By Becky Barrows, Senior Firmware Engineer at SJE Rhombus
A user interface is one of the critical elements of design for customer-facing products. The user interface is the portal to your device, allowing for setup, control and monitoring of the system. A product with industry-leading functionality can be brought down by a user interface that is cumbersome and difficult to operate. If the interface is unusable, the reception of your product will suffer no matter how well the rest of the system works.
Read on to find out how to design a user interface that works best for your product.
Choose the Right UI Platform
With the advent of the Internet of Things, the range of UI options has grown beyond basic I/O and displays. Now it includes mobile applications, embedded web servers and IoT connections that allow devices to be accessed by remote UIs. As technology has advanced, all of these options have become more widely available at a much lower cost of entry. Given these diverse options, how do you choose which platform is right for your product?
Start by deciding what functionality needs to be available to your users. Once functionality is defined, select the best method of granting access to it. This can be a local UI, remote UI or a combination of the two. For local needs, a user interface should be integrated into your product. If remote access is required, a product should include a Bluetooth or wireless/wired Ethernet connection.
Next, find the most cost-effective hardware solution that meets your requirements. Local display and input interfaces can be sized according to product needs and cost targets. A Bluetooth or Ethernet connection can be added for more extensive data entry. This reduces the burden on a local UI and can reduce its overall cost, while taking advantage of the speed and interface flexibility that a computer or mobile device offers. For remote access only, a local UI is eliminated and only the component cost for the radio connection needs to be considered.
Put Usability First
Designing a user interface can be challenging and requires a great deal of attention to detail. This is especially true if creating a brand new UI from the bottom up on a limited platform. A design that looks good on paper can fail to be user-friendly and can be overly cumbersome once implemented on the platform chosen.
A design that looks good on paper can fail to be user-friendly and can be overly cumbersome once implemented on the platform chosen.
The most important aspect of a user interface is how it works versus how it looks. Usability should be the main goal of the design, as it improves the overall user experience by optimizing the user flow and makes the UI easier to use. Once good functionality and flow have been defined, then the focus can shift to the aesthetics of the design.
To meet a goal of usability, a user interface should be simple and intuitive. The most critical information should be easily distinguishable at a glance to minimize interaction needed from users while working with the device. Commonly used tasks should be made accessible with minimal input to help with work flow. Layouts and functionality should remain consistent throughout the design to reduce the learning curve for new users. Combining these types of ideas will lead to a more user-friendly design.
Partner With Our Team for Your Design
The SJE Rhombus embedded design team has experience creating embedded user interfaces for a variety of applications, using all of the platforms mentioned above. We’ve worked with our customers to upgrade their UI designs with new technology, improving product functionality and usability. Our team can take your design and bring it to life or create an entirely new UI design for you. Contact us today to discuss your needs.
