PHOTOCOAGULATOR GUI
Laser eye treatment refined.
Brainstorming & Ideation | User Interviews & Research | Workflows | Sketches | Wireframe Iterations | Prototype & User testing
PROJECT
From seed stage to production, 219 Design's team of three (product manager, SW engineer, and UX/UI designer) built a GUI to introduce a new way to interact with an archaic optic medical device.
Challenges our team faced during the design process include selecting an appropriate GUI color scheme for the device, building features for technical practices that have been newly introduced to the optometry community, and testing voice-activated user interfaces.
PROCESS
The internal design team would meet once a week on a regular basis to sync on software and GUI developments over a course of a year and a half. Majority of user research was done by the client team, while 219 Design concentrated on product development and design. We iterated and tested prototypes with a diverse set of users before launching the product to market.
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
Market research and competitive analysis of similar systems guided initial design brainstorms, collecting information about what users were used to, what we could improve upon, and what features were used during treatment. Comparing system side by side, we were able to define important primary functions and distinguish them from secondary or nice-to-have's that were cluttering up the user interface.
These insights shaped profile backgrounds for personas, workflows, and user journeys during later steps of our process.
USER INTERVIEWS & OBSERVATION
We visited users and observed their current habits on competitor systems to identify pain points and user needs that could not have been identified remotely. We had a broader perspective of how environmental factors change the way users interact with a system.
Creating a repository for our interview data increased efficiency during our brainstorming process. Gathering all of our information and placing it into a easily accessible area streamlined our team meetings. Our clients were able to focus on important new insights and felt more inclined to participate and contribute to design reviews.
WORKFLOWS
For many system features, we had to understand the clinical workflow and surgical tasks that would define how the user interacted with our product. Building workflows and mapping their journeys framed our goals for each task, and would guide our discussions as well as design decisions.
There were three main personas that we would continue to refer to apply scenarios. Our goal was to address both the familiar veteran user, as well as the likelihood a new user would become a returning user.
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SKETCH, ITERATE, WIREFRAME, ITERATE
Multiple rounds of iterations uncovered a product transition issue, no matter how flashy or new our GUI screen was, our users would not adopt a new system that took too long to learn. Screen interactions that strayed too far from the original physical controls were heavily pushed back on, and would render our prototype or product useless.
Whether it was primary laser controls, voice controls, or setting up treatment presets, the design process required a series of brainstorming and scrapping ideas.
PROTOTYPE TESTING
Media 1. Screen capture of a working prototype. This prototype was tested with users and refined over the course of the project.
From paper prototypes to simulations in software, we were able to put our UI screen ideas in front of users early and throughout the process. We received feedback that shaped our information architecture, fluidity of interactive elements, and overall GUI color theme.
Voice command allows our users to be hand-free and eyes focused on treating correct anatomy. Voice-controlled UI elements brought a new challenge to our design process. Testing a diverse group of users with a functional prototype helped bridge a new model of user interactions with a medical device. Not only
RESULTS
Our client has successfully launched their product to clinical researchers and surgeons who use our system in their clinics to optimize laser eye-surgery treatment. The touch screen GUI already gives our product the extra edge, dating many of competitors on the market, but we will continue to test and adjust our system based on user needs.