New touch screen interfaces for climatic chambers
UX Design
UI Design
Aralab’ goal was to improve the user experience and visual layout of their new climatic chamber touch screen interface. The touch screens in the climatic chambers and monitoring software are daily used by partners, employees, and technicians. So, they needed an intuitive and efficient solution to match every type of user’s needs.
Aralab reached out to us to help them integrate the user interface with the equipment that they offer. We decided to re-create the complete user experience to optimise the whole process and create a more intuitive and efficient experience. Because we research and understand the users' needs, we can solve their problems.
We started by visiting the manufacturing plant to better understand the chambers the touch screens were used on. It was important to know the size and dimension of the chambers as well as the context and placement of the touch screens. We were also given a complete tour of all the current touch screens, the various models and shown the different uses. Our research showed that the architecture and visual hierarchy needed to be addressed. Users were being presented with more options than they needed and in some cases divided by various screens. We optimised the product experience for the users and removed all the elements that didn’t add value.
Working together with the client and product users allowed us to identify the most used functions and important alerts.
We created a new structure for the architecture and tested the limits of the software and screen capabilities to understand how far we could take the user experience. It was crucial to understand what needed to be on the main screen and on the secondary screens. Some of the challenges we identified were the limited colour range of the touch screens, screen dimension constraints, cognitive load and the fact that some interfaces had not been adapted to the new screens or software capabilities.
First, our team created wireframe prototypes to test the concept and architecture we proposed. After a few changes and updates based on the client´s feedback, we were comfortable that the skeleton of the solution was ready.
Then we developed a visual style guide based on the constraints of the touch screens, which give us a scalable solution built with reusable elements and components. A visual layout of the page templates was designed and tested on the actual screens to make sure the colour and content contrast worked well. Effective design helps the user stay productive by reducing eye fatigue, as the user's eyes continually focus and refocus. We eased the burden on the user's eyes by reducing contrast and restraining the use of saturated colors. After several tests and iterations, we launched the new interface.
New and intuitive touch screen interfaces that set them apart from the competition.
The users of Aralab's climatic chambers were able to easily set programs and select options. Their experience with the new interfaces has been highly improved.
R&D Director
