Application Structure & Hardware Redesign - Cockpit SX

Our assignment for this project was to visualize the application structure of any electronic device of our choosing with a directly usable and relatively complex interface. The idea of this exercise was to improve our understanding of the device itself and transform this into a visualization in form of an A1 Poster.

In addition to the application structure we were also assigned to create a redesign of either the structure or even the device or interface itself. For this part we were able to freely choose in what form we would like to create the visualization.

Choosing the Device

I had chosen to try visualize the application structure of the Multiplex Cockpit SX M-Link, a radio control (RC) system for controlling model planes or copters.

It has quite the amount of menus and settings hidden in its multi layered structure so that one could tweak a remote controlled model plane to fly correctly. I have found myself using this RC a couple of times and have gotten lost often in the menus when I only wanted to change one little thing. This experience made it ideal for me to visualize the complexity of the application structure.

Application Structure

At first I tried to lay out the structure so that I might understand it more easily.

From here on out I was experimenting with different forms of how to display a hierarchical tree structure in a more interesting way until I inspected the hardware more closely as well.

The remote controls from Multiplex are one of the few in the market that utilize a turnable and pressable knob to navigate through its menus. Furthermore I have researched about flight instruments to hope get inspired by their form and function.

Building a radial form for the structure was therefore the logical decision to make to convey the aesthetics of both hardware and application into one visualization.

In the beginning I tried to be more strict in displaying the hierarchical order in a radial form but quickly found out about the limitations of doing it this way when many menu points had to be displayed.

I scrapped that Idea and tried creating a hybrid of tree structure and radial form. I found it also important to give more emphasis to the hardware itself to convey its uniqueness of navigating. An additional legend was also added to show the functionality of the knob in more detail. This iteration was also scrapped for it was to cluttered and noisy.

cockpit-sx_application-structure_V2.1.png

Lastly I went back to the idea of making the form more radial again but ignored the strict hierarchical tree structure. For the same reasons from the previous iteration I displayed the hardware on the poster and added a legend for not only about the knobs functionality but also the visualization as well.

cockpit-sx_application-structure_V3.2.CMYK.png

Hardware Redesign

For the redesign I chose to design a Poster as well. I tried to change the way one navigates through the application structure of the remote control by mainly replacing the small screen with a larger one. The knobs functionality doesn't change much except for how one traverses back to previous menus by adding a physical „back“ button. With the addition of some short explanatory texts and legends next to the illustrations the reader can get a better idea of what I have tried to accomplish.

At the very bottom of the poster a use case with some key screens can be seen to furthermore explain how one might find ones way around the application. As an example it is shown how to change a model preset.

cockpit-sx_application-structure_V3.2.redesign.CMYK.png

Conclusion

Creating these posters was not easy and I realized that a lot of patients and an eye for detail played a huge part in finishing the assignment. During the past weeks of creating the visualization I have often found myself struggling in thinking of a good way to illustrate the application structure. Only after a few failed attempts and a lot of constructive feedback from the course I'd like to believe that I have created something passable in the end, but even then I still stared at the monitor for many minutes, zooming in and out, searching for details to fix or enhance just to make sure I haven't forgotten anything.

The course lectures about design basics helped as well since one could refresh ones current knowledge and even learn new things too. Many aspects about form, colour, structure, etc. were indispensable for creating the visualization.

The redesign on the other hand was easier to create than anticipated. Perhaps because I already had the base ideas building up one by one in my head during my „zooming in and out“ phase with the application structure that I mostly only had to recreate my thoughts into the monitor. The fact that I also had first-hand experience with the remote control always wishing that the screen were bigger also helped.

In the end I am very happy with the outcome of what I have created and what I have learnt during the course. I have learned to be more meticulous with my work and try out many iterations of it to finally find the right outcome.