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It's been awhile but I was wondering if anybody would like to post and share with the rest of us any panel designs that you are really proud of. I love to see what others are doing in regards to design and user interface.

Comments

  • Jorde_VJorde_V Posts: 393
    sure:

    28uogpd.png
  • glr-ftiglr-fti Posts: 286
    Nice! I wish I had a graphical bone in my body. I can't even draw a straight line with a ruler!
  • DHawthorneDHawthorne Posts: 4,584
    glr-fti wrote: »
    Nice! I wish I had a graphical bone in my body. I can't even draw a straight line with a ruler!

    I can hack already existing graphics, and can even dress things up if I need to to make them look nice. But I can't originate a design and complete it ... well, at least it's not my strong suit. I probably could if I really had to, and expectations weren't very high :). But I have no problem at all with buying a design from someone else and using that ... too bad my boss doesn't feel the same way. As a result, I think most of my panels wind up a bit lackluster.
  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    Nerieru wrote: »
    sure:

    28uogpd.png

    JNV Lady's room? This is a little over the top for a public Lady's room so what's JNV?
  • Elan's new "g" UI has some interesting things going on.
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    DHawthorne wrote: »
    I can hack already existing graphics, and can even dress things up if I need to to make them look nice.
    Same here. Most of our panel designs are existing graphics re-vectorized and made to fit.

    I'm smelling some "freetime" coming up - so I might try and do something from start to finish.
  • yuriyuri Posts: 861
    Nerieru wrote: »
    sure:

    28uogpd.png

    This looks a lot like the XBMC interface. Did you manage to interface with it?
    I can't find the time to start creating a module, if you have one, would you care to share? :)
  • Here are some screen shots of the UI I made for a Matrix audio system controlled by 2 NXD-500I's. The example UI that came with the module was unusable IMO.
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    Nice. I like the buttons a lot and the overall 3D feel. Very nice!

    A question to everyone who make their own designs . . . what do you use? I've been using Adobe (previously Macromedia) Fireworks for at least six years now so to say I'm comfortable with it would be accurate, but see a lot of people using Photoshop for their designs . . . that program seems to have a steep learning curve I don't have the time for.
  • That's some really nice work you guys have posted! Here's a standard panel design available for download that I just modified to meet our needs. I wouldn't say I'm proud of it, but I thought I'd share anyway. The startup screen is a splash page, but the home screen is a simple "Choose from the following" list with various functions available (watch yyy, listen to zzz, etc..).








    --John
  • Oh, and the blank space in the tab of the file folder looking area gets filled with the room or zone that's being controlled. In other words, you can select different rooms and control the devices that are in that room.
    ... in case anyone was wondering :).

    --John
  • PhreaKPhreaK Posts: 966
    Here's some sketches of a panel design I'm working on. It still needs to go through some usability testing so things are likely to change (a lot).
    Base layout
    DVD transport
    DVD menu controls
    Source selections

    And as for how it looks when it comes together:
    Hi fidelity mockup (annotated)

    @jjames, re: tools
    I use GIMP for any high fidelity graphics, inkscape for vector work and iconography and Adobe Fireworks for 'sketches' and design prototypes. I'm a massive fan of open source gear and try to use in my work wherever possible but have not been able to find anything in the OSS world that remotely approaches fireworks in terms of functionality and flexibility when it comes to quickly mocking up designs. Having the ability to have a component library, easily manipulate entire classes of elements in one go (ie property inheritance) and having an interactivity layer that allows a sketchy looking mock up to move between pages and different states cannot be beat.
  • yuriyuri Posts: 861
    John: It's not my style but it looks very crisp and clean, good job!

    Kim: Do you do this for all your clients, or just for courts?
    I would change the volume slider for up/down buttons and only use the slider for feedback, but that's just me.
    Looks great!
  • PhreaKPhreaK Posts: 966
    yuri wrote: »
    Do you do this for all your clients, or just for courts?
    I would change the volume slider for up/down buttons and only use the slider for feedback, but that's just me.
    Looks great!
    Cheers.

