Bruce Sterling is the leader of the Viridian Design movement (see this section at the Well for more information). Occasionally he holds competitions for the members of the Viridian mailing list to take part in. I participated in the fifth competition, towards the end of 1999, which had the following brief:

"The humble switchplate needs a full-scale Viridian re-think, to reflect its new role as the tactile and visual interface to an important social and aesthetic element of your 21st century lifestyle...

"Something tasteful, please. The interior decor of a private home should eschew zealous and strident broadsides. The homeowner, her children and her aged live-in parents don't need to be hectored by any preaching-to-the-choir. They have become part of the solution now, and are no longer part of the crisis. Besides, a solar power system at its best is a smoothly-working Wrightsian integration between the building and its environment. Therefore, a likely treatment might be a low-key, Frank Lloyd Wright-style geometrical abstraction."

I didn't win, but my solution can be seen here. You can find a listing of all the entries, including the winner, here.