Lab Notes

Enhancing Orbicule’s Macnification

A few months ago, the creative minds behind the great laptop security application, Undercover, contracted Enhanced Labs to design the icons and user-interface elements for their newest endeavor - Macnification. This groundbreaking application allows users to organize, edit, analyze, and annotate microscopic images with simplicity and ease. Embracing the new features, visual effects, and capabilities of Leopard, Macnification molds a perfect combination of function and eye-pleasing usability.

Challenge:

Orbicule needed 1.) an application icon that was purposeful and elegant, that could also be used as it’s identity for print media, documentation, etc; 2.) Toolbar icons that illustrated, in some instances, medical functions that we had never heard of; and 3.) a powerful user-interface that captivated the user, but was still highly functional for it’s professional users.

Solution:

We first defined our color scheme, drawing inspiration from Apple’s default Leopard wallpaper, “Aurora.” We felt that this had an elegant professionalism about it and would be something to help these icons stick out in the crowd. It then came time to design the application icon. For this we wanted to keep it simple and purpose driven. A small stack of medical images accompanied by a wooden ruler for analyzing, and a objective lens from a microscope created a great combination allowing us to play with color and throw some eye candy in there for use at larger sizes. We really like how it turned out.

Then it came time for the toolbar icons. There were multiple toolbars that would be displayed during different functions of the application, as well as a full screen editing mode. We worked closely with the developers as in some instances, terms and processes where out of our realm of knowledge. After some hard work we all felt they turned out great in the end.

During development we saw some drastic changes in the aesthetics of the UI. We provided guidance and graphical elements to help bring a professional yet usable aesthetic to the application. The best part was seeing the application evolve from basic wire-framing objects to a full-blown UI. We really enjoyed it.

Closing Remarks:

We think the design and development of the application was a great success and we hope that Apple will feel the same as Orbicule goes on the hunt for an Apple Design Award. Be sure to check out the larger previews in the Enhanced Labs Showroom.