Rens Holslag
User Interfaces & users interface
consultancy, development, design, evaluation and projectmanagement
 
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Since 1988 a large number of projects have been carried out, mainly involving computers and "Information Design".
The main focus is on "Design Engineering" and "Applied Research" leading to new design solutions for old and new media.
Other activities involve teaching the use of computers in design processes, and projectmanagement in artresearch. See:  

Caradt (Centre of Applied Research for Art, Design and Technology)

Some examples of work are shown below.

Clients:
 
Project Management
> HBO-Raad, Den Haag
> Hogeschool Brabant, Raad van Bestuur, Tilburg
 
Consultancy
> Stichting Kennisontwikkeling SKO, Den Haag
> NTVG, Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde, Amsterdam
 
Design & Production
> ProRail, Utrecht
> Stork Food Systems / Stork PMT bv, Boxmeer
> Dok Medical Design, Amsterdam
> MK Publishing, Renkum
> Nederlandse Spoorwegen, NS Reizigers bv, Utrecht
> Human Efficiency, Utrecht
> Syntens Arnhem /Syntens Roermond / Syntens New Technology, Veenendaal
> DataDragons Ltd, Hong Kong
> Intergo, Utrecht
> IE Keyprocessor bv, Amsterdam
> European Rail Research Institute, Utrecht
> Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer, Paris, France
> Kluwer Fiscale en Financiele Uitgevers, Deventer


   
- - - - - - > Leerroute Beheer Systeem (Learning Route Management System) < K&K logica, Renkum>

[KEYWORDS]
= GRAPHIC DESIGN
= MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE
= KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

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www.leerroutebeheer.nl

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kwalificatiedossiers mbo

The Learning Route Management System (LBS) was developed for vocational education (in Dutch: MBO-onderwijs). Since the introduction of competence based education it became difficult for teachers to get insight into the educatonal progress of students. Learning routes became individual and assesments became more complex. Teachers are often not used to asses competence as well as practical results. LBS combines all aspects of an individual student and presents this in one diagram. Via automatic appllication of color coding for excellent (green) versus bad (red) results LBS shows the current level of a given student in one glance. LBS is in an experimental testing stage in one of the Dutch ROC's (conglomerate of vocational educations).

 

- - - - - - > Titan Spiral Oven Human Machine Interface < Stork Food Systems, Boxmeer>

[KEYWORDS]
= GRAPHIC DESIGN
= MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE

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Human Efficiency

The TSO-1000 is a large Oven that steams and/or cooks food products, primarily white meat and secondary red meat and ready meals, to a desired internal temperature at high load, optimum yield and cooking times. The new interface for this Oven is the start of the development of an interfacetoolkit for a series of products from Stork Food Systems. These Ovens are sold worldwide. Operating staff is often low-educated and many different languages are usually present within the staff of one factory. Therefore much effort was put into the design of a pictographic language combining basic pictographic elements. The HMI-design of the interface toolkit was a joint venture between Holslag vof and Human Efficiency in cooperation with the internal development staff of Stork Food Systems.

 

- - - - - - > SpectraCell RA Bacterial strain analyzer < Dok Medical Design, Amsterdam>

[KEYWORDS]
= GRAPHIC DESIGN
= MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE
= DATA GATHERING, -ANALYSIS

River Diagnostics

The SpectraCell RA is the worlds first bacterial strain analyzer for rapid MRSA typing using Raman spectroscopy as the enabling technology. The machine analysis bacterial samples on testslides and compares the results to large amounts of previous samples gathered in a database. Medical staff can easily set up studies and investigate results. River Diagnostics developed the instrument, Dok Medical Design was responsible for the product design and asked Holslag vof to collaborate by designing the user interface. The SpectraCell RA prototype was first shown at Medica 2007 in Düsseldorf.

 

- - - - - - > Product Development Assessment < Syntens New Technologies, Arnhem, Roermond, Veenendaal >
screenpicture of PDA-benchscreen compilation of pda-screens

[KEYWORDS]
= APPLIED RESEARCH
= CO-DEVELOPMENT
= DATA GATHERING, -ANALYSIS

The PDA-program is a tool for all Dutch Syntensconsultants. It is used to analyse the productdevelopment of companies. The consultant asks a series of questions of various nature (multiple choiche, specify numbers, interact with graphical tools like sliders, etc). The userinterface is very flexible through fivefold redundancy thus giving optimum freedom in the sequence of the questionnaire. At the same time it is made very easy to see if an input is complete. The result is a comparison of the company's own expectations with reality (based on given answers) on several aspects of productdevelopment. After that the pda-tool can benchmark the investigated company with a choosen set of competitors (same business, same region, same size, etc). The exact detailed data is visualised on screen and figures and data are exported to files to give basis for a printed report. The specifications for the PDA-tool were set by ir. M.E. Swart and drs. D.A. Hoeksema. Holslag vof acted as co-developer bringing in knowledge on user-interfaces, flexibility of data-gathering and on presentation of data. The production of the tool was a joint venture between Holslag vof and Hermus Beeldbewerking. An extended update of the tool has been delivered in april 2004.