    I'm currently employed by the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General so I can definitively say that yes, I do do 'this' for 100% of my current clients. :)

    I assume that by 'this' though you mean the sketches. When doing any UI design it is the most important part, and the section of the design process where it is critical to have any ideas on paper or in another communicable form. Once high res mockups start being put together it becomes a right pain to make changes to the UI. Additionally clients (and most importantly any participants in usability tests) will focus on the aesthetics of the mockup rather than the underlying structure and interaction patterns once designs they are presented with start to look like 'finished' products. Don't get me wrong, visual design is important, however you can't polish a turd - some people will try to roll it in glitter though.
  • All I can say is wow, blows me out of the water, sorry for the delay in response after I started this post but I had a family emergency to deal with. Thanks for sharing your work with the rest of us, it is impressive.
  • yuriyuri Posts: 861
    PhreaK wrote: »
    Cheers.

    I'm currently employed by the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General so I can definitively say that yes, I do do 'this' for 100% of my current clients. :)

    I assume that by 'this' though you mean the sketches. When doing any UI design it is the most important part, and the section of the design process where it is critical to have any ideas on paper or in another communicable form. Once high res mockups start being put together it becomes a right pain to make changes to the UI. Additionally clients (and most importantly any participants in usability tests) will focus on the aesthetics of the mockup rather than the underlying structure and interaction patterns once designs they are presented with start to look like 'finished' products. Don't get me wrong, visual design is important, however you can't polish a turd - some people will try to roll it in glitter though.

    You can't polish a turd?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiJ9fy1qSFI

    :D
  • Jorde_VJorde_V Posts: 393
    yuri wrote: »
    This looks a lot like the XBMC interface. Did you manage to interface with it?
    I can't find the time to start creating a module, if you have one, would you care to share? :)

    It's not XBMC exactement, but based on it. I'm partly interfacing with it. But I don't think I can get the covers to work like that in an AMX panel. Starting with an iPad first (writing an app for it as we speak). The normal feedback shouldn't be a much of a problem for AMX. Unfortunately you have to interface over HTTP for most stuff (they're working on a JSON Library). commands look something like: http://my-xbmc:80/httpcommand/index.php?cmd="XBMC.Play" for the HTTP api. haven't found a way to do this from AMX though. I'm checking out the source of the Android remote to see how they do it.
    vining wrote: »
    JNV Lady's room? This is a little over the top for a public Lady's room so what's JNV?

    The company I work for. And it's not the actual lady's room. But a room for ladies. (I know confusing) But it's basically a room to 'satisfy' the ladies =]
    PhreaK wrote: »
    Cheers.

    I'm currently employed by the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General so I can definitively say that yes, I do do 'this' for 100% of my current clients. :)

    I assume that by 'this' though you mean the sketches. When doing any UI design it is the most important part, and the section of the design process where it is critical to have any ideas on paper or in another communicable form. Once high res mockups start being put together it becomes a right pain to make changes to the UI. Additionally clients (and most importantly any participants in usability tests) will focus on the aesthetics of the mockup rather than the underlying structure and interaction patterns once designs they are presented with start to look like 'finished' products. Don't get me wrong, visual design is important, however you can't polish a turd - some people will try to roll it in glitter though.

    I just sat here nodding, while reading your post. I do my sketches on paper first, then work them out on the computer and then I start with the visual. I personally use photoshop/illustrator for this though. I've tried using GIMP & Inkscape. Inkscape I like, but it's not as powerful as Illustrator (though illustrator is also bloated for what I want to do). GIMP just wasn't all that useful. Also having a Intuos4 is a big + especially when going from sketch to diagram.
    yuri wrote: »

    You can polish a turd, but a turd is a turd. Is what he probably meant :P.

    I'd like to see some more interfaces from others! Come on guys, I know you have them. Don't feel shame, you can only learn by posting them here!
  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    Nerieru wrote:
    And it's not the actual lady's room. But a room for ladies. (I know confusing) But it's basically a room to 'satisfy' the ladies
    Is the equipment in this room used to "satisfy" the ladies AMX controlled or manual operated? :D I've been thinking of doing something like that for my wife, do you have pictures? :rolleyes:
  • truetrue Posts: 307
    Nerieru wrote: »
    It's not XBMC exactement, but based on it. I'm partly interfacing with it. But I don't think I can get the covers to work like that in an AMX panel. Starting with an iPad first (writing an app for it as we speak). The normal feedback shouldn't be a much of a problem for AMX. Unfortunately you have to interface over HTTP for most stuff (they're working on a JSON Library). commands look something like: http://my-xbmc:80/httpcommand/index.php?cmd="XBMC.Play" for the HTTP api. haven't found a way to do this from AMX though. I'm checking out the source of the Android remote to see how they do it.
    FWIW I plan on writing an XBMC module somewhat soon...just need motivation :/
  • PhreaKPhreaK Posts: 966
    Touche yuri. I basically meant that no matter how good the visual design, it will still be a crap interface if it's not well designed from an interaction point of view. You can roll a turd in as much glitter as you like but the more it's used, the more glitter falls off and you will eventually still be left with a turd.

