This project came about when I was working at a electronics retail store. I thought it would be cool to design and wear a custom electronic name tag. Really this project was just an excuse to play around with a small OLED display and RGB LEDs.
OLED Name Badge
(2017)
Prototyping
To start the project I created a prototype of the circuit on a breadboard. I used an Arduino nano clone, and SSD1306 OLED display breakout, and a custom breakout for a 5 way directional joystick. I started writing the code for the breadboard prototype and decided the functions of the buttons.
Left and right control the text scoll speed and up and down control the text size. Pressing on the joystick in the centre activates the keyboard where you can enter text. In the final version, I also added a pushbutton on the back where you can select the colour of the LEDs.
PCBs
This project was the first time I tried making a circuit with a MCU on a custom PCB rather than on a development board.
The first PCB version was designed as a stack with the custom PCB on the bottom, battery in the middle, and the screen breakout on top. This design was compact, but was thicker than I wanted.
I made a second version which integrated the display components onto the PCB. This was a big step for me learning how to design circuits for ICs without relying on ready made breakout boards.
Conclusion
During this project I integrated bare components onto a PCB instead of using development boards which was a big win for me. I also practised soldering small SMD components and creating a simple user interface for an small display.
