Matlab has undergone significant facelifts in recent years: Matlab Mobile (first introduced [1] in 2010, with various upgrades [2] since), R2012b’s new desktop toolstrip [3], various Matlab Central’s website facelifts (example1 [4], example2 [5]), R2014b’s new graphics system (HG2) [6], Matlab on the Web (MOTW) [7], and Matlab’s upcoming GUI framework (AppDesigner [8]). That’s quite a lot of UI designs, new and overhauled, over a relatively short timespan.
Designer Tim Smith (designbytimsmith.com [9]), is apparently responsible for many of the sleek UI designs, working with MathWorks’ internal User Experience (UX) team. Tim’s website showcases his work, philosophy, and design process for Matlab’s AppDesigner [10], Desktop toolstrip [11], Matlab Mobile [12], and Matlab on the Web [13].
I highly recommend reading what Tim has to say about these designs, as well as other designs that he created for other clients. Impressive work indeed.
Formerly a MathWorks visual designer, Tim left MathWorks in 2012 to join PayPal, and currently works at Google. designbytimsmith.com [9] has no contact page, and Tim is apparently very secretive about his email address, which is a bit odd for someone who was the design lead for Google’s new Inbox product. Anyway, you can contact him via his LinkedIn profile [14] or Google+ page [15].
If you want to get a feel for what Matlab might look like down the road, simply head over to Tim’s website.
Enjoy!
