Design Application | VictorPalacios

Designing Distribution Networks

This project involves the development of a completely new application designed for the construction industry, specifically for the design of distribution networks.

Note: As this project is currently ongoing, certain details have been modified to safeguard the intellectual property of the owners.

Distribution Networks Defined

A distribution network is the system of connections that delivers content, signals, or power from a central point to various endpoints.

Example:
Consider the security system in a building. All security cameras are linked to a Security Room where an operator monitors and controls each unit. The cables and connections from the Security Room to the cameras constitute a distribution network. This network is responsible for distributing the video feed, control signals, and power to each camera.

This concept extends to various other systems, such as:

Electrical wiring delivering power to outlets.
Audio cabling distributing sound to speakers.
The infrastructure of a wireless network.

High Level Plan - Video cameras_edited.jpg

The Largest Market

The largest market segment consists of small, simple projects, particularly simple buildings within distribution networks. Examples include "cookie-cutter" buildings such as apartment complexes, hotels, and office buildings that are simple and straightforward to design.

From the outset, our primary strategic goal was to penetrate this extensive market of simple and small projects.

However, we are also committed to establishing the necessary foundation to expand our reach into the rest of the industry, which encompasses medium and high complexity projects.

Understanding the Industry

Interviewed Experts

Interviewed experts in the industry to get a high level view of the process.

User Hierarchy of Needs

What is most important for our customers?

Time is money

Quite literally. Labour at all stages is expensive.
Mistakes discovered later are 10X more expensive to solve.
- Simulations are very important to get the design right.
The faster I finish my design the better my income margins are.

It's a team sport

Multiple teams and companies along the workflow.
The better I play with others the smoother and cheaper the project is.
- Need to share information with others along the workflow.

It's a business

I want to impress my clients in order to secure future projects. This means that I need to produce documentation of high quality, including the visual rendering of the building areas where the distribution network is going to be installed.

Design is an iterative process.

Make this process simpler and easier.

Design is an iterative process

Design Principles

Overarching principles:

Easy to use.
Quick path to sucess; finishing projects quickly.
Path for advanced users. Simple way to progress from beginner to advanced.
Our own expertice for our customers (Company's expertice).
Delight both visually and feature wise.
Fast Software Development. Deliver value to our users quickly.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

What is the minimum value that the customers will be willing to pay that will solve a useful problem for them?

Simulate security cameras coverage.

Bill of materials.

First Workflow

Now that we know what the end result looks like, how does it work?

Design System Requirements

For a design application I like the following principles for screen real estate use:

A design canvas is the center stage in the application.
Most tools will be displayed on the edges of the screen

Desktop

Side panels can be non modal so that user can work faster when moving between panels and canvas.

Mobile

Side panels are modal. There is not enough screen realestate for modal panels.

Android Large - Properties Panel_edited.

100 Iterations Later...

This is the set of the most important screens in the application.

In this design I am using Material Design as my base design system.

Most icons have a short description to help new users.

My intentions is to maintain a visual design that is simple with minimal distractions.

The application "posture" is

This is a productivity application to be used for many hours every day.
All screens assume the designer becomes an expert of the application quickly.
No nonsense user flows. Get to the point quickly.
Support the design flow as an iterative process.

Home

Primary functionality:
1. Creating new projects.
2. Modifying existing projects.
2a. Focus on the last project I have been working on.
2b. Find projects easily.

Secondary functionality:
1. Account management.
2. Learning options.

Quick Path to Success

How to take the user from zero to hero as quickly as possible?

Skip steps and use default values for everything.

Starting a new project takes me directly to floor 1.
A floorplan placeholder is already added. Just add the file.
An assistant tells me what to do every step of the way.
By default, create a project with one floor in one building.
Designers can fill in the blanks at their convenience.

Path for advanced users

I can disregard the assistant and follow my own process.

What About Mobile?

Obviously screen real estate is limited.

Navigation and other panels become modal.

Add Camera Flow

In mobile I decided to add an extra step in order to keep the canvas as clean as possible.

1. Select Floating Action Button.
2. Select object to insert.
3. Pan to select location and Tap to insert object.
4. Optionally the designer can modify the properties of the object after or before it is inserted.

By default the tool remembers the last set of properties for this object when used previously in the same project.

Camera properties is displayed at the bottom of the screen, as if it was peaking from the bottom. It is available when needed, while allowing the designer to remain focused on the design on the canvas.

One key user need is to place objects on a precise location on the floorplan.
This micro-flow is divided in two explicit steps for touch screens:

Targetting
The user pans the floorplan to select the target point.
The target indicator always remains on the center of the screen.

Inserting
Tap on the target indicator.
There is not dragging when tapping on the target indicator; thus eliminating errors.

Other Possibilities

During this project I created many other design options.

There is one option that is a powerful contender. I call this "Cornered Style".

This design follows more closely the initial vision for the application with all the tools around the edges of the screen.

The Future

There are so many possibilities but here is a small selection.

Importing the building model. This is problematic because the simulations need to know where the walls are and images do not have this information. A CAD file in a modern format such as Revit or IFC would be very useful as they have semantic information about objects.
Simulations are compute intensive. In some applications these simulations can take longer than a day to complete. Is it possible to create machine learning models that can do the same much faster?
The construction industry requires a lot more information for this types of projects such as:
- Infrastructure layer. Conduits, Camera rigs, Backboards, Enclosures, etc.
- Labor layer. Labor activities and costs per length (cabling) and per item (camera installation). System Testing.
- Support networks. Power network, electrical ground network, fire supression, security access, etc.
Templates. Most designers in the construction industry use templates of sorts depending on the OEM and equipment model they select for the project. The tool should support such templates to make the design work faster. Designers should be able to create their own templates.