Medical Design Briefs - April 2021 - 14

Medical Device Design
User evaluation studies, conducted by
UE, typically identify tasks that have
usability issues, and many of those are
characterized as not " intuitive, " requiring the design to be more resilient and
" user friendly. " Those user evaluations
are purposely designed so that the participant is not coached on how the
device operates in order to expose
usability issues and, by default, demonstrate intuitiveness. When the UE analyst
reports on the usability issues, there is
language used to describe the deficiencies and/or infelicities. These can be
starting places for the perceived attributes that inform the product semantics.
A meaningful aesthetic that communicates function is most critical for a medical device during initial appraisal, and
beyond - to aesthetic judgment. That is,
from the visceral impression to the entirety of the user experience. It requires the
design team to understand the context of
use, including the use-related risks, in
order to prioritize how user-needs translate into aesthetics and affordances.
This circles back to the harmonization
between use-safety, ease-of-use, and
delight. Oftentimes the driving require-

ments conflict; therefore, it is essential to
have a thorough understanding of the
contextual origination of the needs that
informed the process. Also, insights
based on observation of users and their
context of use should identify potential
positive and negative transfer bias that
the designers have to consider when characterizing the attributes of the design language. " An object's form first says something about the object itself, then secondarily something about the larger context of its use; both to the user who interacts with it and to the designer that
develops those conceptual connections, "
(Krippendorff, K., & Butter, R. (1984).
Conclusion
The relationship between medical
device development and the process of
documenting, then translating requirements can have a profound and purposeful influence on the design process
that results in the final aesthetic.
Furthermore, the methodical development of the appropriate aesthetic can be
much more than consequential cosmetics, it can improve ease-of-use, use-safety,
and delight - by design.

Through methodologies that utilize
developing the appropriate aesthetic
through the process of exploring the
intended perceived attribute, user interface
affordances, and product semantics, designers can demystify complex technology,
improve intuitive user interaction and
harmonize use-safety and ease-of-use. In
summary, the process is as follows:
* Understand the user needs, usability
issues and current biases.
* Establish what the perception attributes
are from the user's perspective.
* Collaborate on the development of
requirement inputs with a vernacular
based upon the perception attributes.
* Translate perception attributes and subsequent requirements into user interface
affordances.
* Develop a product semantic schema
that provides an aesthetic that accommodates the affordances.
* Interpret the semantic schema into
design proposals.
* Evaluate the design proposals with users.
This article was written by Sean Hägen,
Founding Principal, BlackHägen Design. For
more information, visit http://info.hotims.com/
79412-343.

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Medical Design Briefs, April 2021

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Medical Design Briefs - April 2021

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