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WHY, HOW & WHEN

The Embedded Graphical User Interface (GUI) Breakdown

TO WIN USER HEARTS AND MARKET

SHARES WITH EMBEDDED GUIS

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3 x WHY Embedded GUIs Should Be Your Next Product

Development Endeavor• Tap into the ‘3h 35min a day’-Expertise in Device Operation

Your Users Already Have

• Unlock the Functionalities of Your Product the Right Way

• The Competitor Knock-Out

2 x HOW to Implement an Embedded GUI Successfully

• The Importance of a Strong Product Owner

• Agile Software in a Hardware Organization

1 x WHEN the Embedded GUI Path Is Right for Your Business

• Get Your Return-On-Investment (ROI) Calculator Ready

Conclusion

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Graphical User Interfaces, or simply GUIs, are an accelerating trend in the hardware industry. And with good reason;

Combine top-of-the-line GUI design skills with the right hardware, and you can build a modern, smooth, and cost-effective user experience.

A unique way for you to win user hearts and market shares.

INTRODUCTION

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In the larger scheme of your embedded product development project

plan, an embedded GUI is really a small thing. Most embedded

products have a large production volume, and developing and

implementing a GUI on your target hardware might hold its

challenges, but once your GUI is implemented, its done.

The GUI can be produced in any number you like, ready to melt the

hearts of your users, and positioning you in line to climb to the top of

the pyramid in your specific market.

“But hey, hold up!” you might say.

“If I want smooth graphics and animations, my hardware requirement

will push my price point past its limit.”

For now, we’ll just say “No. It doesn’t have to be that way.”

At the end of this e-book, under the when segment, we’ll get into

why we can build stellar GUIs on low-cost hardware.

This short Embedded GUI Breakdown begins with the why and how

to win user hearts and market shares With embedded GUIs.

Let’s dig into the top three reasons why embedded GUIs should

be your next product development endeavor.

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x WHYEMBEDDED GUIS SHOULD BE YOUR NEXT PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ENDEAVOR

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What is the difference between a product launch that generates

record-breaking sales numbers, wins market-shares, and puts your

brand at the top of your industry, leaving nothing but empty shelves

and happy customers behind…

… and one that barely breaks even and leaves you, your product, and

your brand at a business-as-usual market-position, barely keeping

heads over water in a jam-packed consumer market?

Believe it or not, many still think it’s a matter of:

• Cheap development cost and hardware choices.

• The amount of features, blinking lights, buttons, and colors

you add to your product.

• Or, the money spent on ground-breaking marketing

endeavors.

In our experience, it’s a different story.

Renowned User Experience experts and commercially-skilled Product

Owners will tell you that products are not bought, costumers are not

empowered, and your business will not be rewarded with record-

breaking profits until your product wins user hearts.

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The ugly truth is that the users hold your product’s destiny

in their hands. Win their hearts and they will make you an

industry hero. Ignore them, and best case is you will end up

with more products in storage than out there in the real world.

Henrik GoulUser Experience Consultant

Mjølner Informatics

So how do you win a user’s heart? You start a courtship. Not a flirt, a

courtship; a serious commitment to start a sincere, long-term

relationship with your user.

1. First step is to understand and meet your users on their

terms.

2. Then, show your users all the great things you have to offer.

3. And finally, knock out any other suitors.

Sounds complicated? No worries, we have you covered. Read this

chapter and hopefully it is much more straight forward than you

think.

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Tap into the ‘3h 35min a day’-Expertise in Device Operation Your Users Already Have

• First step is to understand and meet your users on their

terms.

Modern users want easy and intuitive devices, and your intuition

is based on your frame of reference. Your intrinsic muscle-memory

approach to any new machine or device operation is based on what

you already know. Let’s rephrase that; what you already do. Because

that’s the whole point.

The ultimate shortcut to meet your users on their terms is to give

them something that feels familiar and new at the same time. And

that familiarity in an embedded product context is smartphone use.

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US adults will spend an average of 3 hours and 35 minutes per

day on mobile devices in 2018.

