FläktWoods HMI
Hardware & UI Design
2017/04/18-2017/05/24
Background
FläktWoods Group is the new European market leader for energy efficient indoor air technology solutions, providing the customers with the highest quality solutions for improved air comfort and well-being.
Now that the company has merged with DencoHappel and formed a new community FläktGroup, there has been a large demand of improving the current products and looking for a new branding.
Emphasize & Define
During the research phase, I noticed that the major problem of the HMIs nowadays was information overloading. From this aspect, I'd like to focus on simplifying the user interface especially the homepage/dashboard for novice user, making this device more efficient to use. And separating novice users from advanced users is a good way to apply.
Ideate
As for the design of this handheld device, I'd like to emphasise the ergonomic factors, hoping to find an innovative way to make this device more comfortable and stable to hold.
Meanwhile, the concepts for the user interfaces focused on simplifying the interaction and classifying functions with different importance levels in a more logical manner. I made many Lo-Fi mockups to explore how to guide the users from functions to functions.
Before I finalized the concept and started to build the digital model in Alias, I made some simple mockups out of foam to test the scale and the size for the handle and the clearance, in order to make sure this device would fit the majority of people's hand sizes in spite of left or right handed people, with or without gloves.
The final concept was a handheld tablet with an 8 inch touch screen.
There is one physical button to turn this device on and off, two ports for Ethernet and USB, one light indicator to show the charging status.
The main case is made of Neoprene which has a good performance in water and dust proof, considering this device will be mainly used under humid or outdoor environments.
There're two different ways of holding it, and the handle is covered with rubber in textures to increase the friction in case of dropping accidentally.
According to the company, the user interfaces are confidential so it is not convenient to show in this portfolio.
FINAL RESULT
Prototype & Test
A physical model was made out of CNC milling machine and foam, and necessary surface treatment was applied after.
