Usability Engineer and Designer
Projects
Following, there is an overview of the projects I have participated in the past.
Please note that I cannot provide full details from the projects that still have an active NDA.
UX designer for a novel patient management SaMD
2023/02 - today
Project description: The software as medical device (SaMD) is a novel patient management platform for ventilated patients
Tasks: Usability engineer - understanding user needs, deriving use requirements and designing the user interface in an agile project approach
Methods and technologies: Scrum, stakeholder management, Figma, Miro, Confluence, Polarion, Azure DevOps, risk assessment, requirement engineering, workshops, iterative designing and testing in sprints
Result: Goal: MVP of the platform for testing in partner hospitals
Usability Engineering for a Big-Pharma company
2022/07 – today
Project description: The software as medical device (SaMD) is a new digital diagnostics solution for blood gas analysis integrated into a point of care (POC) blood gas testing system
Tasks: Usability engineer - documentation of human factor engineering (HFE) activities according to IEC 62366, use-related risk analysis (URRA), preparation and coordination with supplier for formative (pre-summative) and summative usability testing, coordination with the teams for product development, training and user docmentation
Methods and technologies: Documentation accoring to IEC 62366-1, URRA, workshops, recruitment coordination, on-site usability testing
Result: Goal: successful CE marking
Usability Engineering for a start-up company
2022/05 – 2022/12
Project description: The medical device is designed for multi-target precision medicine blood purification treatment to restore immune balance in septic shock and improve patient outcomes
Tasks: Usability engineer - documentation of human factor engineering (HFE) activities according to IEC 62366, preparation and execution of a formative (pre-summative) usability study
Methods and technologies: Documentation accoring to IEC 62366-1, on-site usability testing
Result: Updated HFE documents, sucessfully executed formative (pre-summative) usability study, updated test protocol for summative study
Discovery phase for the user experience of a novel inhalation support device
2022/07 – 2022/11
Project description: The medical device uses a patented flow sensor to accurately monitor every single inhalation operation. The device assesses every inhalation maneuver and tracks changes of the respiratory behavior of the patient.
Tasks: UX engineer – support PO to create the product vision, assess current inhaltion journey and design future user journey with the device, design first look-and-feel prototypes, prepare and conduct stakeholder interviews (disease managers, patient representatives), stakeholder workshops, alignment with development team
Methods and technologies: Literature research, user journey, task analysis, ideation workshop, paper prototyping, 3D printing, interviews
Result: Vision concretisation, insights into stakeholder point of view, product user journey
Discovery phase for the user experience of a novel ophtalomological SaMD for a Big Pharma company
2022/02 – 2022/06
Project description: The software as medical device (SaMD) supports ophtalmologists to assess the disease status of nAMD patients by providing a dashboard that presents state of the art information together with a novel disease activity metric based on machine learning and object recognition.
Tasks: Responsible UX engineer – stakeholder workshops, contextual enquiries, recruitment coordination, moderation and coordination of expert interviews, support UX designer to create mid-fidelity mockups, formative user tests, documentation of user needs and style guidelines, presentation to stakeholders, alignment with development team
Methods and technologies: Literature research, user research, storyboard, user journey, user stories, low and mid fidelity mockups, Figma, remote interviews, contextual enquiry, remote usability testing, moderation, subject recruitment
Result: Product vision visualisation, mid-fidelity user interface mockup, positive feedback in user tests, aligned backend architecture
UX designer in a COVID-19 testing hackathon
2021/02 – 2021/02
Project description: The task was to develop two working prototypes from the ground up within two days. These prototypes should distribute and collect kits of COVID-19 tests at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH Zürich). Due to the risk of infection, only a minimal amount of touch interaction should be necessary.
Tasks: Create user experience for both systems, provide UX input for development team
Methods and technologies: User journey, wireframes, lo-fi mockups, raspberry-pi, python, Figma, remote project management
Result: Two prototypes for dispensing and collecting saliva samples for COVID-19 testing within 33 hours (for details, see at the bottom of the page)
Program co-lead, helpfulETH
2020/03 – 2020/06
Project description: helpfulETH is an emergency research-initiative, which aims to provide short-term engineering solutions for needs in the healthcare sector caused through the current COVID-19 epidemic situation. helpfulETH sets up project teams of volunteers that aim to solve needs within days or weeks, as interim relief.
Tasks: Program co-lead and member of the steering board - overall coordination with volunteers, internal and external partners and core teams, strategic planning, removing barriers and finding blind spots
Methods and technologies: building a organisation from the ground up, emergency situation, stakeholder management, alignment with Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force, all members worked remotely from home
Result: Peace of mind for healthcare professionals, coordinated 150 active volunteers in 13 projects (for details, see at the bottom of the page)
User study of a electrosurgical system using mobile eye tracking
2018/10 – 2019/01
Project description: In this study, surgery nurses were asks to set-up a electrosurgical system they were unfamiliar with while being observed with mobile eye tracking glasses.
Tasks: Project responsibility, recruitment, data analysis, observation of a similar system in use, communication of results with product manufacturer
Methods and technologies: User testing, contextual enquiry, SMI Mobile Eye tracking Glasses 2 Wireless, SMI BeGaze
Result: Qualitative and quantitative understanding of visual focus while setting up the device
Usability Engineering of a class IIa medical device for home dialysis
2016/10 – 2018/09
Project description: The medical device helps to connect tubes in home dialysis and to further manipulate them in therapy handling without touching them. This promises to reduce the risk of infection and require significantly less coordination compared to conventional handling. Direct users are adult patients and healthcare professionals of all ages.
Tasks: Responsible usability engineer - documentation according to IEC 62366, risk assessment with user focus, specification definition, instruction for use design, design, execution and evaluation of several formative and the summative study
Methods and technologies: Remotely observed usability testing with agile setup, 3D printing in plastic, UX writing, moderation, subject recruitment, aligned elements
Result: Successful CE marking
User study comparing two user interface variants by means of mobile eye tracking
2017/10 – 2018/04
Project description: In this study, two variants of the user interface of a home dialysis medical device were compared by having both young and old subjects use it under the observation of mobile eye tracking. Data analysis focused on quantitative differences in visual perception of individual features of the user interface designs.
Tasks: Project responsibility, recruitment, data analysis, communication of results with product manufacturer and writing of publication
Methods and technologies: SMI Mobile Eye tracking Glasses 2 Wireless, SMI BeGaze, SPSS, Matlab
Result: Publication in an international journal
Ergonomics optimization of a high pruner for a manufacturer of motor-driven equipment for forestry, gardening, landscaping and construction.
2013/10 – 2014/03
Project description: High pruners are special tools for pruning plantation trees from the ground. They are hand-held and have a heavy weight, which can make working for long periods of time ergonomically stressful. Users of these tools usually use homemade aids to shift the load from their arms to their shoulders and back.
Tasks: Understand the context of use, then develop and implement both low-cost and high-value solutions as physical prototypes to improve the ergonomics of using this tool. This should finally be tested in real use.
Methods and technologies: PTC Creo, 3D printing in plastic, observational study, usability test
Result: Patent application and worldwide sales of an inexpensive tool for the ergonomic and tool-free attachment of a carrying strap to a high pruner [link to product]