Object Design

Physical & Hybrid UI

Multi-Touchscreen & Hardware Ergonomics

The Flexibility Issue

When touchscreens are the primary User Interface (UI), most multi-monitor mounts give users too many options that violate ergonomic standards. Since most users are not experts in this, design can protect them from themselves.

In a crowded flight simulator, few placement options are ideal for balancing the UI with a clear view into the cockpit. Fully-articulating mounts are costly way to allow users to give themselves a sore neck—many stack the monitors to reach above their heads, which should actually be avoided.

One-Touch Solution

I set out to design a mount for two vertically-stacked touchscreens that needed only a single adjustment to accomodate users spanning the 5th–95th-percentials. Referencing the FAA's Human Factors Design Standards, I modeled assemblies and extreme user viewpoints, and I found an angle between screens to achieve this solution.

Perspective of 5th-Percentile User

The near setting offers appropriate viewing angles and reach distances for shorter users.

Perspective of 95th-Percentile User

The far setting gives taller users preferable viewing angles and distances (while satisfying reach limits).

This sketch model drew interest and led to a functional prototype that enabled user testing.

Participants responded well to the prototype, though our volume did not have the production economics needed to proceed.

We continued a concurrent exploration of complimentary hardware UI for functions the users can reach without looking.

Hardware UI

Complimentary Interfaces

Why include physical controls when versitile touchscreens are available?

Because touchscreens require visual attention—flight instructors need to observe the cockpit while operating the simulation. Also, some tasks are so safety-critical that they must always be within reach.

Who Gets a Button?

When frequent tasks on screen interfaces slow down users or force them into workarounds, they might need some physical controls.

Usability testing verified that most instructors didn't use intercom functionality until we offered a convenient Push-To-Talk button that worked like an aircraft.

Safety-Critical Interfaces

Full-motion flight simulators can be as turbulent as a real aircraft, and the potential for injury requires a permanent, large, and conspicuous red button for emergency shutdown.

Standard color conventions make it easy to locate and distinguish between controls for safety and those for convenience.

Grouping Controls

Primary controls for the motion system and cabin environment are closer to the desk surface, while the simulation controls are closer to the cockpit.

At least one big red master shutdown button is always within reach.

Object Design

Parametric Modeling

Barback: Design for Rapid Fabrication

Given a handful of sketches and a short timeline, I helped Versacrum Design deliver the centerpiece barback for Sacramento's Empress Tavern. This giant sculptural shelf is made of plasma-cut steel according to my parametric 3D models.

Every part could be quickly updated for developing the precision tab-and-slot structure, and for implementing feedback as I designed the interlocking vertical supports. My fabrication system ended up providing a rock-solid structure with the fastest turnaround the assembly team has had for such a project.

Object Design

Improving Utility

Coat Hook: Product Makeover

This exercise improves the utility of the IKEA Bjärnum coat hook to better serve its primary function. The utility of a coat hook is to protect clothes: to keep them off the floor and out of piles, avoiding damage.

Smoothing sharp edges and better-dispersing the forces that could pierce fabric, my round version of the Bjärnum lives in the same spirit of its predecessor, with similar weight capacity and significantly improved performance.

After iterating in cardboard and foam, I created a digital model and 3D-printed it for testing on delicate garments.

Objects

Staging Furniture

Foam Faux-Office: Stimulating the Imagination

Physical sketching visualizes potential.

This project helps a real-estate developer showcase the potential of large spaces, to maximize their investments.

Foam-core desk sets provide unobtrusive sense of scale—a 3D clean-sheet sketch on the space.

The illuminated privacy wall and entertainment set provide memorable accents.

Chairs for Looking

Communicating a chair doesn't require a seat.

In dialogue with the desks, these seat-less chairs say "chair," while ensuring that nobody attempts to rest on them.

This no-waste design matches the modern, neutral style of the desks, while offering efficient fabrication.

Process: Iteration & Samples

Rendering the Wall

Construction: Inside the Wall

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Nic Hansen
Design

About Nic
UX Research
- usability research
- user experience research
Product Strategy
- web replatform
- disruptive design
Interaction Design
Industrial Design

You can reach me at nichansen care-of gmail.

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