2011 - 2012; Icon design, User Interface (UI) design
Automation Software: Icons
Fully interactive control, visualization and information technology systems.
Fully interactive control, visualization and information technology systems.
The client
Rockwell Automation, one of the world’s largest companies dedicated to industrial automation and information, makes its customers more productive and the world more sustainable. Headquartered in Cleveland, OH, Rockwell Automation employs about 21,000 people serving customers in more than 80 countries.
The work
The software branch of Rockwell Automation, Rockwell Software, needed front-end graphics developed for the overhaul of its automation and control software. This included the design of more than 200 unique, scalable, interactive icons.
The challenge
All of these icons are meant to exist on Allen Bradley PenelView touch screens. Because these panels vary in size (from 11" to more than 20"), each icon must be scalable. The best way to provide scaling icons without pixelation issues is by using vector art - I used Adobe Illustrator exclusively to design each icon.
Buttons and switches require multiple states - on and off; 1, 2, and 3. Each state needs to be distinguishable at a glance. Shadows and illumination glow help provide contrast between these states.
I use reference photos of actual Allen Bradley motors when designing each icon in this set. Many of the heat-sink details are combined into one complex gradient to reduce the number of vector points and shapes (and file size). To allow color change, all shading and highlights are blacks and whites with varying opacities.
[Client] wanted to provide a number of different methods of indicating the fill level of a tank to their users. I created more than a dozen unique options, and can be fitted on top of a tank icon.
Pipes must connect to one another, and valves must connect to pipes. By keeping the gradient and fill details minimal, many sections may be assembled seamlessly, and without taxing system memory.
Some valves, like the above three-way globe valve, have a place for a dynamic gauge.
Something's wrong with this picture. Among all of the static warehouse items... FIRE! An important safety warning icon, the fire icon lets a user know when things get a little crazy.
There are many possible configurations for stoplights and light towers, so I built these icons using modular components. Both LED bulb icons have a side view and top view; this is the case with the majority of icons I created for [Client].
Gauges can be customized to meet a controller's inputs and outputs. The programmable indicator above may be configured to have any number of buttons, digital readout formats, and labels.
