<div dir="auto"><div>Ahh, a bit of stretching and shoulder-to-shoulder headbending is just what my spine needed. ;-)<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Some kerning would be nice, to avoid the "OCT A VE" and "W ARP". It seems like every other frontpanel design tool have these basic flaws, how is it even possible? Anyway, it makes the original question more relevant I guess.</div><div dir="auto">A graphic designer's panel doesn't have to be more "artistic" than the panel "designed by engineer", it can be wonderfully stiff and boring but with deep understanding of readability and typesetting. Some designs out there are really really good compared to what we ordinary people are capable of. Mutable Instruments, Xaoc Devices and Aemit are some manufacturers that come to mind, but many others would deserve a mention as well.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">/mr</div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">Den tis 13 okt. 2020 22:59David G Dixon <<a href="mailto:dixon@mail.ubc.ca">dixon@mail.ubc.ca</a>> skrev:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
<div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" size="2" face="Arial">First of all, sorry for the "CAUTION: Non-UBC Email" message
that now accompanies most or all of my responses -- I usually forget to remove
it before I reply. It is something that our IT people decided we just had
to have to warn us of the dangers of incoming email. After 30 or more
years of using email, I figure I was pretty well aware of the
dangers, and I begged them (twice) to remove this "feature" from
the system. They did reduce it (it was originally a yellow
banner across the top of the whole email message extolling the various
dangers of phishing, etc), but they won't eliminate it unless, I guess, we
storm their building and take them all hostage and threaten bodily harm,
but, really, who has the time? </font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" size="2" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" size="2" face="Arial">Anyway, about panels. My panels are all, more or less,
inspired by DJ Thomas White. Many years ago, I was very impressed with the
clean look of his panels, so I asked him how he made them, and he gave me
all of his FPD files. Ever since, I have used his font
choices. Whenever I want to make a panel, I simply copy the file
for the last panel I made in FPD to a new filename and alter it
accordingly. As far as pot and switch placements, I now almost always lay
out panel PCBs for all the panel components, and this is in Excel, like all of
my layouts, and I do it on a strict 0.1" grid. This is very convenient for
FPD, where the components can be moved precisely where you want them on an X-Y
grid. So, now, in addition to having nice readable graphics, my panels are
all compatible with my panel PCBs. This makes panel assembly a snap, since
all of the components are already soldered in place, and just have to be poked
through the holes and have the nuts installed. Plus, these panel PCBs
require little or no wiring. As far as spacing, I just try to make things
evenly spaced to make everything accessible. I also largely conform to the
MOTM standard of having all the jacks along the bottom, since I don't like
reaching through a bunch of cords to access knobs and switches. Plus, this
allows me to make jack PCBs (which are separate from the panel PCBs, since the
jacks are a lot taller, so the PCBs are on different
levels).</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" size="2" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" size="2" face="Arial">Here's a picture of my best panels -- the challenge was to get
18 jacks onto it without taking up too much space. I think it turned out
pretty well.</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" size="2" face="Arial"><img border="0" hspace="0" alt="" align="baseline" src="cid:705014020@13102020-3608"></font></span></div><br>
<div dir="ltr" lang="en-us" align="left">
<hr>
<font size="2" face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b> Synth-diy
[mailto:<a href="mailto:synth-diy-bounces@synth-diy.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">synth-diy-bounces@synth-diy.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of
</b>ColinMuirDorward<br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, October 13, 2020 1:10
PM<br><b>To:</b> Gordonjcp<br><b>Cc:</b> *SYNTH DIY<br><b>Subject:</b> Re:
[sdiy] Designing front panels for synths<br></font><br></div>
<div></div><span style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:#ffecb3;COLOR:#000000;FONT-SIZE:12px"><span style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:#ffecb3;COLOR:#000000;FONT-SIZE:12px"><span style="PADDING-BOTTOM:3px;LINE-HEIGHT:1.6;BACKGROUND-COLOR:#ffecb3;FONT-STYLE:normal;PADDING-LEFT:3px;PADDING-RIGHT:3px;COLOR:#000000;FONT-SIZE:12px;FONT-WEIGHT:normal;PADDING-TOP:3px">[<strong>CAUTION:</strong>
Non-UBC Email]</span></span></span>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>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.</div>
<div>But that only gets you the controls/io positioning. <br></div>
<div>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.</div>
<div>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. <br></div>
<div>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.</div>
<div>Curious to hear how others approach panel design.<br></div>
<div>Cheers,</div>
<div>Colin<br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div></div><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 12:41 PM Gordonjcp <<a href="mailto:gordonjcp@gjcp.net" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">gordonjcp@gjcp.net</a>> wrote:<br></div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;PADDING-LEFT:1ex" class="gmail_quote">No, no, not whether you should use Inkscape or Excel or some
CAD package, actually designing them so they look good.<br><br>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?<br><br>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.<br><br>--
<br>Gordonjcp<br>_______________________________________________<br>Synth-diy
mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Synth-diy@synth-diy.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Synth-diy@synth-diy.org</a><br><a href="http://synth-diy.org/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">http://synth-diy.org/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy</a><br></blockquote></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>
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