- eMarketer 2018

Mobile devices have practically grown in to us by now. They are not

just an outside add-on. They’re part of most things we do.

Add an embedded and touch-based GUI, like the one your users know

so well from their 3 hours and 35 minutes daily mobile device time, to

your product to meet the users on their terms.

In rough terms, by knowing your users’ general routines, habits,

needs, and ways of work, you can cover 80% of the GUI design. Do

that and save the 20% theoretical mischiefs for another day.

Ultimately, you’ll bring down the learning curve for product

operation.

An added benefit of the GUI route is that the user experience how,

when, and where of GUIs is a well-described academic field. Both in

terms of theory and methodology. This gives you tons and tons of

tried and tested how-to and research to back your user-centric

product development.

Eliminating the guesswork of embedded product development.

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Unlock the Functionalities of Your Product the Right Way

• Then, show your users all the great things you have to offer.

Washing machines, water pumps, stove tops, industrial scales, heart

monitors, yeah, light switches even, can hold more than one

functionality today. The list goes on. You might even have your own

product to add to it. Let’s use the washing machine to illustrate:

Traditional washing machines are mostly operated by a dial that can

be turned to select any of the pre-set washing programs. The

diameter of the dial is pivotal to the diversity of programs you can

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offer your users. Technically, your washing machine is probably able

to do much more than can be communicated to the user through the

dial.

The touch, swipe, and animations that a GUI can add will help you un-

lock the hidden functionalities of the washing machine in two ways:

1. A digital control module provides a flexibility in

functionality communication to both users and hardware

that a physical dial simply cannot compete with. In many

ways it’s a product development dream come true; the

functionality matrix is expanded exponentially. But hold your

horses! As with anything, less is typically more, which brings

us to the next functionality benefit of a GUI.

2. Complex functionality needs simple communication. The

more you have to offer your users the simpler you need to

put it. And with a user-centric approach it is not that hard.

You have to understand what your users love about your

product. What is the key benefit that users return to your

product for? Make this the hero of your product, the focal

point of your GUI and structure the rest around it.

To sum it up: The product’s GUI development power to unlock

functionality is great. With great power comes great responsibility.

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The Competitor Knock-Out Now we’re at the final stages of your user courtship. You have 1) met

your users on their terms and 2) showcased everything you have to

offer, putting your best foot (core functionality) forward, of course.

Now it’s time to…

• … knock out any other suitors.

The amount of consumer products out there is hard to comprehend.

Buying a coffee machine, new medical equipment, or a washing

machine calls for highly developed decision-making skills on the

consumer part = your user.

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There is a lot to be said about the consumer decision journey. Much

more than what can be said in this short e-book. A couple of

important notes, however, as to how to make consumers choose you

over your competitor, thereby knocking other suitors out, are these1:

• 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer

experience.

• 73% of buyers point to customer experience as an important

factor in purchasing decisions.

• 65% of buyers find a positive experience with a brand to be

more influential than great advertising.

• By the year 2020, customer experience will overtake price

and product as the key brand differentiator.

The numbers above clearly show that putting the user or costumer

experience center stage of your product development is a great way

to influence buyer decisions in a highly competitive market.

Adding to the urgency of the customer experience battle grounds is

the fact that the combination of stunning GUIs and low-cost

hardware in many ways is an unexplored market opportunity. Your

unique and cost-effective way to knock out your competitors.

1 SuperOffice referencing Temkin Group and a Walker study.

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IMPLEMENT AN EMBEDDED GUI SUCCESSFULLY

x HOW TO

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1

Bring down the learning curve by building

on the device operation expertise your users

have and eliminate the guesswork of product

development.

2

You get the power to expand the functionality

of your product greatly, but remember, that this

comes with a great responsibility to simplify.

3

Stunning GUIs and low-cost hardware is an

unexplored market opportunity, giving you a

head start in the fight to beat your competitors

to the punch.

Next up is 2 x how to implement an embedded GUI successfully.

