Entries for the 'Design' Category

Interactivity, or input from a user, is expected in almost every type of mobile or desktop application, website, or interface. Users enter personal information, change application settings, and navigate various menus while using an interface. As designers, it is our job to provide users with the correct controls to make these inputs easier and quicker. Two of the most common controls, toggle switches and checkboxes, appear to accomplish the same task and often get their use cases confuse...

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Why do we code PLCs, design HMIs, create complex SCADA networks? The short answer is - so that somebody can use them to get a job done. For an HMI to be useable, it must be readable. Readability isn't just a matter of word choice. Technical choices like text alignment, line width, or font size can make or break readability. Here are eight tips for ensuring readability in your HMIs:  1. Left-align Text Likewise, justifying text creates awkward g...

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I recently developed an HMI using WinCC 7.4 for an automation project. Building it from the ground up afforded me the opportunity to deviate from WinCC’s default skeuomorphic controls and instead experiment with more modern, flatter UI elements found on consumer-facing products like smartphones and web interfaces (think Facebook, Google, and Apple). I relied on WinCC’s faceplate types to create generic controls that could be dragged and dropped as needed without additional ov...

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It's not fair.  Your car shows brake lights when it brakes. Some cool cars turn their lights on when you approach your car at night. Some really cool cars change the intensity of brake lights when they brake hard.  My bike has a red light that turns on when you press a button.  NOT FAIR.  For my FedEx Day project (a day where our company lets us make anything for 'next day delivery'), I brought my bike into the future with the help of a coworker and a ...

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Have you ever had a product design idea? Our engineers created this overview of the product development process to demystify how to bring your product to market.  Learn more about DMC's Custom Software and Hardware Development services.

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A while back I took a poll of the engineers here at DMC, and one of the main concerns the engineers had was that when designing a user interface they did not know what colors to choose. As a User Interface Designer I understand that there can be a bit of decision paralysis when it comes to designing in color since there are an infinite amount of colors! I knew there had to be a way to help engineers view colors as a simple choice. I took a stroll around Google Images for color charts showing ...

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Design, User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) have become more relevant in our technology-driven world than ever before. To help you better understand this both subjective and objective field of study, DMC has created a video series to teach you the basics of design. Learn about the elements of great design, and why design and user interface is so significant to products and technologies that we interact with everyday.  

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As part of our first FedEX day, DMC unveiled an exciting new logo and tagline!  Check it out below, as we reflect on past designs and the evolution of DMC. 1996 - 1998 This logo came from a business card software program, and it took about 2 minutes to select and design the card.  Note that we started off with company name “Dynamic Motion Control” because, when I started the company, I had an expertise in multi-axis motion control systems (...

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