User Interface Design for AEC3
BIMQ neo is AEC3's software for standardizing and managing BIM data in construction projects. makandra is responsible for the conception and design of the user interface.
AEC3 advises companies in the field of Building Information Modeling, bringing together people, processes, technologies, standards, and guidelines. With BIMQ neo, AEC3 offers its own software for clients, BIM managers, designers, and building owners.
makandra supports AEC3 in the UI/UX area with designs and prototypes for the conception and design of the BIMQ neo software. In the past, we have supported the company in the further development of BIMQ.
Industry
Technology
Services
Key Challenges
- Increasing Complexity
The information requirements for BIM projects are constantly growing. At the same time, the user interface must be as simple as possible for users. - Intuitive User Interface
Clients, BIM managers, designers, and building owners with very different technical backgrounds all work with the software. The interface had to be intuitive for all of these groups. - No Consistent Naming Convention
Without a consistent naming convention in the templates, elements, properties, and property sets are named differently. This led to confusion and made it difficult to share information between projects or among project participants.
Our Solution for AEC3
We were responsible for the conception and design of a completely new user interface for BIMQ neo. The new interface streamlines processes that were previously carried out primarily manually. In addition, repetitive tasks have been automated and abstractions simplified.
- Clear Design Instead of Complex Processes
We transformed the complex and data-intensive process into a streamlined, clear design. Customizable filtering and viewing options, tags for sorting, and an integrated search function provide a clear view of the relevant information. - Quick reuse of standards
Users can now see at a glance which standards apply to a construction project. Similar projects can be referenced and reused based on templates. - Level of Information Need (LOIN) per ISO 7817-1
BIMQ neo ’s application logic is consistently aligned with ISO 7817-1 (Level of Information Need) and ISO 19650. This allows users to specifically define who must provide which data, at what point in time, and at what level of detail. This prevents information overload and ensures that all project participants have a clear view of exactly the requirements relevant to their specific use cases. - Improved Change Management
Changes to content, such as elements, properties, and property sets, are now traceable.
There was no endless philosophizing about design trends, just a sharp focus on the real needs of BIM managers, designers, and building owners.
Insights into the Project
Together with the developers at AEC3, we are working iteratively on the prototypes for BIMQ neo. New concepts are repeatedly tested with users. Their feedback is incorporated directly into the next iteration. The following side-by-side comparison shows what the prototypes look like and how the entire concept was implemented in the final application.
Prototype
Final Product
As a designer, encountering such openness and appreciation for new ideas in such a complex field is not something to be taken for granted, and it makes the collaboration all the more rewarding.
Further Development of BIMQ
In the past, we worked with AEC3 on the further development of BIMQ. We built SAML-based SSO authentication and personalized API authentication, performed performance optimizations, and provided development support in the form of Git, CI/CD, and refactoring. To showcase the design of the new BIMQ Neo application, we created a video that AEC3 uses at trade shows and during presentations.