[sdiy] Designing front panels for synths

[Jimmy Moore]

What you're describing Gordon is essentially the basis for UX Design (and
graphic design, usability testing, etc. etc).  The totality of that topic
may be an impractically tough nut to crack over a single e-mail thread, but
definitely makes for some fun conversation.

Gestalt principles
<https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/gestalt-principles>
can be a good place to start. I specialize in data visualization for my
professional life, and currently work with some very talented UX people.
You may be surprised at how much paper-prototyping goes on, just like Colin
suggested. Otherwise, it is a lot of imitation, iteration, and
(constructive) design critiques.

On Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 2:13 PM ColinMuirDorward <colindorward at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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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