Why successful HMI design is technology-agnostic
by Christian Rudolph
Article 2 min reading time
Anyone who prioritises the choice of technology over the needs of users is squandering potential and starting from the wrong premise.
In many projects, discussions about the interface begin with the same question: Which framework is right for our project? The choice of technology dominates early discussions, thereby obscuring the user’s needs. Yet the question of the right front-end technology can be considered entirely independently of the HMI design. Modern development systems now allow typical design requirements to be implemented graphically without technical constraints. This is a major advantage, but also a challenge: what actually needs to be on the screen, and how should it all be designed?
Good UX design is created independently of the technology
Before a single button is placed, many questions must be answered:
- Who will be standing in front of this interface in the future – and under what conditions will they make decisions?
- What information is relevant, and to whom?
- What does a mistake cost – a second’s response time, an hour’s downtime, a machine?
- How must this system feel for people to trust it?
The answers determine the information architecture. They determine how alerts are prioritised, how navigation is sensibly structured, and where critical status values must be located. The technology comes afterwards – as a tool that implements the decisions, not as a starting point that dictates them.
The problem with tool-driven development
Those who take a tool-driven approach to design create interfaces that reflect the capabilities of the tool. Those who start with the user create interfaces that reflect the users’ needs. The difference sounds like a nuance. In practice, it is enormous. Over the past few years, we have implemented projects using a wide range of technologies: Siemens WinCC Unified, Delphi Object Pascal, C++, AVEVA OMI, XAML, .NET, SmartHMI WebIQ, Copadata Zenon, Rockwell FactoryTalk Optix … and, of course, HELIO. At the heart of all these projects were the users’ needs.
Technology changes. Good design survives.
Whether you’re planning a new installation or feel that your existing space isn’t being used to its full potential – we’d be happy to discuss it with you. Whatever technology you want to work with.
Christian Rudolph Management HMI Project
