ROLE

Product Designer

CLIENT

Inventables

TOOLS

Sketch, Invision

SUMMARY

Easel is a web-based software that allows users to design and carve along side the X-Carve CNC machine. Easel has full design tools, the ability to import files and custom apps to help achieve specific techniques.

 

CHALLENGE

Easel is not only used to design, it also controls the machine and specifically the machine's movement. Previously the only time the user could move the machine was if they clicked the ‘CARVE’ buton. This presents a modal walkthrough that assists users in setting up and carving their project. The modal made it inconvenient for users who only wanted to move the router out of the way to have access to their wasteboard. 

 

RESEARCH

I conducted 12 generic user interviews with users of all skill levels. I wanted to understand their thoughts about how Easel functions and what areas of improvement were most important to them.

KEY INSIGHTS

What we learned was users had a lot of concerns however one thing we heard several times was that users wanted the ability to move their machine without having to open the ‘CARVE’ walkthrough.

  1. The thought of clicking ‘CARVE’ just to move the machine made some users nervous as they are not ready to actually carve. 

  2. A lot of times users just wanted to move the router out of the way so they could clamp their material down.

  3. Users wanted to have the freedom to move the machine at any time not only when/carving or at the end of a carve.

 

PREVIOUS JOG CONTROLS

Images from the carve walkthrough modal. This was the only location where the user could find and operate the jog controls (on the right hand side).

 

BRAINSTORM SESSION

I conducted a team brainstorm session where we broke up into groups of two and discussed ways we could allow users to move the machine outside of the carve walkthrough. Everyone came back with their ideas and we then discussed as a larger team what we felt was the most feasible high impact change we could make. Once everyone agreed on a direction (or few) I took those ideas and began sketching out possible UI solutions.

 

IDEATION

 

INITIAL WIREFRAMES

 

USER TESTING

I created a clickable Invision prototype to use for user testing these concepts:

Methodologies

  1. I conducted 45 minute long moderated interviews

  2. Total of 5 users

  3. Users I had interviewed in the past who specifically expressed a need for the jog controls to be more accessible

What did we want to learn

  1. At what point in their workflow do users move their machine

  2. Does the location of the jog controls feel intuitive to the user

  3. What are their expectations of how these controls should work

  4. Is there any functionality they think is missing

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  1. Moving the machine was mainly done before and after a carve

  2. Users were excited to have a way to move the machine that didn’t involve the idea of ‘carving’ to do so

  3. They loved that the new controls did not cover their design or the preview of their design

  4. Users wanted to have keyboard controls as an option for moving the machine

 

THE FINAL PRODUCT

After concept testing we learned that users liked the location of the controls with the other carve settings. They wanted it to be small and as least invasive as possible. The controls to edit the jog intervals was important as well as being able to set the movement to inches or millimeters.

 
 

In the carve walkthrough, the jog controls were changed to align with the same UI as the Easel software.

**(I also worked on a redesign of the carve walkthrough at a different time)