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Due to strict confidentiality agreements, I can’t showcase the user interfaces for these projects. Instead, this case study pulls back the curtain on my practical process and a breakdown of what I did.
Medical instruments don't get redesigned from scratch very often. When they do, it's usually because the world changed faster than the hardware could keep up.During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals needed to run far more diagnostic tests than the original QIAstat-Dx instrument could handle. QIAGEN's response was QIAstat-Dx Rise — a higher-throughput version capable of processing up to 160 samples per day. A bigger instrument meant a bigger screen, a more complex workflow, and a fully redesigned touchscreen interface.
Operators work with the instrument wearing protective gloves at all times, which reduces tap precision and rules out anything that depends on fine motor control.
The new RISE instrument has a significantly higher screen position than the original — operators interact standing, without arm support.
Operators work with the instrument wearing protective gloves at all times, which reduces tap precision and rules out anything that depends on fine motor control.
Operators work with the instrument wearing protective gloves at all times, which reduces tap precision and rules out anything that depends on fine motor control.
The new RISE instrument has a significantly higher screen position than the original — operators interact standing, without arm support.
Operators work with the instrument wearing protective gloves at all times, which reduces tap precision and rules out anything that depends on fine motor control.
To design a better instrument interface, we first needed to understand how operators actually worked with the current instrument — day to day, in the lab, under real conditions. We started by testing the original instrument ourselves, working through real use cases, before moving into formal interviews with laboratory operators.
Understand what worked and what didn't in the current QIAstat-Dx interface — from the perspective of people using it every day
Learn how the lab environment and operator workflow actually looked — the physical conditions, the routines, the interruptions
Medical instruments don't get redesigned from scratch very often. When they do, it's usually because the world changed faster than the hardware could keep up.During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals needed to run far more diagnostic tests than the original QIAstat-Dx instrument could handle. QIAGEN's response was QIAstat-Dx Rise — a higher-throughput version capable of processing up to 160 samples per day. A bigger instrument meant a bigger screen, a more complex workflow, and a fully redesigned touchscreen interface.
The research findings — combined with the known constraints and requirements — translated into a clear set of design principles for the new interface.
Medical instruments don't get redesigned from scratch very often. When they do, it's usually because the world changed faster than the hardware could keep up.During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals needed to run far more diagnostic tests than the original QIAstat-Dx instrument could handle. QIAGEN's response was QIAstat-Dx Rise — a higher-throughput version capable of processing up to 160 samples per day. A bigger instrument meant a bigger screen, a more complex workflow, and a fully redesigned touchscreen interface.
Medical instruments don't get redesigned from scratch very often. When they do, it's usually because the world changed faster than the hardware could keep up.During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals needed to run far more diagnostic tests than the original QIAstat-Dx instrument could handle. QIAGEN's response was QIAstat-Dx Rise — a higher-throughput version capable of processing up to 160 samples per day. A bigger instrument meant a bigger screen, a more complex workflow, and a fully redesigned touchscreen interface.