Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Control Panel Vinyl Decals: Design

When the time comes to "finish" the control panel I want everything to be labeled and as self-explanatory as possible so my daughter (or anyone) can operate it easily. I am ordering several vinyl decals from MikeDeuce over at BYOAC to label everything. He makes these in his spare time and does a fantastic job. He will customize your order to pretty much anything and he is very responsive to emails (and multiple design changes!).

Here is the final control panel design:

The entire surface of the control panel is going to be black vinyl as well as all of the admin buttons. The only color will be the pink action buttons, the pink balltop joystick and the vinyl decals. The button to the far left (currently red) is the "exit" button, and on the far right (from top to bottom) is the player 1 start, player 2 start and "pause" (currently orange).

The decals can be ordered in a bunch of colors (as shown to the left) but of course I'm going to go with the pink - The more pink the better! I want to apply the decals to each of the "admin" buttons as well as one around the joystick for decorative purposes.

The decals I ordered for the admin buttons are as follows:

  1. A player 1 start button with the female figure (as shown to the right)
  2. A player 2 start button with two female figures next to each other
  3. "pause" (all lowercase)
  4. "exit" (all lowercase)

In addition to the admin button decals I also ordered a "select game" decal (all lowercase) in an "overwrap" style to go above the player 1 start button. This decal will be in a 1/2 circle and "wrap" around the top of the button. The player 1 start button serves two purposes - to start each game once a quarter is inserted (duh) but also to select the highlighted game you want to play from the master list. I think this is a good solution and people should be able to figure it out. [I also ordered a "$" decal even though I'm not putting a coin button on the control panel just in case I decide to add it at a later date.]

Finally, I decided to add some decorative arrows/triangles to go around the joystick dust washer on the control panel (shown at the base of the joystick to the left). The washer will rest on top of the vinyl covered control panel and hide the hole that the shaft goes through.

Here's my ugly mock-up (in paint) of what I'm trying to accomplish - the arrows have to be spaced far enough so the circular "void" in the center clears the dust washer.

That's about it! I'm hoping the decals arrive sometime next week so I can finish the control panel.

Next up - painting and finishing the cabinet!!

Thanks for looking!!!

1 comment:

costlules said...

I think it is a good solution and folks ought to have the ability to determine it out. [I also ordered a "$" decal although I am not placing a coin button on the control panel simply in case I resolve to add it at a later date.]


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