Path 01 · Design philosophy
Design is solving a problem with style.
Understand the operator’s problem first, then make the solution fun to use. These are the three habits I design by, and the techniques I reach for. Each one is shown with a live example below, so you can try it rather than take my word for it.
01
Observe
Before I draw anything, I sit at the operator’s desk during a live show. People rarely describe their real problems in a meeting; they work around them so often that the workaround feels normal. Watching is how those problems surface.
Here is a routing panel of the kind I often walk into. A routing panel is the set of buttons an operator uses to send a video source (a camera, a replay machine) to a destination (a monitor, a recorder). Hover or tap the red marks to see what watching an operator revealed.
- 1Cryptic labels. “SRC 07” means nothing, so operators memorise button positions. A new hire can’t touch the panel.
- 2No sense of what’s live. Every button looks the same, so nobody can see at a glance what is on air.
- 3The commit button is far away. “TAKE” sits in the corner, so every single cut means a reach across the panel.
02
Reduce
Simplify until every element earns its space. In live broadcast, speed is king: an operator has a fraction of a second to make a cut, so I break complex workflows down into the fewest, clearest actions.
Drag the slider across the panel to compare the same job before and after.
- Steps to put Camera 3 on air
- 52
- Buttons on screen
- 3512
03
Improve
Delivery is just the beginning. I support what I design once it’s on air, and relentlessly improve it with what operators tell me. Small changes, shipped often, each one answering something I heard.
Step through the versions and try the panel yourself: pick a source, then press TAKE to put it on air.
In practice
Techniques I reach for
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Workflow mapping
I map every step an operator takes, in order, before drawing a single screen. The map shows which steps can merge and which can disappear.
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Big targets for live hands
Live operators work fast, in dim rooms, under pressure. The bigger and closer a button is, the faster and more accurately it’s hit, so the controls used most are the largest and nearest.
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Colour means state
Colour is reserved for meaning, never decoration. Red is on air, green is up next, and that holds on every panel I build, so nobody has to think about it.
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Modular layouts
Every operator watches something different. Pinnable modules let each person assemble their own dashboard from the same reliable building blocks.
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Guide, don’t train
The interface should point the way. Plain words, the next step highlighted and a hand offered where people used to get stuck, so it works without a manual.
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Prototype with operators
I build working panels early and put them in front of the people who will use them on air. Their hands find the problems faster than any review.
See it applied
Now · Looking for
A UI / UX design role
Simple, clean interfaces anyone can pick up without training. Hybrid or remote from Millbrae, CA.