Hello!

I'm excited to share this experience! While I can't go into the details of my work due to privacy reasons, it wouldn't be accurate to call this a case study.
Instead, here's MY STORY of what I did at the remarkable medical device startup, True Digital Surgery.

UX/UI Design | 3.5 years

As the sole UX/UI designer in my organization, I led design efforts on multiple internal medical device products over three years. In a nutshell, it was a journey of understanding the products and the audience, bringing teams together, making informed design choices, and delivering designs that balanced organizational objectives with user needs.

AESCULAP AEOS

One of the flagship products I worked on is Aesculap Aeos, a 3D Digital Surgical Microscope intended for Neuro and Reconstructive surgeries, currently available in the market.

This device comprises three distinct user interfaces:

Graphical User Interface (GUI): A surgeon display for the surgeon user group and a control display for the operating room (OR) staff user group.
Handles: Physical handles for the surgeons to control various functionalities.
Footswitch: A foot-operated interface that allows for hands-free control.

As a designer, my role involved designing how users interact with all three interfaces. I optimized the workflows and created visually appealing graphics for the software. Through multiple software releases, I delivered user-friendly designs based on research with surgeons and operating room staff. My designs aimed to make the surgical experience efficient and easy to use for both surgeons and staff.

MY DESIGN PROCESS

Designing for medical device UIs requires a strong emphasis on safety and risk mitigation. To address these crucial factors, I became well-versed with protocols like IEC-62366 (Usability Engineering for Medical Devices) and the FDA's Human Factors and Usability Engineering guidance.

I followed a hybrid process that combined the Usability Engineering process outlined in IEC-62366 and the Design Thinking process.

The design process can be visually represented as follows:

Anurag Design Process

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MY TEAM

As a designer, effective collaboration with various teams was vital to the success of the design process. Although I was the sole designer at our organization, I actively worked with:

The Product Team who provided me with access to individuals who fit our product's target audience, enabling me to conduct user research effectively. Additionally, they acted as a primary source of insights and guidance, helping me make informed decisions when I encountered challenges or roadblocks.
The Biomedical and Regulatory Teams ensured the safety and usability of my designs and workflows early in the design process. They helped align my work with regulatory guidelines.
I collaborated closely with the Software Developers to determine the feasibility of implementing my designs. They provided valuable input and, at times, offered design ideas themselves. This collaborative approach helped bridge the gap between design and development, ensuring successful implementation.

COOL STUFF I'VE DONE

Setup a UX design process

Initially, UI development was solely handled by software engineers, with no established design process within the organization. Consequently, visual design principles and user experience took a backseat, resulting in a software product that lacked cohesive aesthetics and usability.

As the first designer integrated into the software team, it became crucial for me to emphasize the significance of incorporating a design process that seamlessly complemented our traditional Agile software development methodology. I introduced the practice of having dedicated design sprints to focus on research, ideation, and prototyping. This approach helped elevating the quality of design outputs and ensure a well-rounded, user-centric product.

Established VoCs for GUI Evaluation

Initially, GUI design was a naive concept within the organization, with primary focus on human factors and ergonomics. User feedback was predominantly gathered on safety and usability aspects, neglecting the appearance and experience of the software.

Through competitor analysis and persistent advocacy of the Aesthetic-Usability effect among product and marketing teams, I established an ideology that software's look and feel is equally crucial as the system's safety aspects.

Today, user feedback is an integral step in the GUI design process, ensuring a comprehensive approach to designing effective and visually appealing graphical user interfaces.

UI Framework Enhancement

The software team utilized a basic in-house C++ based UI framework, which required extensive coding efforts for even minor features and styling elements.

Through collaboration with the software architect, I extended the design of this framework, significantly improving coding efficiency by 75%. This enhancement provided a better developer experience (DX), streamlining the process of creating and styling UI elements.

Served as an acting Biomedical Engineer

For one of our projects, I stepped up and took the lead on usability engineering efforts. This involved conducting a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to identify potential usability-related risks and applying mitigation strategies, adding inputs to the Usability Engineering file having periodic formative usability evaluations.

The big deal was creating comprehensive documentation for this process, that aided in a successful FDA submission.

THINGS I PICKED UP

Personal Growth as a UI Developer

As part of the software team, I gained hands-on experience in front-end development using an in-house C++ based UI framework. Through dedicated training, I learned UI development in a new language, expanding my skillset.

This expertise enabled me to bridge the feasibility gap between design and development, fostering a deeper understanding of implementation processes for efficient design creation.

Regulatory Expertise as a UX Designer

Diving into regulatory standards like IEC 62366 and the FDA's Human Factors Guidance exposed me to a completely new world of design processes. I understood the critical importance of incorporating safety and usability factors when designing software graphical user interfaces (GUIs). This knowledge helped shape my thought process, enabling me to create regulatory-friendly designs.

THE SCOOP

Expert User (OR Staff)

(During an evaluation visit)

One of the areas where I’ve noticed a lot of confusion with the workflow is...

Oh, wait! You guys changed it.

This is so much better!

Hey Anurag! A nurse visited us today and had the opportunity to interact with our software.

She mentioned that it looks fantastic!

Director of Product Team

Fellow Developer

Hey Pal! The new design system is awesome.

Saves me a ton of time!

AND THAT'S A WRAP

I hope you enjoyed learning about my story and journey at True Digital Surgery. If you're intrigued and would like to know more, please feel free to reach out to me.

Thank you!