Human Machine Interfacedesign

HMI Project supports ERLENBACH GmbH in the creation of a new Human Machine Interface for the machines and systems for the production of foamed plastic mouldings.
Erlenbach is an internationally oriented company that specialises in the processing of EPS and EPP. The company is the technology leader in this field and has delivered more than 7,000 machines in the last 60 years. The product portfolio includes pre-expansion lines, moulding machines, block moulding lines and a wide range of accessories. The company is located in Lautert, Rheinland-Pfalz, and employs about 160 people.

Erlenbach Website

Great news: We have made it to the final of the iF DESIGN AWARD with two projects and were even able to take home one of the coveted design awards.
The projects ›Schneider LMS Life‹ and ›Brückner Easy Operation‹ were voted into the final of the iF DESIGN AWARD 2021 by the international jury of experts. Schneider LMS Life‹ also managed to successfully assert itself in the final round of judging. Schneider LMS Life‹ is thus the official winner of the globally renowned design label. The project was able to convince the 98-member international jury with its innovative potential and thus prevailed against 10,000 submissions from 52 countries.
The iF DESIGN AWARD is presented annually by the world's oldest independent design institution, iF International Forum Design GmbH in Hanover. We have been awarded the renowned design label for the seventh time now.

Project description / Easy Operation
Project description / LMS Life
iF DESIGN AWARD Website / LMS Life
iF DESIGN AWARD Certificate / LMS Life

Bron Elektronik AG, founded in 1958 with its well-known brand broncolor, has developed into a global player in the international market for professional lighting systems over the last half century and is used in countless photo studios around the world. Precision, leading technology, quality and reliability are the basis of success. HMI Project supports the renowned Swiss company based in Allschwil, near Basel, in the development of a user interface for their latest product broncolor LED F160 , a compact and long-lasting LED light for use in product and portrait photography. The LED F160 can be used for taking photos and videos with the entire range of professional broncolor light shaping tools.

Bron Website
LED F160 in action

2020 is certainly a year which we will remember. Working from home has become the norm, distance has become familiar. Public discussions as well as private conversations focused on the current health crisis — with the rules and perspectives changing every week. Planning is becoming ever more difficult. Everyone is caught in the present.

We have nevertheless remained optimistic and are looking ahead.

Since the beginning of 2019 we have been collecting money to compensate the carbon emissions caused by our business trips, with us splitting the costs with our clients. At the beginning of the year we changed over to green electricity for our offices and at the same time decided to also compensate the complete carbon emissions of our office operations.

The generated amount is donated to the regional climate project TREEMER. Our donation is being used to plant severely threatened indigenous trees, which had almost disappeared from our local forests through excess felling, in the "Franconian Switzerland" region near Würzburg. This benefits our forests which are so threatened by climate change, drought and monoculture – and thus also us.

Treemer Website

After all – the Covid pandemic will be past at some point in the future and we are already looking forward to the moment! We are thus starting into 2021 with the resolution think globally, act locally, stay positive.

Our thanks to our staff, partners and customers for their support and fruitful cooperation.

We wish each and every one a merry festive season and all the best for 2021!

Your HMI Project Team

How to manage the balancing act between office and home office? Many people asked themselves this question in spring. In the meantime, working in the home office is nothing unusual any more. Since Corona has forced its way into our everyday lives, we have had to overcome many hurdles to adapt to the crisis.

The morning meeting at the coffee machine is now a thing of the past, and unfortunately so is quick coordination at the workplace. Today we will discuss the most important points of the day online. It is a completely different feeling not to be physically present. The unaccustomed distance changes social interaction and also the work process. Everyone knows that meetings can sometimes last longer. This is no different with the large number of online meetings. However, regular exchange between the team members and our customers is crucial for a smooth project flow.

Fortunately, it was possible for us to have all employees working in the home office right from the start. Of course, we were aware that the mothers and fathers in our circle are now not quite as flexible as usual. The team has done an excellent job here, despite irregular working hours. The internal organisation and arrangements were perfected and adapted to the new challenges.

