Designing a device for measuring and monitoring nitric oxide in the bronchi
I worked on this project when I was working for the product consultancy Kinneir Dufort. The goal for the client, Bosch, was to help doctors test patients when diagnosing asthma.
Background and process
The discovery phase for this project involved an exploration of which technology and what type of device to use. We ran focus groups with asthma patients and doctors.
As part of the UX team, I worked collaboratively with product designers and members of the human factors team.
The solution we designed and tested was a digital device that the user could hold in their hands, inhale and blow into, to interact with the app on the doctor’s computer or tablet.
The target users were asthma patients and doctors. When designing for children in a medical environment, I considered how I could make the experience more fun and less frightening.
For that, I designed and tested a game where a shark would eat fish when a kid blew into the inhaler. If they blew with too much intensity, the shark would be caught by a net from the top. If they blew too softly, the shark would be eaten by an orca. When we tested it with children, they loved it and wanted to stay and keep playing when the test finished. This practice helped find the correct way to blow into the device for a correct test result. As part of this project, I designed the desktop app, the game, and the interaction with lights on the small digital inhaler.