 

- - - - - - > OBKCOMP < HBO-Raad, Den Haag >
obkcomp-meetings

[KEYWORDS]
= PROJECT MANAGEMENT
= RESEARCH & PANELDISCUSSIONS
= KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
= ART & ICT

OBKCOMP is a Benchmark & Dissemination project commissioned by the HBO-Raad. All 14 Dutch Academies for Art & Design were involved in a proces of talking and studying about ICT in art education (COMPuters and COMPetence). A network of 150 people, varying from teachers, managers, students and others involved came together in several paneldiscussions (all over the Netherlands), expertmeetings and a general seminar (in Eindhoven). The project did not focus on technical aspects of hard- and software but on the use of ICT as educational and/or education-assisting tool. Targets were the development of a stable network of professionals, the dissemination of best practises and recommandations for the future role of ict in art education. Especially on the use of portfolios, digital didactics, life long learning, etc. The projectwebsite still functions as a means of interaction and sharing of knowledge. There is a printed publication with a brief overview of projectresults (only available in Dutch).

 
- - - - - - > Kaartautomaat < NS Reizigers, Utrecht >
screenpicture of NS/R TVM pay ticket animation

[KEYWORDS]
= GRAPHIC DESIGN
= MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE
= SIMULATION FOR RESEARCH

Online trialversion:
webdemo.ns.nl

More?
Human Efficiency

Usability?
A personal review

Graphical User Interface for a new ticket vending machine (TVM) for Dutch Railways. The designprocess was carried out in close cooperation with Leonard Verhoef (Human Efficiency bv,Utrecht) and Peter Hermus (Rotterdam). The new design is based on touch screen operation. The new average ordering time for tickets is faster than the fastest ordering time on the existing TVM. The changes on making mistakes in the ordering process have also been extremely lowered. Therefore a series of simulators with various design assumptions were built and tested by NS/R on different target groups (students, elderly people, etc). There are at this moment six of these socalled mini-TVM's in public use in the Amsterdam Central station. Later in 2001 Dutch Railways installed 600 new TVM's all over the Netherlands. The TVM has been so succesfull that the interface was extended in 2003 with various products like seasontickets, international tickets, etc. The extension of the TVM was carried out by the internal NS Design Department. In complex parts of the interface using new design specifications delivered by Holslag vof.

 

- - - - - - > NTVG-Databank < Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde, Amsterdam >
ntvg screenimage

[KEYWORDS]
= GRAPHICAL USERINTERFACE
= DATABASE PUBLISHING
= SCREEN TYPOGRAPHY

The weekly magazine 'Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde' was founded in 1857. In 1996 the publisher started the development of a database in which all volumes of the magazine (over 140 years) are digitally available. A variety of formats among which scans of printed pages (first 110 years), wordprocessortextfiles (70's) and complete page-layouts (from the 90's) were incorporated in one database accessable via directlink with the server (Microformat bv/Lisse) and partly via internet. At this moment various publishing-products are derived out of the database.

Among many partners involved in the project 'Holslag vof' was asked to design the graphical userinterface and to develope typographic rules for transforming the detailed magazine lay-out to the screen. In magazinedesign a lot of the typographic variables are aimed at preserving space. Blockset type, multiple colums, small typesizes, etc. On the screen space is limitless but readability is a great concern. From this startingpoint rules were set and these were programmed (by Technodesign/Zoetermeer)into a special conversionmodule. After several testruns and adjustments to the rules this program is now capable of doing automatic transformation of the final printlay-outs into screenreadable type. Also some 45.000 articles from backissues could be converted easily by Technodesign via this way.

