[sdiy] Designing front panels for synths

[ColinMuirDorward]

My best panels were made by cutting out a piece of graph paper to panel
size, and then playing "chess" with knobs and jacks till I found an
ergonomically optimal layout.
But that only gets you the controls/io positioning.
As for surface treatment, I think this is so subjective that it would be
impossible to come up with any guidelines to suit all tastes.
For me, despite that I'm an artist (painter), I still go for a "designed by
engineer" look. I just want my modules to be legible, without a lot of
noisy distractions to make them harder for me to use/see.
Why not just choose an existing style you already like, and copy it? If
it's just for personal use, I don't see the harm in following a good
example.
Curious to hear how others approach panel design.
Cheers,
Colin



On Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 12:41 PM Gordonjcp <gordonjcp at gjcp.net> wrote:

> No, no, not whether you should use Inkscape or Excel or some CAD package,
> actually designing them so they look good.
>
> There's got to be some overlap on this list with people skilled in the
> visual arts.  How do you lay out the controls, connectors etc. on a panel
> so they look good, and don't look like the nightmarish "designed by
> engineer" crap that a lot of stuff seems to be?
>
> I'm guessing there's some simple but non-obvious principles at work that
> could be explained if you could get past all the forum discussion of
> whether toner transfer is better than photoresist or Eagle is better than
> Illustrator or whatever.
>
> --
> Gordonjcp
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>


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