System state through ambient signals

Documentation of the most important states that users need to be aware of when they are not working directly at the microscope. The initial list of desired states was long; reducing the number of options was necessary to ensure that users could understand and remember the meaning of a light change intuitively.

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Outcome: 
List of required states: On, Initializing/Shutting down, Ready to use, Processing, Paused (Processing), Processing finished,  Warning, Error 

Comparison of status light patterns of different Zeiss devices (Microscopes, attached electronic devices). Unfortunately they did not follow a common light pattern (color, animation).
 

Outcome:
Comparison table that shows the patterns of status lights from various Zeiss products, as well as a column with unified light pattern for our new microscope.

As it is often extremly relevant to recognise and understand the status of technical systems intuitively, there are guidelines for indicator lights. These guidelines cover ergonomics, visibility and colour. The new light concept should follow these guidelines.

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​Outcome: Adjusted status lights pattern list for the new microscope (color and behaviour) which is now aligned with the norms.

Based on the previous steps — the defined hardware states and the unified light pattern definition, which complies with the norms — I was able to create an initial light pattern concept. 

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Outcome: Detailed description of each pattern: light color and behavior for each state change. Including sound, if applicable for that state.

​I created a digital prototype using a hybrid sketch approach to simulate the look and feel of the animated light states on a realistic image of the future microscope hardware. In Figma, I used an image of the latest 3D rendering of our new microscope and applied a symbol containing the different light patterns of the defined states. 

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Outcome: 🎬 Animated visualisations for all states have been exported. These animations realistically simulate the colour and behaviour of the microscope's LED lights when the system state changes.

We conducted a user test with seven power users to find out if the proposed status light patterns are intuitive. 

We presented the videos and sounds to the users one after another, providing no further information. This simulated a realistic situation in which a user enters a dark laboratory and looks at a microscope from a distance. We then asked the users to explain what they could infer from seeing the microscope like this.

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Outcomes: 

(1) List with feedback for each state. Which states were clear to everyone and which need to be reworked?

(2) Additional requirements for further work on the general status concept. 

I reworked the concept and adjusted some of the light patterns based on feedback. Some animations were too similar and needed to be more distinct. The different error and warning states were also difficult to interpret correctly using light and sound alone, so I merged and simplified those states. Further details and distinctions can be displayed later on the screen of the connected PC. 

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Outcome: Adjusted list of states with refinded light patterns and description of the states. The adjusted patterns were updated in the digital figma-prototype too and discussed with the users again.