Unknown territory often comes with dangers, and in our experience

there are two major pitfalls that most new-comers in embedded GUI

development are prone to step into:

The danger of overcomplicating the GUI work here and now. Thereby

delaying time to market and effectively outplaying the role of your

new unique market differentiator.

And on the other hand, the danger of underestimating the impact in

the long run. This leaves you with a less than satisfying feeling as you

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push the release button and face thousands of customers out in the

real world, without having the full control over your product’s future.

Don’t be too alarmed!

We have two simple steps to help you overcome these dangers and

bring you safely to your destination: Winning user hearts and market

shares with embedded GUIs.

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The Importance of a Strong Product OwnerTo fight the first immediate danger when implementing an embed-

ded GUI:

• The danger of underestimating the impact of adding an

agile software project to a hardware world in the long run.

The most concrete action you can take, to overcome this danger, is to

have a strong Product Owner in place very early in the process.

A Product Owner’s finest responsibility is to maintain the speed

of your operation by gate-keeping functionality, look and feel, and

evaluating any new idea coming into play. The most effective Product

Owners, in our experience, are those that understand their users and

their importance.

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A strong Product Owner has a strong executive decision-making

mandate and should be able to answer questions, verify iterations,

and prioritize tasks singlehandedly and continually. Operating within

the boundaries of a locked business case.

Why are we doing this, what is our aim? Print your answer on

a large piece of paper, hang it on the Product Owner’s office

wall for him or her to see and be reminded of every day.

Bent BisballeEmbedded Solution Architect

Mjølner Informatics

This is to make sure that you keep your eyes on the goal of this

project and avoid being distracted by all the alluring possibilities that

come with embedded GUIs.

In other words: Think big. Start small.

Focus on the most important functionalities first. Build them and

make sure that they bring value before you start your next GUI

build-out. Especially if this is your, or even your industry’s, first

meeting with embedded GUI, it is of the utmost importance to test,

test, test.

No real world problem has ever been solved by locking yourself in the

basement, coming out for air 5 years later with a top-tuned rocket

ship only to realize that all your users needed was an electric scooter.

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Agile Software Development in a Hardware WorldNext up is combatting the second immediate danger when

implementing an embedded GUI:

• The danger of underestimating the impact of the

embedded GUI addition in the long run.

There is immense promise in the opportunities of combining

hardware and software, but the two are fundamentally different. If

the implementation of an embedded GUI is the first addition of

application software into your hardware product, there is one critical

variable worth having in mind.

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The ‘Fail early, fail cheap’-mantra is practically religion in an

agile and iterative software industry. This clashes with the fact

that iterations in hardware are expensive.

Bent BisballeEmbedded Solution Architect

Mjølner Informatics

The typical set-up, when embarking on embedded GUI applications is

a buyer-supplier partnership; you hire the best embedded software

consultancy to take your hardware product to the next level. If you

want a sustainable and profitable hand-over, however, you must

have the competencies needed in-house to host, operate, and

develop the product further. They do not have to be experts in as-

set management or embedded software, but they must understand

these areas enough to make qualified decisions about your product

maintenance moving forward.

In our experience, a co-creation approach will work wonders for the

final hand-over of your product. All GUI design and software

decisions made during the development of your GUI product hold

well-articulated and concretized training opportunities for your staff.

By working closely together, buyer and supplier hand in hand,

throughout the project development period, we can minimize the risk

of an unsuccessful embedded GUI hand-over. At the same time, we

make sure that all aspects of the GUI are aligned with the business

case print-out on your Product Owner’s wall.

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x WHENTHE EMBEDDED GUI PATH IS RIGHT FOR YOUR BUSINESS

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So, now you know that there are three ways in which an embedded

GUI can help your product win user hearts and market shares.

With an embedded GUI you can: 1) meet your users on their terms,

2) show the users all the great things you have to offer, and 3) knock

out any other suitors.

Adding to this, in the previous chapter we’ve learned that there are

two important HOW-TO’s when you want to implement a successful

and sustainable embedded GUI:

1

To overcome the danger of overcomplicating the

GUI work and delaying your time to market, you

have to have a strong Product Owner in place

very early in the process.

