On medical design
or, the ultimate human-centered design
Though you don’t see it reflected on this site (hello, FDA timelines and confidentiality concerns), the majority of my design work is actually in healthcare. To be honest, this wasn’t necessarily the plan coming out of school - but the complexity of the problems and meaningful nature of the solutions keep me coming back.
I believe medical design is the ultimate human-centered design. Health is the most fundamental part of the human experience.
This is compelling for a designer, until you consider the fact that your users won’t use your designs because they want to but because they have to. Consider, too, that most of your users will probably feel terrible when they encounter your product - thanks to low blood sugar, or Parkinson’s Disease, or countless other conditions. These are bitter pills to swallow in a profession that prides itself on creating desirability and delight.
But this is precisely what makes design so critical for healthcare. Our users are some of the most vulnerable populations on the planet. It’s our job not only to meet them where they are, but to give them dignity and respect. They are no less deserving of good design than anyone else.
In reality, users are not guaranteed to use a product just because they have to. It is actually far more likely that they will if they want to. There is a strong argument to be made for the role of design in driving patient compliance, which can in turn improve outcomes - something all stakeholders are concerned with.
So there’s the real challenge: how can we create products that people use not only because they have to, but because they want to?
As designers, we have a few tools at our disposal:
Empathizing with users: We take every opportunity to join our research team out in the field to observe first-hand our users and environments of use. This direct connection gives us true empathy for our users and a deep understanding of their needs, enabling us to develop solutions that best meet those needs. It’s only appropriate that we’d create this connection from the start – after all, we have a unique line of sight to the user since we create the actual interfaces they will interact with!
Translating intangibles: We have the ability to visualize things that don’t exist yet. In doing so, we turn vague descriptors like “reassuring” or “serious” into tangible surfaces or services. Designers know how to manipulate aesthetic elements like line, shape, color, and texture to accomplish exactly this.
Pushing boundaries: We seek to not only understand current conditions but also future possibilities. Combining awareness of advances in other industries and larger cultural trends with imagination and creative thinking helps us deliver genuinely innovative solutions that truly move the needle. You know the story: if Henry Ford had asked what consumers wanted, the Model T would never have been built!
While “safe and effective” is the mantra of the FDA, we need to go that extra mile - and it’s design that is uniquely qualified to do so. Design is what makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Design is what says, I care.
What do you think?
Note: these views are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Nemera or the Insight Innovation Center.