GE Power Plant HMI User Experience Design
In an industry where a 1% increase in energy efficiency could save millions of dollars, developing an intuitive and customer-friendly user interface was an extremely high priority.
GE Power develops some of the most sophisticated power systems in the world, and they were looking for a better user experience for their HMI (Human Machine Interface) that was used to monitor an entire power system at a power plant.
GE Research team interviewed customers, and researched the most efficient, and user-friendly navigation flows, what information was most/least important to an engineer, and what issues existed in the existing systems that should be improved upon.
User Interface Design
I was an integral part of the team that developed the screen designs and user interface designs that was developed to enhance the user experience. Limited color pallets were tested and used to visually highlight the alerts and alarms that could arise throughout the system. An intuitive navigation was also implemented that engineers were able to easily find and view the information that was most important to them – and related to the parts of the system that they were responsible for.
Enhancing the User Experience
Because multiple screens are often viewed simultaneously, the new flow between the screens was logical and organized, and charts, icons and graphic elements were developed to minimize the text and data that was present in the previous system.
Details for any screen was easily accessible for drill-down information, and initial assessment results showed a marked increase in productivity and efficiency for the engineers that tested it.
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