Our customer GRÄSSLIN recently launched the new talento smart product series as the "highlight among digital distribution timers". BUSSE Design+Engineering supported GRÄSSLIN in the areas of industrial design and user interface design. This laid the foundation for a new, evolutionary appearance of the brand and its product families. Interaction was also brought into a new age.
Industrial Design:
In this technically driven product segment, meeting all user requirements was the top priority - from safe operation to good sealability. In addition, BUSSE Design+Engineering invested a lot of passion to increase the visual-haptic product quality and brand recognition in this otherwise often visually neglected product area.
The design tools used to differentiate the talento smart housings from the competition ranged from shape design to color design, logo placement, printing and surface finish.
First, the brand and its overall portfolio were analyzed in terms of design. Grässlin has roots in a family of artists, and the typical sweep in the profile of the time switch fronts supports the memory of this here. This formal sweep is important for the Grässlin identity and was mirrored by the former concave, i.e. positively spanned in the convex direction. Thus, the new product confidently stands by its independent, newly standardized and sensitively further developed color shade "Marsala", which was also named "Color of the Year" by Pantone during the development period. This results in a logical, modernized consequence of the previously existing, slightly unspecific reddish brown.
Time switches of this type are usually designed with an absolutely front-heavy design. In part, this makes sense, since their flanks nestle against each other in the control box.
In the catalog and in the hand, however, it looks different. Therefore, we decided on a deliberate design of all sides. This is visible in the housing joint, which quotes the Grässlin curve, as well as in the logo molding on the sides. This has a subtle, high-quality effect and is tamper-proof.
Likewise, the front can be printed in just one step, as the Grässlin logo is prominently and strikingly molded into the flap. The flap graphically quotes the Grässlin sweep in the front view as well.
The new generation of this and upcoming Grässlin products is thus equipped with an independent, high-quality appearance that makes the brand absolutely unmistakable even at a distance, but also from close up.
User Interface Design:
This impression should of course also be confirmed in the parade discipline, the use of the clocks - and that already in the operation with a new, more intuitive menu structure.
Programming a time switch on the construction site often brings with it a number of challenges: it has to be quick, operation should be intuitive, installers should only have as many functions as necessary available in the menu.
The talento smart combines all these requirements in the new generation.
The timers can be conveniently pre-programmed via a Bluetooth interface using a PC or smartphone; if neither is at hand, programming can also be carried out on the device in advance.
A close look at the typical user groups has shown that 2 different modes ensure that different user types can master the daily installation routine. In the standard mode, the most common requirements are covered by the factory, in the advanced mode, all programming possibilities are open, cycle, pulse or random programs can be freely combined.
The restructuring of the menu has added new functions such as the wildcard and program creation with and without date. The wildcard function works on the principle of placeholder programming. Recurring, date-related events can be set for an indefinite period of time. Individual programs can also be duplicated in the future.
The new, innovative dot-matrix display ensures that display content can be shown without restrictions due to text lengths or languages. Scrolling texts in the menus display all information without abbreviations. Icons can be shown or hidden as required.
Operation via the soft-touch control buttons is intuitive and consistent due to the content shown in the display. The left buttons are used to navigate in the menu, while the right ones are assigned to editing and programming.
Together with Grässlin, we succeeded in laying the foundation for an innovative and modern product. The resulting design and operating elements can be transferred to other products to bring a uniform product portfolio to the web.
