in medical products increasingly featuring larger screens, such as hemodynamic monitors in surgical suites, compact displays in wearable devices, and control panels (remote or fixed) to control devices such as in emergency stretchers and remote-controllers for radiology tables. These screens bridge physical components, such as mylars, with digital interfaces, software and apps facilitating sensitive data and complicated tasks.
As healthcare becomes digital, intuitive interface design has never been more critical, and at Creanova, we are aware of the role that User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) play in it. Below we propose ten essential considerations that should guide the development of medical devices interfaces.
Why UX/UI Design for Medical Interface Matters?
In the realm of med-tech, UX (User Experience) and UI(User Interface) are not just about looking good, they are critical for safety, efficiency, and usability. While UX deals with the overall experience and usability of the workflow, UI focuses on the visual appeal characterizing the whole experience. They do not only answer for usability, but emotional well-being, guiding healthcare professionals and patients in navigating the device’s interface in as simple, straightforward, and non-stressful way. This reinforces the user-centric approach Creanova believe in, aimed to create interfaces that consider the needs and comprehension of the healthcare professionals, supporting clinical efficiency and experience alike.
Here are some key points that make UX/UI indispensable for your Medical Device Interface:
- Improving Usability & Avoiding Errors: Bad design in medical devices interfaces can have serious consequences, compromising patient safety. At Creanova, we do our best to design interfaces that are not only regulation-compliant but intuitive and usable in the context of healthcare regulations. Effectively, an intuitive UX concentrate on what matters most: reducing human errors using clear labeling, logical workflows, and intuitive navigation. While a clear UI uses color theory, iconography, and interaction design. The combination of UX and UI makes a good interface, assisting doctors and nurses in operating equipment without problems, reading data properly and making decisions quickly without doubt.
- Stand out from the competition: A well-executed UX/UI can bring a key difference in your device. Intuitive and easy-to-use devices are adopted more rapidly and build trust and loyalty from health professionals. While the harmonious and catching look and feel of the interface make it more acceptable in a crowded market rich in apps and software.
- Meeting User Expectation: Medical experts expect a seamless digital experience as a norm in their lives. In Creanova we are aware of it when designing medical devices interfaces. In fact, a good UX/UI is what fills that gap and makes sure that interfaces feel familiar rather than unfamiliar and that functions can be easier rather than complicated.
- Re-design Complex Workflows with Empathy: The speed and density of information in healthcare devices calls for the help of UX designers. UX will help in cognitively taxing the specialist less, and displaying important data (like, for example, vital signs and alarms) in an ordered manner, without overwhelming the specialist. A design that complements real sessions with users during the UX design, free healthcare workers from their struggles with the interface.
- Ensuring Scalability for the Future: With the innovations in medical technology, the UX/UI design has to be flexible. Such scalable, flexible interfaces enabled medical interface to evolve and connect to new functionalities or platforms, ensuring that healthcare technology is future-proofed against new demands and innovations. Moreover, emerging technologies like virtual reality, interactive chatbots, and voice interfaces are paving the way for the future of healthcare, creating room for further developing the User Experience, ensuring greater usability and patient care.
Our method is based on user-centered design, and when exploring new UX-UI design solutions, we fully put ourselves in the user’s shoes from the very beginning. For example, to design an interface for a hemodynamic monitor it is essential to become aware of the significance of certain vital parameters and specific features of the digital product.
Here’s how we approach UX/UI design for medical devices:
- User Research and data collection: We start our design process together with users to understand the specific needs and workflows of healthcare providers. Working closely with medical experts allows us to extract knowledge to inform the entire design process, making sure that the interface satisfies real-world needs.
- Information Architecture: We organize the interface in a logical hierarchy, ensuring the complex content is well-organized with intuitive labels, headings, and groupings, allowing the user to understand information fast and flow through workflows easily.
- Prioritization and Simplification during Wireframing: While rushing to focus on the important tasks, we also try to minimize everything the healthcare professionals have to go through to complete tasks in the Wireframing stage. Wireframing focuses on removing the complexity and UX designers take care of the structure and layout of basic elements: less layers, less steps and extraction. Stay tuned to know more about Wireframing.
- Digital Prototyping and Testing: The UX/UI design is an iterative process. We develop interfaces carefully, testing the workflow through digital prototypes in real clinical settings and collecting feedback from real users. This in turn allows us to improve the interface and match it with the needs and expectations of users. At Creanova we develop solutions based on a deep collaboration with medical device manufacturers at every stage: ensuring usability, safety, and performance are built in.
- Visual Communication and High-fidelity Mockup: Consistency is key in all visual communication and focus of the User Interface designer. We employ well-designed icons with descriptive text, color coding and visual clues to convey key information, empowering users with the most important details always easy to find. This stage is the Mockups: the application of the graphics style to the Wireframing. Follow us to know more about Mockups.
Conclusion
Through effective UX/UI design, medical devices’ interface can have improved usability and reduced errors to create a better workflow in healthcare settings. Only a user-centered approach can guarantee that the interfaces do not disrupt clinical workflow and alleviate the cognitive burden on health care providers. With a focus on a clear and intuitive navigation, and streamlining how people interact with technology, UX/UI designers make medical-tech safer and more effective. Creanova focuses on iterative prototyping, usability testing and working closely with healthcare professionals to create interfaces that are not only intuitive but regulation-compliant. By focusing on these elements, the adoption of digital medical devices can enrich user experience, improve the decision-making process of the specific users involved, and deliver better outcomes for patients at large.
Written By
Giulia Cicciarella
Industrial Designer