 

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NTvG
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Microformat bv
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Techno Design
- - - - - - > Kijk op Keukens (A Kitchen Approach) < Syntens, Arnhem >
screenshot kijkopkeukens screenshot KOK
publication KOK

[KEYWORDS]
= CONTENT MANAGEMENT
= EDITORIAL DESIGN

Seven Dutch companies from the kitchen and electronics branches have combined forces in developing a vision on sustainable comfort. The Eco Kitchen is the tangible and visible result, in which user convenience and energy consumption have been improved considerably. 
Concrete results have been attained in the field of product innovation and electronic linking of appliances. All companies have worked together under the guidance of Syntens Arnhem and supported by Novem and the Province of Gelderland over a period of two years. 
The results and the developed vision are made available to the general public by means of this website. The ideas and practical applications serve as an inspiring example of the advantages of cooperating in Environmentally conscious Product Development.

Holslag vof was asked to design and produce the overallproject- cd/rom and -website (in cooperation with "Hermus Beeldbewerking" and with involvement of various other subcontractors). This was a complex task because of the great number of parties involved in the 'Kijk op Keukens' project. There were 16 primary information suppliers, among which a broad range from equipmentproducers to design companies and eco-consultanties. Each of these with different aims and different 'formats of results'. The gathering of projectresults and also the editorial process of synchronising these results to a coherent and clearly arranged database of information was a major task. The design of the userinterface was based upon three principles; visual clarity, horizontal connections of diverse info as an alternative to the common mineshaft-interaction and emphasizing important results via typographic means, but also via extra attentionlinks.

 

 

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Syntens

- - - - - - > ETCS MMI < AMG\Ergonomie, Utrecht >
ETCS presentation screenpicture of ETCS

[KEYWORDS]
= EUROPEAN TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM
= MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE

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Doors of Perception

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Human Efficiency

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Tentoonstelling Flat Space

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Rotterdam Designprijs
Designprijs 1997 eervolle vermelding

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Krantenarchief Trouw


Interactive presentation of ETCS MMI for the exhibition of nominated products for Rotterdam Design Prize 1997.
ETCS MMI is a proposed European standard for a man-machine-interface for train drivers. Developed by Jochen Vorderegger, Leonard Verhoef, Pieter Rookmaaker, Hans Rijpkema and Rens Holslag. Commisioned by ERRI, Utrecht
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- - - - - - > Projectgroep MultiMedia < akv | st joost, Breda >
screenpicture veenman screensaver veenman
screensaver veenman

[KEYWORDS]
= PROJECT MANAGEMENT
= TEACHING
= GENERAL SCREENDESIGN

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Academie St Joost

Teaching material and colophon screen for the production VEENMAN DRUKKERS. The project consists of 25 interactive presentations made by graphic design students of the Art Academy St Joost in BREDA.

 

- - - - - - - - > Hard userinterfaces < IE Keyprocessor bv, Amsterdam >
infopanels ICOVA&MAAS LOGISTICS KP access control frontpanel KP TVM [KEYWORDS]
= INFORMATION GRAPHICS
= ICON DESIGN
= OPTIMUM USABILITY

Graphic design of frontpanels for various computercontrolled consumerproducts. Usually produced via screenprinting, thermal transfer or pictography.

 

 
COA icon reception COA icon workplace COA icon laundry COA icon kitchen COA icon restaurant
COA icon library COA icon storage COA icon bike COA icon fire-ext. COA icon biobak

Graphic design of a series of 49 pictographic symbols for the COA (Centraal Orgaan opvang Asielzoekers). The project was commissioned by and carried out in close cooperation with Leonard Verhoef; an ergonomic psychologist who did extensive testing of designproposals on asylumcandidates from various nationalities.


- - - - - - - - > Technical drawings < Stichting Doelmatig Verzinken, 's-Gravenhage>
[KEYWORDS]
= INFORMATION GRAPHICS
= DESIGN

Two examples out of a series of drawings produced to illustrate good and bad details in steelconstructions that need to be coated with zinc.

 

 
- - - - - - > Graphical diagrams < IE Keyprocessor bv, Amsterdam / Houten>

[KEYWORDS]
= GRAPHIC DESIGN

 

 

As part of a corporate identity and a range of technical productbrochures a set of graphical elements was developed to represent the maximum lay-out of a given product. The product is an electronic keycardsystem with database facilities like time registration, entrance and exittimes, etc. Shown here above are KP3200 and KP3700.

 

 

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for further information, please contact:
Rens Holslag - designer / interface consultant or Irene Vlaming - office manager
Pybo Steenstrastraat 20 1086 ZE Amsterdam The Netherlands
T: +31 (0)20 695 37 99 M: +31 (0) 6 19 57 50 41 E: post@rensholslag.nl

 

Questions, remarks or info: mail to  picto email us  Rens Holslag or else go to ...... picto go elsewere construction of our office