Challenge

I am working as an Industrial Designer in construction Equipment company.  We work mainly for enhancing aesthetics and visual aspects of machine. But 3  Years ago We got this challenge of making modular Display HMI for Various  Construction Equipments for our company. Using same LCD display module for  different machines was challenging since every machine has different sort of  information and bring one solution which caters to all machines was tough.

Selection

We thought of using white boarding (Now I will call mind mapping) technique  to put all necessary information from different machines in the table format to  see if we can find some connections between the information.

Application

We made one big white board dedicated to dump all the information related  to different machines in the tabular format. We used to update the white  board as requirements used to change from different machine departments.

So we used to look board from the distance and marked some common  attributes for display. So far everything was going right but we completely  forgot about the manufacturing constraints of LCD + analog dial display.  Because our tabular white boarding method was capable of putting machine  information and not manufacturing constraints.

Insights

Putting information of different machines out there in the board helped us to  see common attributes emerging from the table. But we completely forgot  how to connect the dots with manufacturing parameters. Through Mind  mapping technique described here we could have found multiple patterns  more easily if we would have replaced tabular approach with mind map on the  board with information bubbles intersecting with each other.

Approach

I have understood that Mind mapping is more freeform way of displaying  information as well as finding patterns out of multiple seemingly different  variables or ideas. That modular display could have been cheaper to  manufacture if we would have done mind mapping properly in initial stages.


Challenge I am working as an Industrial Designer in construction Equipment company . We work mainly for enhancing aesthetics and visual aspects of machine . But 3 Years ago We got this challenge of making modular Display HMI for Various Construction Equipments for our company . Using same LCD display module for different machines was challenging since every machine has different sort of information and bring one solution which caters to all machines was tough . Selection We thought of using white boarding ( Now I will call mind mapping ) technique to put all necessary information from different machines in the table format to see if we can find some connections between the information . Application We made one big white board dedicated to dump all the information related to different machines in the tabular format . We used to update the white board as requirements used to change from different machine departments . So we used to look board from the distance and marked some common attributes for display . So far everything was going right but we completely forgot about the manufacturing constraints of LCD + analog dial display . Because our tabular white boarding method was capable of putting machine information and not manufacturing constraints . Insights Putting information of different machines out there in the board helped us to see common attributes emerging from the table . But we completely forgot how to connect the dots with manufacturing parameters . Through Mind mapping technique described here we could have found multiple patterns more easily if we would have replaced tabular approach with mind map on the board with information bubbles intersecting with each other . Approach I have understood that Mind mapping is more freeform way of displaying information as well as finding patterns out of multiple seemingly different variables or ideas . That modular display could have been cheaper to manufacture if we would have done mind mapping properly in initial stages .