AQU-SUN
Connected Aquarium Management & Lighting Control
Project Overview
Aqua Sun is a connected aquarium management application designed to bridge the gap between aquarium owners and their physical lighting hardware.
The product allows users to connect compatible aquarium lights to their mobile device and manage their lighting experience remotely — from simple on/off control to RGB/RGBW customization, reusable presets, sunrise and sunset transitions, and short- and long-term schedules.
But lighting control was only one part of the product.
Aqua Sun was designed around a broader ecosystem where users can manage multiple aquariums, multiple connected devices, lighting configurations, schedules, and aquarium maintenance tasks from a single mobile experience.
One of the most important product decisions was defining the relationship between these different entities:
Aquariums own the care and maintenance experience, while Devices own the physical lighting controls.
This distinction became the foundation of the information architecture and influenced navigation, user flows, screen hierarchy, and interaction design throughout the product.
I worked on the product from the ground up — from defining the product structure and information architecture to designing the UX/UI, interaction patterns, and final interfaces for iOS and Android in both Light and Dark modes.
Project Info
Project Type
Connected IoT mobile application for aquarium management, lighting control, automation, and maintenance.
Category
Mobile App · IoT · Smart Hardware · Aquarium Management
Project Scope
End-to-end product design from product definition and system architecture to final UI.
My Role
Product Designer / UX/UI Designer
Responsible for product structure, information architecture, user flows, interaction design, UI design, lighting control experience, scheduling, aquarium management, and cross-platform interface design.
Platform
iOS & Android
Timeline
3 Month
Defining
the Product Architecture
At first glance, Aqua Sun could look like a simple remote control for an aquarium light. But the actual product model was much more complex. A user doesn't necessarily have only one aquarium. An aquarium doesn't necessarily have only one device. And not every action in an aquarium is related to a device.
How do you create a simple experience around a system that contains multiple physical and digital entities?
The solution started by defining the product model before designing individual screens.
The overall experience was designed around four main stages:
The experience was
intentionally designed so that the user
doesn't need to understand the underlying technical architecture of the hardware.
Creating the Aquarium
The aquarium is the primary organizational layer of the product.
Users can create multiple aquariums and manage each one independently.
Each aquarium acts as a container for:
1- Connected devices
2- Device status
3- Aquarium-related tasks
4- Maintenance reminders
This makes the aquarium the user's primary mental model rather than the physical light itself.
Connecting Devices
Once an aquarium exists, users can add compatible lighting hardware to it. The conceptual flow is:
1- Aquarium
2- Add Device
3- Connect Hardware
4- Device Added
5- Control Device
This relationship is important because one aquarium can contain multiple devices.
Instead of creating a separate experience for every piece of hardware, devices become independent objects inside the aquarium.
Controlling the Light
Once connected, users can control their lighting directly from the mobile application.
The device experience is divided into two main modes:
Manual
For immediate, direct lighting control.
Time Schedule
For automated lighting behaviour. This distinction allows the same device to support both quick interactions and long-term automation without mixing the two mental models.
Customizing RGB / RGBW Lighting
Lighting control is one of the core experiences of Aqua Sun.
Users can adjust individual lighting channels and fine-tune their desired configuration.
The experience supports:
. RGB/RGBW adjustment
. Individual channel control
. Direct value editing where applicable
. Immediate lighting changes
. Saving configurations as presets
The design needed to make a technically detailed control system feel understandable and approachable.
Presets
Repeatedly creating the same lighting configuration would add unnecessary friction.
Aqua Sun therefore introduces a reusable preset system.
Users can choose from predefined configurations and apply them directly to their device.
The visual design uses color indicators and configuration information to help users distinguish between different lighting presets.
Users can also create their own lighting configuratio
Sunrise & Sunset
Lighting doesn't always need to switch between completely off and completely on.
Aqua Sun supports gradual transitions through sunrise and sunset duration settings.
Users can define how long the light should take to gradually brighten or dim.
This feature becomes particularly valuable when combined with scheduled lighting plans.
Short- & Long-Term Scheduling
he scheduling experience allows users to move from manual control toward automation.
Rather than repeatedly controlling the light themselves, they can define when the device should operate.
The scheduling system supports recurring plans and weekly configurations.
Users can define different schedules for different days, creating a more flexible lighting routine.
The goal was to make advanced automation available without making it the default complexity of the device experience.
Designing One Simple Experience
Around Multiple Systems!
The biggest design challenge wasn't creating a slider, a preset screen, or a schedule screen individually. It was defining how all of these features should work together. Aqua Sun combines several different systems:
Open Application01
Physical hardware
The connected aquarium light.
02
Digital controls
Power, RGB/RGBW and manual lighting adjustments.
03
Automation
Schedules, weekly plans and sunrise/sunset transitions.
04
Aquarium management
Multiple aquariums and multiple devices.
05
Aquarium care
Tasks and reminders that are independent from the hardware.
Their needs are not limited to turning a light on or off.
They may need to:
- Manage multiple aquariums
- Control multiple devices
- Adjust lighting
- Create reusable lighting presets
- Automate lighting schedules
- Create gradual transitions
- Remember maintenance activities
- Monitor their aquarium-related tasks
The product therefore needed to support both quick actions and long-term management.
The Key Product Decision
Aquarium vs. Device
One of the most important UX decisions was determining where information should live.
Device
A device represents physical hardware.
Therefore, device-specific functionality includes:
- Power
- Manual lighting
- R-GB/RGBW
- Presets
- Custom presets
- Sunrise & Sunset
- Schedules
Aquarium
An aquarium represents the environment being maintained.
Therefore, aquarium-level functionality includes:
- Connected devices
- Aquarium information
- Tasks
- Reminders
- Maintenance activities
Device
A device represents physical hardware.
Therefore, device-specific functionality includes:
- Power
- Manual lighting
- R-GB/RGBW
- Presets
- Custom presets
- Sunrise & Sunset
- Schedules
Aquarium
An aquarium represents the environment being maintained.
Therefore, aquarium-level functionality includes:
- Connected devices
- Aquarium information
- Tasks
- Reminders
- Maintenance activities
This principle became one of the foundations of the product architecture.This created a simple principle:
Control the hardware at the device level. Manage the aquarium at the aquarium level.
I worked on Aqua Sun
as a Product / UX/UI Designer,
approaching the product from the system level rather than starting from individual screens.
The process started with understanding:
- What the physical hardware does
- What the mobile application needs to control
- How users organize aquariums
- How multiple devices relate to one aquarium
- Which actions belong to a device
- Which activities belong to an aquarium
- How manual control transitions into automation
What I Owned End-to-End
From a Lighting Controller to a Connected Aquarium Ecosystem
The core outcome of Aqua Sun was not simply a more convenient way to control a light.
It was the creation of a scalable product model connecting:
USER / AQUARIUM / DEVICES / LIGHTING / AUTOMATION
independent from the hardware.
This architecture allowed the product to grow from a simple connected-lighting experience into a broader aquarium management ecosystem.
The final experience brings together physical hardware, mobile control, lighting customization, automation, aquarium organization and maintenance in one product.