Understanding the Domain

Rig Life!

To truly understand the domain of the petroleum and natural gas industry, you must leave the office and dive into the environment. I needed to talk to the users, to see what their daily hustle was like. I wanted to see what exactly the various jobs entail. So bags were packed, steel toes where bought, and fireproof coveralls were issued.

During my visits, I got a tour of the rig to see how it all comes together. I was excited to head out to a live platform since its a part of the oil industry you don't often see. I sat with the engineers while they used a beta version of Cadence and asked questions and observed.

I completed my 9 hour day shadowing one of the FSE's and returned to the office with a holistic understanding of the challenges that the FSE's face. One or the things I was asked more times than I can count was ‘ Can we please have a dark theme”.

I decided to design some POC screens that took the UI in a new darker direction while still adhering to the usability standards that Cadence has. The Major one being that there are a lot of color blind people working in the oil industry. I chose colors that would be legible and work together.

This was an exploration in design, a look forward to what Cadence could be at some point. This is where I wanted to let all these ideas that where swirling around in my head free. The reaction was positive from the Directional drillers, and FSE’s I showed it too.