Airgas Nitrogen Calculator
1
Overview
During my 6 month internship at Airgas, an Air Liquide company, I worked as a digital designer for a variety of projects, including a new tool that would determine the most appropriate nitrogen supply for Formlabs Fuse 1+ 30W 3D printers. I designed the user interface and user experience of the Airgas Formlabs nitrogen supply calculator.
About 3D Printing and Nitrogen
To learn more about how nitrogen can allow 3D printers to print with a lower refresh rate and improves material properties, check out this article from Formlabs on using inert atmospheric control.
Formlabs Fuse 1+ 30W 3D printers do not come with nitrogen included, these need to be supplied externally. Airgas can supply nitrogen in five main forms: single canisters, 12-packs, liquid cylinders, micro bulk, and bulk.
2
User Research
To understand the intended audience of this calculator, I started by inquiring additive manufacturing experts within Airgas, as well as a Formlabs 3D printing expert.
Pain Points
From my interviews, I gathered that most of the users will likely not be very knowledge about about nitrogen supply and many will seek additional resources.
Likely unfamiliar with nitrogen and gas supply modes
Time-constraints, need relevant information quickly
Same printer used across very different industries for varied purposes
Strengths
Along with pain points, I identified common points of strenght amoung users, including their familiarity with 3D printing and establishing suppliers for their industrial needs.
Industrial 3D printing knowledge and familiarity
Knowledge of industrial processes and general contact with suppliers
Likely Technology-literate / Web-literate
Journey Mapping
It was important to take into account the user's entire journey from before finding the calculator and after they have gained their necessary information from it. This journey map was a rough draft of the expected path that a user could take when using the calculator. An important note is it was required that the calculator be gated and users submit an email in order to access it.
3
Defining Goals
After consulting Formlabs and Airgas experts, as wells as other stakeholders, designers, and developers, and copywriters involved in the project, I was able to define clear goals.
Clear Calculation
The calculator must be given three clearly defined inputs from the user: the amount of printers used, how many hours a build requires, and how many builds are completed per printer per week. Once it takes this information in, it will give the user two important outputs: how much nitrogen is required per week (in square cubic feet) and the most appropriate weekly supply mode based on the calculated quantity of nitrogen.
Contact Airgas
Another important aspect is that once users recieve their calculations, they should be directed to the next appropriate action in the process: contacting airgas to set up a weekly gas supply service.
It was important that this CTA was easy for users to find in multiple places on the page, such as the site's standard sticky CTA.
Supply Additional Resources
Since Formlabs and Airgas experts in the field informed me during research that users would likely not be very familiar with nitrogen gas supply modes, having additional links and information would work well for users seeking to learn more before committing to setting up a gas supplier.
Another important aspect of gas supply services to consider is safety. Providing resources on storing and transportation safety is vital, especially for new users.
4
Design
Initial Sketches
These sketches represent several different directions discussed among the design and development team. The copy was not finalized at this stage. The two main directions involved being more text driven, while the others involved graphic components.
Selected Concept
This concept was selected based on several factors. The illustrations displaying the different supply modes was consistent with resource pages associated with each supply mode. Using the Airgas teal to designate the appropriate supple mode was essential.
Another function I wanted users to be able to utilize was how they can see their calculated quantity of nitrogen in each of the supply modes. For example, if their most appropriate supply mode is 4 liquid cylinders/dewars a week, users are still able to see how much that would equate to in a smaller quantity, like single cylinders. It would still heavily be made clear what the recommended mode is when they flip through their options.
5
Final Product
This is a screenshot of the live calculator on Airgas's online site. To interactive with it, visit this site, but remember, you will have to enter an email to use it.
There were several modifications made from the refinement process once this concept was selected. There was an additional legal disclaimer, as well two small icons (green checkmark and a red X) visually indicating which supply mode is recommended and which is not if a user decides to view their quantity in multiple supply modes after calculating.
6
Key Takeaways
Balancing Needs
Overall, this project gave me a lot of experience with balancing the needs of the users, the stakeholders, our Formlabs partners, and Airgas's additive manufacturing experts.
Teamwork & Communication
While I was primarily the UI designer on this project, I also had to understand the abilities and limitations of the developer I worked with on the team and we had to collaborate to solve unique problems together. I also had to learn vital skills in how to communicate with copywriters, stakeholders, and other designers, who all held very different expertises in different subjects.
Research
Working with a topic I didn't have much knowledge of before hand was difficult, but upon understanding 3D printing and nitrogen consumption, I understood how to better serve the users.