Essentium 3D - HMI UX Design for Industrial 3D Printers
Essentium Inc, develops industrial 3D printers used in manufacturing environments. Their existing Human-Machine Interface (HMI) was outdated and complex, requiring operators and technicians to navigate long, unintuitive workflows just to complete everyday tasks. This resulted in a slow learning curve, inefficient job setup, and frequent frustration.
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Over a period of 4 years I worked with Essentium engineering team to design, implement, and maintain effective Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) for the industrial plant operations.
My Role
From 2019 to 2023 - UX Designer and UX Researcher.
The Challengeâ
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Simplify the print process so operators and technicians could set up and launch printing jobs quickly with fewer errors.
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âRedesign maintenance, calibration and printing workflows without disrupting monitoring a print job in real time.
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âDesign user-friendly interface considering real-world usage conditions like lighting and noise.
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Keeping interfaces straightforward and intuitive despite system complexity.
Design Process
Planning and Strategy
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Performed a Heuristic Evaluation of the current system, identifying inconsistent navigation, hidden functions and overly complex workflows.â
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User Research
Conducted user interviews and field observation with operators and technicians, by shadowing them on-site while they performed their daily tasks. I captured real frustrations and workarounds. The interviews validated these findings and provided a high level overview of their needs, expectations and paint points.
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âââPersonas
Defined two main personas:
Operator — focused on running daily print jobs, needed efficiency and clarity.
Technician — responsible for machine maintenance and calibration, needed deeper system access.âââââ
User Interviews, field observation and deep understanding of 3D Printing processes
Heuristic evaluation and analysis of the current user interface
Definition of Personas based on UX Research ââ
Execution
Information Arquitecture
Reorganized the information architecture to separate core tasks (printing a job) from maintenance processes (calibration, system checks, planarization). This reduced cognitive load and made the primary flows more intuitive.
With the engineering team defined user stories for each persona and translated these into user flow diagrams to visualize and validate the new task structure.â
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Userflow example for one of the operator user stories
Userflow example for one of the operator user stories
Wireframing and Prototyping
Created wireframes to validate with engineering team and ensured the new user flows matched the user needs.
Designed low and high fidelity prototypes and worked with the hardware team to make sure the UI proposals were improving the productivity and decision making during the print job. â
Some of the wirefaming work at early stages of the project.
High fidelity prototyping screens
Implementationâ
Final Solution
The redesigned HMI UI was structured into modular sections that supported both operators and technicians, with a strong focus on visibility, consistency, and contextual awareness.
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Fixed Control Panel (Left Sidebar)
A fixed vertical section housed the most critical controls — like temperature controllers and the abort button, which needed to remain visible at all times. This ensured operators had quick access to primary actions without searching through menus.
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Contextual Navigation
On the right, a contextual navigation displayed all other sections such as planarization, part selection, jog panel, graphs, and setup were enabled or disabled depending on whether a print job was running. Each section was designed as modular cards, allowing operators and technicians to organize and access controls more flexibly.âââââ
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Status Banner (Top Header)
A persistent top banner provided real-time feedback and machine status. It displayed progress during print jobs (e.g., percentage completed) and used color-coded states with reinforced icons:
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Green with checkmark → print complete.
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Yellow with warning icon → caution.
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Red with error icon → critical issue.
Large typography and iconography ensured visibility and followed accessibility standards, even when operators were not directly next to the machineââââ
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Stepper Workflow (Bottom Section)
A bottom “stepper” visually guided operators through the sequence of tasks required for calibration and printing. Steps included connecting the printer, homing axes, leveling the bed, selecting the part, and starting the print. Each completed step was checked off, giving users a clear sense of progress and sense of location.
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ââIndustrial Usability Considerations
All elements were designed with large font sizes, high-contrast colors, and oversized buttons to ensure readability from a distance. This reflected the reality of factory floor environments, where operators often interact with the interface while moving between machines or working at varying distances.
Test & Learn
What's next?
After releasing the first version we had the opportunity to keep performing interviews and user testing, capturing user feedback and measuring our success on field. ââââ
Early 2022, with the launch of the HSE 240 HT, the new compact Essentium 3D printer. We worked on a mobile and web app that enables remote monitoring of the print, including 3D printer readouts, progress and settings.
