DESIGNING *for humans

Designing Medical Devices for Healthcare Provider Safety

2012-04-30T10:51:35-04:00

In March I presented a poster as part of the inaugural Symposium on Human Factors & Ergonomics in Health Care: Briding the Gap. The conference covered three tracks: Medical Devices, Healthcare Provider Safety, and Healthcare Information Technology. I focused on a cross-over area - designing medical devices with the safety of healthcare providers in mind. While we are always concerned with protecting patients from harm; it is actually healthcare providers who have a higher frequency of interaction with medical devices.

The poster presented a three-tiered methodology that I have developed to designing safe devices, and drew from a presentation I gave last year on safe products & evidence-based design. The methodology addresses three specific areas of human-device research and design:

Intrinsic Safety - Focused on the immediate/initial use of the device
Ergonomic Safety - Focused on repetitive and long-term use
Usable Safety - Focused on minimizing opportunities for incorrect use

These principles are discussed int he context of two medical sharps devices designed by Bresslergroup.

You can view the poster as a PDF. Poster design by Keith Fraser.

Measuring Your User Experience Design (video)

2012-03-29T11:08:52-04:00

Last month I collaborated with Charles Mauro on a presentation of leading user experience research methods as part of the New York Technology Council's series on User Experience Design.

We presented an overview of research methods in terms of - the business problems they address, the data generated, relative costs, statistical validity, etc. I discussed qualitative methods focused on product design including ethnographic research, remote ethnography and observational ergonomics; Mauro covered quantitative web research methods including large-sample online behavior testing and eye tracking. We provided professional tips on how to be more efficient and what to look out for in terms of efficiency and data quality.

After the intro, my section starts around 11:30 and Mauro resumes with his review of methods aorund 42:00.

You can also access a subset of my slides via SlideShare.

Universal Methods of Design

2012-02-15T11:02:03-05:00

It's not secret that I'm a huge fan of William Lidwell's Universal Principles of Design (which I reviewed in 2006) and the subsequent Deconstructing Product Design (which I contributed to and reviewed in 2009). So I was eager to contribute to Bella Martin's and Bruce Hannington's research focused book, also published by Rockport.

The full title of the just-published book is Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions, but we can just call it UMD for short.

As with Lidwell's books, UMD is a highly-organized and visual. The book covers a variety of methods including card sorting, eye tracking, design ehtnography and Kano analysis. Less of a text book than a guide, it would be useful as an introduction for those learning about reaserch methods for the first time, and for professionals as a tool with useful examples and references.

I contributed to the Ergonomic Analysis section, much of which draws on methodologies I have presented on this blog. The section also shows images from the crimping tool analysis that we conducted at Bresslergroup.

Universal Methods of Design is available from Amazon.com

Designing Safe Products - Learning from Healthcare & Evidence-Based Design

2012-02-10T09:41:27-05:00

In October 2011 I participated in a workshop and speaker panel coordinated by the Center for Health Design. The Design for Patient Safety Seminar included experts from healthcare, architecture and humman factors; and I served as the sole representative from product design.

The speaker videos from the event are available online and include my presentation on the similarities and differences in how safety is considered in the design of products versus healthcare environments. It may surprise you to learn which area is more safety-focused.

My presentation starts around the 15:00 minute mark in the presentation.

Design Bureau - A Worthy Successor to I.D. Magazine

2012-01-25T11:28:17-05:00

Hard to believe that it’s been two years since the announcement ending I.D.Magazine’s 50+ year run, a milestone that was mourned in multiple ways - present company included.

As a design magazine aficionado, I had been seeking the “next great design magazine” – which means not only engaging content, but an appealing artifact – the magazine as a design object itself. I have found both in Design Bureau.

Ostensibly, Design Bureau is reminiscent of some of the general characteristics of I.D. – heavy paper stock, bi-monthly publication and mid-western roots (Chicago for DB/Cincinnati for ID). Even at a youthful 9-issues old, Design Bureau has exhibited a diverse and interesting content range. With focus areas that include product design and architecture, it resides somewhere between the industrial design emphasis of the classic I.D.magazine, and the interior design/architecture slant of the current Metropolis magazine.

But as with the various design fields it reports on, it’s hard to narrowly define its scope: A recent 194-page issue included pieces on custom motorcycles, scarves, high-end fast food restaurant design and Mies van der Rohe and Marc Jacobs, to name a few.

In an analysis of What Killed I.D. Magazine, FastCo Design describes the longtime controversy over whether I.D. was a magazine for consumers or professionals. Design Bureau arguably defines its audience as professional designers who are also consumers. Consequently, there are professional-targeted articles about designers, design practices and processes, but also coverage of studio spaces and products that will appeal to designers. This balance is also realized in who is written about as much as what - the same edition that begins with Karim Rashid as its cover boy - “The designer we know and love, or love to hate?” - ends with a page touting the skills and interests of a non-famous designer for hire, a recurring final page in all of the issues.

It was a gutsy move to come out with a new, relatively expensive design magazine during these trying times for print periodicals. On the digital side, Design Bureau has a respectable online presence including access to previous issues and a well-organized, visual blog, but it’s the physical magazine that merits attention.