Formlabs Fuse 1
2017-2018
user testing, ux design, visual design
user testing, ux design, visual design
A touchscreen interface for Formlabs’ SLS 3D printer that allows users to monitor the progress of active prints and overall printer status, queue new jobs, and change system settings. I was the design lead on the project, working closely with engineering and industrial design teams to select components and understand necessary sensor data to communicate through the UI.
Key constraints were to provide flexibility in the printer maintenance workflow required between every print, and to always give the user access to the live feed of the print bed.
I wireframed three navigation structures: side navigation, heads-up display, and cards. I built interactive prototypes using Principle and mounted an iPad on a printer model to conduct user tests.
The side navigation structure was the most familiar and intuitive for all users. I created a maintenance checklist accessible at any time through the navigation bar, and before printing.
Case Study: Alerts
One area I especially focused on was mapping all system alerts, starting from sitting down with the engineering team to understand the machine sensors and error/failure states and condensing those error states into categories.After wrapping my head around all the possible alerts, I developed a hierarchical system to reflect the urgency of the alert.
I brought this hierarchy together with my more technical understanding of the machine to map flows that incorporated user actions, machine state, and UI guidance.
Finally, I translated these flows into UI mockups, following the design system I had developed for rest of the UI.
