Graphic Icons in Audio
The audio world is made up of universal elements that provide a user control of their sound. Creating icons to communicate ideas effectively across languages and contexts was a great visual challenge. The following explains a use case where developing icons made the most sense.
Very different use cases, but the same audio equipment. How do we effectively communicate to all of them?
Each type of application will require a different setting of the audio parameters for the best performance. For an audio engineer, this would be simple to achieve in a matter of seconds. It's part of their daily workflow to "ring out" a room by adjusting levels of these parameters for the type of audio that is needed for the performance.
However, the speakers in this range presumed a different type of use case: the person making the adjustments to the signal parameters might not be an audio engineer. They might be a presenter setting up their own speakers for a lecture, or a small band who takes care of their own sound. It might be a coffee shop performer who needs to rent a set of speakers for their first show. In this case, knowing a little about the end user dictates the solution needed.
The user is given 5 knobs to adjust: 1 for the main Level, and 4 as controls to the contour EQ. I updated the panel with a more modern color scheme and silkscreen.
The solution here was to use the knobs themselves as icons for adjustment. This guides a user to pick their own application and adjust accordingly. There are less mental hurdles to overcome, and setting up takes much less time.
The icon-based approach was a success - users with little audio engineering knowledge could now adjust the contour EQ to their needed specs with confidence and ease.
The icon-based approach was continued for the Subwoofer model. A user needs to be able to correctly wire the speakers together for proper sound amplification and distribution.
Typical hookup diagrams have almost a block-diagram feel to them, but they are concise and informative. I chose this as inspiration, but had to remain in the constraints presented by the silkscreen process.
I used Adobe Illustrator to design and validate the concept icons. The final concept uses a minimal color scheme and clear icons to denote speakers, mixing consoles, inputs, and wiring.
The diagram is designed to be informative, and fits neatly on the rear panel while avoiding standoffs and hardware.
To see the rest of the design process for the Mackie Thump family, check out the Thump page!