Si Tech’s manufacturing technology allows us to offer our clients astonishing flexibility in the design of custom keypads, and yet many of our projects are still the same standard control schemes that were stale in our grandparents’ day. Be creative and come up with exciting new designs and you may create the next breakout product.

Drawing Inspiration From Other Products

To be fair, often the boring designs are used because they work. They provide the function and appearance customers want and, as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. It’s OK to start by looking at controls that work as a foundation for your ideas.

Examine other products in your company’s line, and then look to see what your competitors are doing. You don’t want to imitate existing control schemes, but you do want to find something to get your own ideas flowing. Don’t look too closely since you run the risk of simply duplicating something in your custom keypads that has already been done, mistakenly thinking you have come up with something new. Just take a brief overview.

Look For Other Ideas

Now expand your research outside of your current industry. See what controls are working for all kinds of products. Every device you come across, from an ATM to an electric razor, might give you ideas for your new custom keypads. The concept of functionality is not unique to your industry.

Although function is an important feature of custom keypads, don’t lose sight of the value of aesthetics. The look of a control panel can send a stronger message to a consumer than vague concepts of functionality. Beauty comes from many sources such as are or nature, so get out of the office and explore all kinds of sources of inspiration. Sketch out the wildest ideas in your imagination because you just might come across a brilliant new control scheme.

Create A Prototype

Testing is an important step in product development, even more important if you are creating a new control scheme. Si Tech can put out fast prototypes of the custom keypads you want so you can give them a thorough workout before committing to production.

Product testing will often reveal flaws in your ideas, but these are just opportunities to make a good idea even better. Changes in design can make a product that is better looking or just better. And yes, sometimes a design simply doesn’t work. Don’t view these designs as failures since as long as you learn something from it, you have a better idea of when to do with your next attempt.

Custom keypads can make a big difference to your final product and Si Tech is here to help you develop the exciting and innovative new control scheme that will make your creation the next technology success story.