I'm a coder, not an artist, but I had to do line overviews for train systems, and that included designing icons for platforms, trains and the like. There were numerous types of trains (passenger, single car, multi-car, coupled, freight, repair vehicles, etc.) and they all had to appear different.
The HMI (human machine interface) was no help, simply stating that "each vehicle type shall be presented with a unique icon". So, I made a mockup with about 20 different icons.
Everyone hated it. The project manager, the users, the test team, everyone.
Since they rejected my designs, I put the ball in their court. I told them to describe how each type should be represented. Give me size, shape, and colour requirements for each train type, and I'll code it up.
The squabbling was hilarious to behold. None of them could agree on anything other than what I'd shown was wrong. But any alternative that was proposed by one of them was then shot down by the others as being just as bad, or worse.
A month later, I got a seven page requirements document from them. It matched one for one what I've presented to them and they'd said they hated. While mine may not have been the best choices (I'm not an artist or a UI designer), it was apparently better than all of the alternatives.
I'm a coder, not an artist, but I had to do line overviews for train systems, and that included designing icons for platforms, trains and the like. There were numerous types of trains (passenger, single car, multi-car, coupled, freight, repair vehicles, etc.) and they all had to appear different.
The HMI (human machine interface) was no help, simply stating that "each vehicle type shall be presented with a unique icon". So, I made a mockup with about 20 different icons.
Everyone hated it. The project manager, the users, the test team, everyone.
Since they rejected my designs, I put the ball in their court. I told them to describe how each type should be represented. Give me size, shape, and colour requirements for each train type, and I'll code it up.
The squabbling was hilarious to behold. None of them could agree on anything other than what I'd shown was wrong. But any alternative that was proposed by one of them was then shot down by the others as being just as bad, or worse.
A month later, I got a seven page requirements document from them. It matched one for one what I've presented to them and they'd said they hated. While mine may not have been the best choices (I'm not an artist or a UI designer), it was apparently better than all of the alternatives.
Loved it!!