Simulink Models can be color-coded to show the rates at which model components are sampled during a simulation. Red always represents the fastest rate and was first introduced 20 years earlier. 

19 unique colors appeared over time as new rates were introduced and simulations became more dynamic.  This resulted in a "too many colors" problem that had to be addressed. 

I categorized the 19 unique rates into a new palette containing only 7 colors (plus black).  I increased stroke widths and removed colored text to meet accessibility standards, making the model more readable.  The most challenging part of this project was getting stakeholders to give up their 19 colors. While this project was small in scale, it had a large impact and took many months to complete. 

Sequence diagrams generate and describe behaviors of system-level components in Simulink.   The diagram lays out the order of operation of signals as they travel from one component to another. They also capture the characteristics of the signal (for instance, a rising signal might represent a traffic light going from green to yellow). 

There were many challenges in this project: 

• designing the micro-interactions to construct the diagram (for instance drawing lines to make connections or editing text on a line)

• generating components that needed to stay in sync with other system drawings.