Elexon Electronics is a Brisbane-based innovation company that specialises in the design, development and manufacture of a diverse range of electronic products. Elexon’s mining division, provides tracking instrumentation for measuring ground movement in underground and surface mines. Elexon was a remote client of mine while I was living in Sydney.
Cave Tracker
The Cave Tracker System is a world-first technology that enables monitoring of ore (big rock with minerals) movement while it is still in the cave. This ability provides real-time data to allow mine operators to analyse the behaviour of caves and actively manage cave propagation and extraction.
The system operates through a series of beacons and markers that are embedded in the mine, which can be tracked in 3D as they move with the fragmented rock of the orebody. The ability to track beacon movement allows mine engineers to determine which parts of the cave are moving and which parts are not. And could also prevent miners from getting stuck in tunnels or potential death when some are bound to collapse.
Challenge
The software that’s being used to analyse the movement of the rock in the mine has been built by engineers and lacks of good design. They want to uplift the look and feel of the software because they are aiming to sell the tracking technology together with a good looking software package to their B2B customers. These customers are mining companies all over the world. Two companies who are already using the software are based in Chile and Papua New Guinea. I was excited for this project as this was the first time I was going to design Software. Elexon Electronic’s asked me to come up with 3 different concepts for the software including some ideas for the login screens. The software has a 3D display of the mine. Which was not in the scope of the project. But I did have a go at it since it brings the Interface Design nicely together.
Approach
Where do you start when you do Software Design?? I had some serious trouble during my research phase. Finding it hard to find work from designers who had done this before. Specially in such specialised field as Engineering Software. Once you go down that rabbit hole of ‘Engineering Software Design’ you will only find outdated and uninspiring engineering interfaces. Which could actually be quite the opportunity if you ask me! So I started looking into some programs I love to use. Like AdobeXD and Sketch. After this realisation I started my 3 concepts. I came up with a light red version, a dark mode version and a safe light blue version. My personal favourite was the dark mode version. I had a lot of fun designing this one. And this ended up being the favourite from Elexon too. Down below you will see the concepts that I pitched to Elexon Electronics.
Next steps
Although Elexon Electronics already had a preferred design (Dark Mode) they suggested to test all concepts with their existing clients. After testing the preferred design will go into development.
Skills
Software Design
Design process consultation
Remote project
UI Design
Colour exploration for accessibility standards
3D interface
Dark Mode Design