Travis Atwood Design » Control Panel

Sport X Control Pad Overlay

Travis Atwood — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:51:27 +0000

I mentioned in my last post that Bullfrog Spas will be introducing a new spa series called Sport X. After finishing the new logo for the series, I was asked to design a new control pad for the Sport X Line. As with the new logo, the new control pad needed to reflect the look and feel that the Sport X line represents; youthful, active, and sporty. After working through many different concepts, I decided this design best represented the new line.

Series I Control Panel Overlay

Travis Atwood — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:05:29 +0000

A few months ago I put up a post about the Bullfrog Spas Series II control panel Overlay. That control panel overlay is currently being used on all of Bullfrog’s Series II Spas. We had planned to continue using an older design for the more expensive Series I line for 2009, but the opportunity came up to redesign that panel as well. The design for the Series II control panel was well received and I was asked to redesign the Series I overlay using the same style and symbols I had used on my previous design.

Bullfrog Spas Series II Control Panel

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:59:48 +0000

This project was really a fun one to work on. Designing something that will be used by people on a daily basis meant that the final printed piece would get a lot of face time with people. This control panel is what consumers will use to control the jetting, temperature, and other spa functions on the new 2009 Series II Bullfrog Spas.

I had two goals when I set out to design the control panel:

Design it in such a way that it flows with the design of the rest of the spa. This would be a bit tricky because the colors used on the control panel would have to work alongside a variety of different spa shell colors.
Be as user friendly as possible. I wanted to make sure that the person using this control panel would fully understand how to use the various functions of their spa without being confused by abstract symbols, confusing layouts, or anything else.

After working through nearly 50 different ideas, I settled on using a subtle wave as the backdrop of the design. I did this for two reasons. The most obvious reason was because of its tie in with the flowing hot water of a spa, but the wave also worked with all of the smooth flowing lines of the spa itself. I based the color scheme on some light grays and blues and tested them against all of our spa shell colors. After a little tweaking, I found a combination that worked across the board.

The final piece was printed on a durable, waterproof plastic and die cut to fit within the designated space on the electronic portion of the control system. The buttons are embossed so they are easy to feel. And finally, each symbol is back lit so that they are easy to see even when using the spa at night.