    Nerieru, sounds like an 'interesting' project... you guys hiring? :)
  • review design pls

    Hey guys,

    check out the design cooked up by one of our graphic designers, i know its pretty basic but i want to know your suggestions so that we can improve on the design.

    Thanks
  • John NagyJohn Nagy Posts: 1,734
    An issue we deal with endlessly is that many times the "elegant" designs depend on text sizes too small for touch panels in the popular 5" and even 7" models. 90% of the residential buyers who can afford these systems are over 45 years old, and they are losing their near vision. They won't buy what they can't use without getting their glasses.

    As a provider of system software to DEALERS for resale to end users, the appeal of the panel design is judged by the DEALER before the customer ever sees it. And the (often younger) dealer's visual capabilities and technical prowess are frequently a poor match for the customer... leading to a dealer requirement for panels the customer will have trouble with.

    And for most customers, asking what they want on their panels is like asking first-time airline passengers how the cockpit gauges should be laid out. If they offer an opinion at all, it's seldom based on actual understanding. In our product, we deal with this with user reconfigurable buttons for all options. No choice requires getting a programmer or panel editor to revise later.
  • Jorde_VJorde_V Posts: 393
    vining wrote: »
    Nerieru wrote:

    Is the equipment in this room used to "satisfy" the ladies AMX controlled or manual operated? :D I've been thinking of doing something like that for my wife, do you have pictures? :rolleyes:

    It's indeed a room to aesthetically please the feminine side. Of course it's not manually operated as that would be near impossible. Mmm, the snapshots I took are quite outdated + the room isn't done yet. I can give you a general impression though. So I'll snap some shots after work today.
    true wrote: »
    FWIW I plan on writing an XBMC module somewhat soon...just need motivation :/
    2 cents, j/k. Well considering I'm already working on it we could throw a group together.
    PhreaK wrote: »
    Nerieru, sounds like an 'interesting' project... you guys hiring? :)
    Depends, which project do you find 'interesting' in particular?f
    ajish.raju wrote: »
    Hey guys,

    check out the design cooked up by one of our graphic designers, i know its pretty basic but i want to know your suggestions so that we can improve on the design.

    Thanks

    The issue isn't exactly the way it looks (but it is, I will get back to that). The biggest issue is that your eyes are all over the place. There's no focal point in the design, one item doesn't seem to be more important than the other, basically it's too open. People won't know where to go with their eyes. Changing the placement of certain items certainly will help with that. However aesthetically it needs some changes to highlight certain items and to make others fall back far enough. I'd make a suggestion to your Graphic Designer to take up some GUI courses, read some books etc.
    John Nagy wrote: »
    An issue we deal with endlessly is that many times the "elegant" designs depend on text sizes too small for touch panels in the popular 5" and even 7" models. 90% of the residential buyers who can afford these systems are over 45 years old, and they are losing their near vision. They won't buy what they can't use without getting their glasses.

    This shouldn't be that much of an issue John, you can make the design look elegant while maintaining good readability.
    John Nagy wrote: »
    As a provider of system software to DEALERS for resale to end users, the appeal of the panel design is judged by the DEALER before the customer ever sees it. And the (often younger) dealer's visual capabilities and technical prowess are frequently a poor match for the customer... leading to a dealer requirement for panels the customer will have trouble with.

    The key to good UI design is to do what someone expect and exceeding their expectations at the same time. This has nothing to do with age.
    John Nagy wrote: »
    And for most customers, asking what they want on their panels is like asking first-time airline passengers how the cockpit gauges should be laid out. If they offer an opinion at all, it's seldom based on actual understanding. In our product, we deal with this with user reconfigurable buttons for all options. No choice requires getting a programmer or panel editor to revise later.

    It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.
  • mushmush Posts: 287
    Nerieru wrote: »
    sure:

    28uogpd.png

    Very nice Nerieru!
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