2

The danger of underestimating the impact of

the embedded GUI, can be defeated by preparing

for a sustainable hand-over with a close

collaboration between supplier and buyer.

As the final theme for this e-book, we are left with the complex and

unavoidable question of when the embedded GUI path is right for

your business.

Back to the very relevant question we mentioned at the beginning of

this e-book:

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“If I want smooth graphics and animations, my hardware requirement

will push my price point past its limit.”

And we said “No. It doesn’t have to be that way.”

Price points are crucial in a cutthroat consumer market, and you

simply cannot compromise here.

In the final chapter, we’ll tell you why it doesn’t have to be that way.

Combine top-of-the-line GUI design skills with the right hardware,

and you can build a modern, smooth, and cost-effective user

experience.

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Get Your Return-on-Investment (ROI) Calculator ReadyIt is our strong belief that the final choice of whether or not you will

embark on a new product development adventure with embedded

GUI, all comes down to the business case and return on investment

on your part. And that’s the way it should always be!

The entire e-book so far has been about the promised return-side of

things. This segment addresses investment.

A major variable in the ROI calculations of products with embedded

GUIs is the unit cost of your hardware platform.

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The hardware industry has acknowledged this challenge, and they are

moving in a rapid speed to overcome it. Combine top-notch design

and embedded development experts with the right hardware

platform, and you can achieve stunning user experiences on even

entry-level hardware.

You just have to work smart.

One way to work smart is TouchGFX.

Back in 2011, a team of inventive software engineers discovered a gap

in the market. The smartphone era had begun and people everywhere

now had smartphone expectations for every GUI they met. But smart-

phone graphics need smartphone hardware, and that means smart-

phone prices. There had to be another way…

Fast forward to 2013, and TouchGFX is born, an advanced algorithm

that decodes what is showing on-screen and enables the GUI to only

use resources to draw graphics that are visible at any given time.

TouchGFX is one way to bring down the investments on your side.

And with TouchGFX experts on board for creating the embedded GUI,

you should be in for a small investment with a great return.

We’ll leave the specific ROI calculations up to you.

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CONCLUSIONThis e-book started with the statement:

Combine top-of-the-line GUI design skills with the right

hardware, and you can build a modern, smooth, and

cost-effective user experience. A unique way for you to

win user hearts and market shares.

Our hope is that this e-book helped you understand why that is the

case, how you can implement an embedded GUI successfully, and

when the embedded GUI path is right for your business.

But just to be sure, I’ve summed it all up here:

3 x WHY:

1. The GUI approach is an unexplored market opportunity,

giving you the first shot in the fight to beat your

competitors to the punch.

2 x HOW:

1. To overcome the danger of overcomplicating the GUI work

and delaying your time to market, you have to have a strong

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Product Owner in place very early in the process.

2. The danger of underestimating the impact of the embedded

GUI, can be defeated by preparing for a sustainable hand-

over with a close collaboration between supplier and buyer.

1 x WHEN:

A major variable in the ROI calculations of products with embedded

GUIs is the unit cost of your hardware platform.

The hardware industry has acknowledged this challenge, and they are

moving in a rapid speed to overcome it. Combine top-notch design

and embedded development experts with the right hardware

platform, and you can achieve stunning user experiences on even

entry-level hardware. You just have to work smart.

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More info including cases, videos, and how-to:

mjolner.dk/en/services/embedded-user-interface-development/

Feel free to contact us with any questions you might have:

Anne Busch BallebyDelivery Executive, Mjølner Informaticsabb@mjolner.dk / +45 41 95 36 41

Martin SchumannBusiness Development Manager, Mjølner Informaticsmsc@mjolner.dk / +45 41 95 36 17

E-book is based on interviews with:

Henrik GoulEmbedded User Experience Expert, Mjølner Informatics

Bent Bisballe NyengEmbedded Solution Architect, Mjølner Informatics

Written by:

Signe Juul Madsen, Communication & Marketing Manager, Mjølner Informatics

Layout by:

Anna Lindballe LønborgDigital Designer, Mjølner Informatics

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