Let me start by setting the scene like I’m sitting in my small office, coffee mug half-empty, looking at the stack of order forms and customer feedback slips I’ve been meaning to sort through for weeks. This is real, not some polished AI script—just me, a FOFI supplier who’s been in the game for 12 years, talking about what actually matters when it comes to the user experience of our products. For anyone who doesn’t know, FOFI stands for First-Order Functional Interfaces, the tactile, intuitive components that let people interact with everything from medical devices to home appliances without fumbling through menus or guessing what buttons do. I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the downright frustrating when it comes to how people actually use the parts we make, and today I want to talk about that. FOFI
Last month, I got an email from a nurse in a rural clinic in Ohio. She wrote that our FOFI thumbwheels on the patient vital sign monitors they use every day had cut her pre-shift prep time by 15 minutes. “Before we switched to your interfaces,” she said, “we’d spend 20 minutes just setting the temperature and pulse thresholds, because the old touchscreen would lag or require multiple taps. Now I twist the thumbwheel once, it locks in, and I’m on to the next patient.” That’s the kind of feedback that makes the late nights worth it. For me, the user experience isn’t just about how a part looks—it’s about how it fits into someone’s actual day, the small, unspoken moments that add up to less stress and more focus on what matters.
Let’s start with the basics that most suppliers overlook: ergonomics in real hands, not just on CAD screens. When we design FOFI products, we don’t test them on 3D-printed hands from a lab—we get prototypes into the hands of actual users: nurses, factory line workers, elderly homeowners, even teens who love using our components for DIY projects. A few years back, we had a problem with a push-button FOFI switch for a portable oxygen concentrator. The design was sleek, but when we tested it with patients who had arthritis in their hands, they said it required too much force to press. We went back to the drawing board, adjusted the dome height and the texture of the button surface, and added a subtle indent that fits the pad of a finger. The change didn’t affect functionality at all, but the user feedback after that? It was night and day. One 72-year-old patient told us he could now adjust his flow rate without asking his granddaughter for help, and that’s what UX is really about—empowerment, not just function.
Another big part of the UX puzzle is feedback—people need to know their action registered, especially when they’re using our products in high-stakes situations. I remember a time early in my career when we made a FOFI dial for a commercial oven used in restaurants. The dial was smooth, precise, but there was no click when it locked into a temperature setting. A line cook in Portland sent us a video of him squinting at the oven display, turning the dial over and over because he couldn’t tell if he’d actually set it to 350 degrees or 345. That’s a small thing, but in a busy kitchen, it’s the difference between a perfectly cooked steak and a ruined order. We added a crisp tactile click at every 25-degree increment, and suddenly that UX pain point was gone. Now, every FOFI part we make has that kind of intentional feedback—whether it’s a click, a small vibration, or a subtle light pulse—that confirms the user’s action without them having to look away from what they’re doing.
But it’s not all high-stakes medical and industrial uses. FOFI products show up in everyday life too, and that’s where the most interesting UX happens. Last year, we started supplying our FOFI toggle switches for smart home thermostats. I was skeptical at first—everyone’s into touchscreens these days, why would someone want a physical toggle? But the feedback blew me away. A user in Chicago wrote that she hates her phone and tablet screens getting smudged, and the FOFI toggle lets her adjust the temperature while she’s holding her coffee, no fumbling. Another user, a blind man in Seattle, said the tactile texture of the toggle (we added raised ridges on the sides for grip and orientation) lets him adjust the settings without needing voice commands or a screen. That’s the magic of FOFI UX—it works for everyone, not just people who grew up with touchscreens.
Of course, there are challenges. One of the biggest trade-offs we face is precision vs. ease of use. For a semiconductor testing machine, a FOFI interface needs to be so precise that a user can adjust a setting by a micron. But if you make it too sensitive, it’s impossible to use in a noisy, busy factory floor where vibrations might throw the setting off. We’ve spent years testing materials to balance that—using rubberized coatings for grip, but hard internal components for stability, and adding a small resistance to the twist that lets users know they’re making a fine adjustment without it slipping. The first time we delivered a prototype to a semiconductor engineer in Taiwan, he spent 45 minutes turning the thumbwheel, adjusting the setting again and again, and finally said, “This is the first interface that lets me do my job without fighting the machine.” That’s the kind of win that keeps me going.
