When you walk into a warehouse, what do you see? Machinery, inventory, shipping, and safety? Walk down the aisles and try to count how many labels there are for the items. Instructions for how to operate machinery. Danger signs for employee safety. You’ll be shocked by how much information is thrust onto you right from the start.
Now hop into the forklift and try to operate it. Or use the specialized electronics your warehouse uses to stay organized and efficient. Do you understand what the buttons all do? Can you read the code the machine spits out when it malfunctions? If there’s an emergency, will you be able to use the medical equipment on site? (Are you feeling overwhelmed yet?)
This is the everyday experience for industrial workers and a vital example of the disconnect between leaders and employees on the role of technology in the workplace. While 90% of C-suite executives say their company is listening to the company’s needs when introducing new technologies, only 53% of staff say the same.
And for much of this frustration, you can look to four letters as the source of that disconnect: UI/UX, or User Interface and User Experience.
Understanding User Interface and User Experience
Although the phrases user interface and user experience are used interchangeably, they are two different things. The user interface is the design aspect of something — how something looks. The images, the colors, the typography. Meanwhile, the user experience is how something functions. The user’s journey, and the functionality of technology.
User Interface (UI)
How you interact with something. The buttons, icons, colors, and visual elements that make up the surface of a product or system.
UI Goals: Easy to understand, clearly visible, intuitive functionality.
User Experience (UX)
The “flow” behind what is being done. If X button is pressed, it will result in Y. It’s the logic, structure, and journey behind every interaction.
UX Goals: Functional processes. Making sure that “it just works” for the user. The only way something doesn’t work as intended is if the problem is with the user, not the design.
Improved Efficiency Through Intuitive Design
So now we’ve covered the what and why of UI/UX — but is it really that important? Absolutely. Investing in good UI/UX design can save you money in several ways:
- Less Training Needed: An easy-to-use interface means less time and money spent training users.
- Reduced Support Costs: A user-friendly design lowers the chances of users needing help, saving on support and helpdesk expenses.
- Fewer Errors: Intuitive design decreases user mistakes, cutting costs associated with fixing errors or revising work.
- Increased Productivity: Streamlined interfaces make tasks quicker, saving time and boosting overall productivity.
- Customer Retention: Satisfied users are more likely to stick around, reducing the need to spend on acquiring new customers.
- Early Issue Identification: Investing in UX research helps catch problems before they become expensive to fix in later development stages.
In short, prioritizing UI/UX design is a smart investment that pays off in terms of lower training costs, reduced support expenses, fewer errors, increased productivity, improved customer retention, and early issue identification.
Industrial User Interfaces for Training and Onboarding
Whether it is a new employee joining the team or an update to an old process, you’ll need to train your team. An intuitive user interface for something new to the work environment will speed up the training process for new operators.
Additionally, the consistency of UI design across different machinery and systems within an industrial facility ensures that operators can apply their knowledge seamlessly when transitioning between tasks or workstations. This uniformity reduces the likelihood of errors and contributes to a smoother workflow.
Factors Influencing Effective Industrial UI Design
That’s a whole lot of “this is really important!” — but you might be asking yourself: how can I improve the UI/UX where I work? Here are the key factors to consider:
- Testing, testing, testing. Conducting usability testing with actual operators ensures the UI meets their needs and expectations. This iterative process helps identify and address any usability issues. Sure, the people who made the UI think it’s great — but how about the people using it every day?
- Work with the users. Ensure that you are working with the end users at the design stage. They’re the ones that will be using it, so they should have a say in the design.
- Big, bold, be seen. When working with a screen, control panel, or other device, you must see all the vital functions clearly and quickly.
- Obvious navigation is good navigation. If someone uses a device a dozen times a day, and every time they look at the UI they have to spend a minute just to find the function they need — you should start over.
- Picture a more efficient world. Graphics aren’t just nice to look at — they’re fast. The brain processes images about 60,000 times faster than words. If you can say the same thing with a picture as a paragraph, save space and time with graphics.
- Stay consistent. If you have two pieces of technology in the same space, you want the user interface to be as similar as possible. Otherwise a user from a different area might understand how one system works, but the other system’s design may confuse them. Consistency makes training easier and systems more intuitive.
- Error prevention and recovery. Implementing features that prevent errors and guide operators through recovery processes in the event of mistakes minimizes disruptions and downtime.
- Know your environment. Are you in a brightly lit warehouse with glare from overhead lighting? The UI on the computer screen better have high enough contrast to be easily distinguished. Have you considered whether a machine’s sounds are audible with the other noise in the area? Perhaps a light to go with it would be necessary. How can users tell if the button they pressed was registered? Add haptic feedback so the user can feel it, rather than just see it.
- Stay ahead of the learning curve. Processes change and improve over time. Ensure that when system updates are implemented, your employees are trained on how that functionality might have changed.
Wrap Up
User interfaces and user experience in industrial settings are nuanced and incredibly important at every company level. Employees want to be efficient, and for the systems they work with, they want them to do exactly that: work. Managers want to keep their teams energized and safe while minimizing wasted time and energy.