The iPhone was first launched in 2007. At the time, no one could predict the scale of impact the iPhone would have on our relationship with technology. This mobile device shifted consumer’s expectations about user interface design in ways previously unimaginable. Now, 16 years later, people have grown to expect that all their devices will be easy to use right out of the box – the “iPhone effect”.
Throughout its life, the iPhone has had an immeasurable impact on both skeuomorphic and flat design. The initial iPhone user interface used skeuomorphic design which mimics concrete objects’ appearances and interactions. In later revisions of iOS it transitioned to a flat design where the rules and properties of the physical world are abandoned leaving a more intuitive purely digital design.
During the development of the user interface for the iPhone it was reported that Steve Jobs would test each screen and if it wasn’t intuitive to be understood in three “clicks” it was rejected. After 16 years there is an expectation that the user interface of embedded and industrial devices will be equally intuitive.
Artwork Design
In most applications the user interface design starts with a concept or artwork produced using a tool such as Adobe Photoshop or Sketch. Wonk Software Technology Limited have access to graphic designers who are skilled in the production of user interfaces and the objects that will be displayed on the screen.
Our user interface experts can then take that artwork, or the artefacts produced by your own design team, and easily add the transitions between different screens to create a functioning user interface.
Through our choice of Ametek Crank’s Storyboard Suite, where little or no coding is required for implementing the user interface, this allows a fast, iterative design process where the user interface can be changed and tested very rapidly.
Real World Interfacing
A user interface design is of little use unless it has the ability to interact with the outside world. When the operator or user interacts with the objects on the screen then they need to affect the system configuration or control real world objects such as sensors and relays.
Events taking place in the real world will change the readings on sensors, etc. This information needs to be gathered and processed by the application software and the necessary information displayed, to the user, on the screen.
Wonk Software Technology Limited have worked on user interface design and software for industrial control applications, communications systems, and many more. Our engineers have the skills necessary to be able to complement your own design teams and to provide the expertise you lack.
- Based on information contained in article It’s Been 15 Years: Here’s How the iPhone Has Influenced UI Design by Tandem