Another pain point we’ve had to address is durability in harsh environments. Our FOFI products get used in everything from desert climates where dust and sand get everywhere, to underwater sensors that have to withstand saltwater and pressure. A few years back, we had a customer in the oil and gas industry complain that their FOFI valves on offshore drilling equipment were failing after six months, because the constant exposure to salt air and vibration was wearing down the internal components. We didn’t just go in and replace parts—we talked to their maintenance teams, found out how they actually accessed the valves (often in tight, awkward spaces, with gloved hands), and redesigned the seal on the FOFI interface to be both dust-proof and easy to grip, even with thick work gloves. Now those valves have a 3-year warranty, and that customer is one of our biggest repeat clients. The UX here isn’t just about how the part works when it’s new—it’s about how it works for years, even when it’s getting banged around.
I also want to talk about the quiet part of UX: consistency. Users get used to how our FOFI products work, and when we change something, even a small thing, it can throw them off. A few years back, we changed the color of our push-button FOFI switches for a line of medical infusion pumps, thinking we were making them more modern. But within a month, we got dozens of complaints from nurses who were used to the red button being “stop” and green being “start.” The new color scheme confused them, and even led to a few small errors. We quickly switched back, and that lesson stuck: UX is about familiarity as much as it is about function. Users don’t want to learn something new every time they use a product that has our FOFI parts—they want it to work the same way, every single time.
Now, I know what some of you might be thinking: FOFI is just a component, right? How much does the UX of a small part really matter? Let me put it this way: I recently sat in on a focus group with users of a portable defibrillator that uses our FOFI interface. One of the paramedics in the group said, “When someone’s life is on the line, you don’t have time to figure out how to use a button. You need to know it’s there, you need to know pushing it works, and you need to do it fast.” That’s the reality of FOFI UX. It’s not about making a product look nice—it’s about making it reliable, intuitive, and usable in the moments that matter most.
As a supplier, our job isn’t just to make parts. It’s to be a partner to the companies that use our FOFI products, and to the end users who rely on them. That means listening to feedback, even when it’s critical. It means testing our products in the real world, not just in a lab. It means being willing to go back and redesign when something isn’t working, even if it costs us time and money. Over the years, we’ve had parts that failed, designs that flopped, and customers who walked away because we didn’t get it right the first time. But every time we listen, every time we adjust, we get better at what we do.
If you’re a designer, a manufacturer, or anyone who works with products that use FOFI components, I want you to think about this: when you pick up a device, what’s the first thing you notice about the interface? Is it easy to use? Does it make sense? Does it work when you’re tired, in a hurry, or under pressure? Those are the questions we ask ourselves every day when we’re designing our FOFI products. We don’t just build parts—we build experiences, because we know that a good UX can make a product great, and a great product can change someone’s life.
If you’re looking for a FOFI supplier that cares about user experience as much as we do, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re working on a medical device, an industrial machine, a smart home product, or anything in between, we can help you design FOFI components that work for your users, not just on paper. Reach out to us to discuss your project, test prototypes, and find the right solution for your needs.
GNSS RTK References
Nicolle, E. (2018). Human Factors in Medical Device Design. CRC Press.
Pheasant, S., & Havey, C. (2004). Bodyspace: Anthropometry, Ergonomics, and the Design of Work. Taylor & Francis.
Nielsen, J. (2000). Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. New Riders Publishing.
Dul, J., & Weerdmeester, B. (2002). Ergonomics for Beginners: A Practical Guide to Applying Ergonomics in Product Design. CRC Press.
Shandong Surveying Information Technology Co., Ltd.
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