PROJECT: Icon design for manufacturing applications
ROLE: Research, design and prototype icons for manufacturing applications
DURATION: 3 months
Vision
As part of the changes being held in general icons at the company, and wanting to align consumer-facing and internal applications, there was a need to come up with a unified iconset. This library needs to be consistent, familiar and representative of the LEGO image across devices, applications and roles.
Challenges
Long research in terms of structures and best practices
Several stakeholders involved for diverse backgrounds and fields
Search of consistency between consumer-facing and internal icons
The main objective was to design an iconset representative of the different areas internally, that are consistent among each other and comprises LEGO’s identity
Research
Before starting the process of design, our group of designers started collecting insights about what icons we needed to design, their purpose, where they would be displayed (on a mobile application, a webpage, on tvs inside the factories, etc.), and the particularities and exceptions we could come up to.
User Research
User research aimet to understand how people interact with systems that had icons by examining their behaviours, contexts, and the processes they follow, considering countries and culture ralongside with the interfaces they use and how they interpret information. It highlights the need for simplicity—prioritising clear content, predictable flows and minimal cognitive load—while taking into account device constraints such as varying screen sizes and typical viewing distances.
Guiding questions:
Who would see these icons?
Which processes would be involved?
From what distance would them be seen?
What size would they have and?
What accessiblity rules should be taken into account for designing these shapes on icons?
How can we simplify the way icons provide meaning to processes and give instructions to workers?
Implementation
After research and trying out different shapes and icons, testing started in specific shopfloors and applications to identify potential issues with distance, contrast, identification of each and such.
We tried to answer these questions:
Can users clearly see the icons?
Are there any contrast or shape issues?
Can users understand what the icons mean or represent?
Can users see the difference to the old structure?
Are we now with these icons more LEGO oriented and closer to our spirit?