sets easier.
The Apollo Wireless Lighting Bridge built by Lighticians connects to almost every DMX wireless fixture. The device is a convenient tool for controlling light during video production.
Shooting any video material, be it a full-fledged movie or video for social media, often involves operating lighting fixtures from different manufacturers. To get everything right for a scene, cinematographers have to go through a complex process of light adjustment.
Color mixing is an art of many nuances and intricacies. Lighticians go by the philosophy of working with four parameters of light — the manipulation of these parameters creates a custom effect for a scene. Considering the complexity of color mixing, the app’s design is the key element that lets gaffers work effectively.
Lighticians needed a complete app redesign to give users unlimited access to the possibilities of cross-device light control. What Lighticians wanted was an environment where users didn’t have to think about the technical details but play with the science of color mixing instead.
Scope of Work
Our primary goal was to redesign the Apollo Control mobile app, focusing on user experience, feature enhancement, and compatibility with various lighting fixtures. The project entailed a series of carefully planned steps to ensure the app’s functionality and ease of use for both professional and amateur lighting professionals.
Workflow Optimization
To meet the deadline, we cut out unnecessary meetings and typical routines. Our workflow included two-week sprints where we showed product demos to the team at Lighticians and daily internal meetings to align on tasks. Whenever tasks required more resources, we were able to dynamically add 1 developer to improve productivity.
UX/UI Design
Working closely with the Lighticians team, we focused on creating user flows and interfaces that made operating the lights faster and more efficient. Understanding the art of color mixing and the dynamic nature of video sets helped us build an intuitive UI that maximized the limited screen space of the mobile phone and iPad but included everything necessary for professional light operation.
Development
Working in native iOS Swift, our developer could leverage all the functionalities of the iPhone in connecting the app with external DMX controller. We consulted the business logic questions about color mixing with Richard Ulivella (CTO at Lighticians) who gave us expert responses and insights that immensely helped development.
Scope of Work
Our primary goal was to redesign the Apollo Control mobile app, focusing on user experience, feature enhancement, and compatibility with various lighting fixtures. The project entailed a series of carefully planned steps to ensure the app’s functionality and ease of use for both professional and amateur lighting professionals.
Workflow Optimization
To meet the deadline, we cut out unnecessary meetings and typical routines. Our workflow included two-week sprints where we showed product demos to the team at Lighticians and daily internal meetings to align on tasks. Whenever tasks required more resources, we were able to dynamically add 1 developer to improve productivity.
UX/UI Design
Working closely with the Lighticians team, we focused on creating user flows and interfaces that made operating the lights faster and more efficient. Understanding the art of color mixing and the dynamic nature of video sets helped us build an intuitive UI that maximized the limited screen space of the mobile phone and iPad but included everything necessary for professional light operation.
Development
Working in native iOS Swift, our developer could leverage all the functionalities of the iPhone in connecting the app with external DMX controller. We consulted the business logic questions about color mixing with Richard Ulivella (CTO at Lighticians) who gave us expert responses and insights that immensely helped development.
Solution — Experimental Setup for Maintenance Work
To control the Apollo bridge and other lighting hardware available on the market, Lighticians had to create a mobile application. And while the first app the company got from a different agency had the business logic right, it wasn’t designed with a mobile-first mindset. User experience was poor, and the full power of the Apollo bridge stayed locked inside the device.
Lighticians needed a complete app redesign to give users unlimited access to the possibilities of cross-device light control. What Lighticians wanted was an environment where users didn’t have to think about the technical details but play with the science of color mixing instead.
"Upon meeting the team and discussing the project, it was clear that they were the best developers for the job. The combination of their creative ideas, competitive pricing, and extensive portfolio made the decision a no brainer," says Timothy Duff, Co-Founder & CEO of Lighticians.
Conducting an in-depth UX audit to analyze the app's design
We started with a comprehensive UX report that described what was wrong with the design and didn’t work with the flow. The UX report also included suggestions on how to fix the bugs and improve the flow.
Lighticians liked our honesty and expertise — we moved to the next steps.
Color mixing is an art of many nuances and intricacies. Lighticians go by the philosophy of working with four parameters of light — the manipulation of these parameters creates a custom effect for a scene. Considering the complexity of color mixing, the app’s design is the key element that lets gaffers work effectively.
Merging the complex art of color mixing in video production with mobile design
Lighting professionals use certain features and light options in a specific way. We mapped out those preferences, using established approaches in the industry to create a simple yet comprehensive layout.
The new flow allowed professional gaffers to fine-tune configuration options for different modules but also let amateur light operators adjust their light the way they needed it.
"Nomtek was able to successfully get our app to market quicker than we could have expected. Their insight and creative ideas helped improve the project along the way, leading to an extremely positive response from our customers," says Timothy Duff.
Lighticians Apollo Control is an easy and intuitive mobile application for remote light control available for iPhone and iPad. The application's design includes key light control options that fit into a limited screen space of iPhones.
The layout of the iPad version of Lighticians Apollo Control adjusts automatically to the larger screen to display more detailed light mixing options. The app works with different bridges and is compatible with other hardware on the market.
Drawing on the combined experience of professional gaffers, the app gives lighting professionals a seamless and detailed control of light. Lighticians Apollo Control lets users save lighting profiles for different projects and adjust them with advanced lighting options.
Robust scene profiles help light professionals manage their light setups and stay organized during shooting.
Cooperation evolves
Recently, Lighticians approached us to work on the next stage of the app.
Timothy Duff sums up our cooperation:
"The MVP of our app has done very well in the market, and we're working with Nomtek to release expanded features in the app, which will bring new revenue and expand our market share."
Apollo Bridge powers Litepanels — professional lighting equipment.
"The MVP of our app has done very well in the market, and we're working with nomtek to release expanded features in the app, which will bring new revenue and expand our market share."
Timothy Duff, CEO of Lighticians
The Impact
The new layout and UX allows professional gaffers to fine-tune configuration options for different modules but also lets amateur light operators adjust their light the way they needed it.
Lighticians Apollo Control is designed to cater to amateur and expert lighting professionals. The app can be used on movie sets and TV shows, plus in amateur productions for TikTok or YouTube.
Rating on App Store
Daily active users
"The MVP of our app has done very well in the market, and we're working with nomtek to release expanded features in the app, which will bring new revenue and expand our market share."
Timothy Duff, CEO of Lighticians
Team Composition
The new layout and UX allows professional gaffers to fine-tune configuration options for different modules but also lets amateur light operators adjust their light the way they needed it.
Project Manager
QA Engineer
Mobile Developers
UI/UX Designer