In the meantime a few months have passed. The office is about 50% full again and home office is the order of the day, depending on requirements. The first meetings with customers could also take place again in the meantime, of course only with a lot of distance, hygienic safety measures and lots of fresh air. We have also developed new methods to support digital communication and the changed work processes. For example, telephone interviews and online questionnaires have been developed for our usability tests, with which we can now even test more easily and efficiently than before. The results can be evaluated more quickly and fed back into the design process. Our tooling has also been optimised accordingly. We now work with new conception and layout programs that focus on collaborative work.

We are looking optimistically into the future, even if many things are progressing somewhat more laboriously than usual. What counts for us is that everyone involved remains motivated and passionate about implementing their ideas. Many thanks to the whole HMI team as well as all customers and partners for their understanding and the still excellent cooperation!

HMI Project supports KraussMaffei Extrusion GmbH in the development of a new Human Machine Interface for the operation of extrusion machines. The focus is on developing a uniform user experience and a consistent user interface design for the entire product portfolio.
KraussMaffei Extrusion GmbH is a German company with around 800 employees and headquarters in Hanover. It is part of the KraussMaffei Group, one of the world's leading manufacturers of machinery and systems for producing and processing plastics and rubber. The company's portfolio covers all technologies in injection moulding, extrusion and reaction processing.

KraussMaffei Website

The User Interface for 'Aasted Smart Control' has been nominated for the UX Design Award 2020 and the German Design Award 2021. Already the nomination for these awards is a great success for us. Only companies whose products and communication design achievements can be proven to be of convincing design quality are admitted to the respective nomination procedures.

The German Design Award honours innovative products and projects, their manufacturers and designers, which are groundbreaking in the German and international design landscape. The German Design Award is sponsored by the German Design Council. Since 1953, it has operated as the world's leading competence center for communication and knowledge transfer in the field of design, brand and innovation. With international offerings, support for young talent and memberships, it is part of the global design community and has always helped to establish exchange and networks worldwide. More than 340 companies currently belong to its circle of founders.

The UX Design Awards are a global competition for user and customer experience, organized by the International Design Center Berlin (IDZ). With the UX Design Awards, the IDZ recognizes the role that user-centered design plays in creating a positive living environment. The IDZ is a leading independent German institution for the promotion of design as a motor for innovation in business and society. The IDZ offers companies access to consulting and expertise in the field of design, promotes the exchange of knowledge and realizes projects and events. The institution works in active exchange with representatives from politics, culture and science on a national and international level.

Project description Aasted Smart Control
UX Design Award press release
UX Design Award online project presentation
German Design Award press release
German Design Award Website

We are once again doubly successful: In the Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design 2020, we have succeeded for the third time in a row in convincing the international jury with the high design quality of two projects. We can thus count ourself among the winners of the most renowned design competition worldwide.
For the projects ›Easy Operation‹ of our customer Brückner Maschinenbau and ›LMS Life‹ of our customer Schneider Electric, the jurors awarded the coveted Red Dot twice. In 2020, 6,992 creative projects and brands from 50 nations were registered for the competition. Following the motto ›In search of good design and creativity‹, the 24 international jurors evaluated the submissions online this year and examined each work and brand professionally, individually and comprehensively. In doing so, they placed particular emphasis on the form, the idea and the effect. Only those projects that convinced the experts with their high design quality and creative performance were finally awarded a prize.

Press release
Project description Easy Operation
Red Dot Website Easy Operation
Project description LMS Life
Red Dot Website LMS Life

HMI Project supports Schneider Electric Germany in the design and development of a user interface for the Industrial IoT product ›LMS Life - Line Monitoring System of the next generation‹. Data visualizations and smart infographics are the focus of the project.
Schneider Electric SE is a publicly listed electrical engineering group active in the fields of electrical power distribution and industrial automation. The company is based near Paris and is represented in approximately 150 countries.

Project Description
Schneider Electric Website