Carbon and our clients have been recognized with three 2011Good Design Awards.

The 2011 Good Design Awards were recently announced by the Chicago Athenaeum’s Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. The competition’s expert jury selected winners based upon high design and innovation.

“We’re delighted that our collaborations have been recognized in this way,” says Carbon Design Group president Dan Blase. “Product development is very much a team sport, and it’s always gratifying to see the synergy between Carbon and our clients create great results.”

Microsoft Express Mouse

As part of Carbon’s long history with the Redmond giant, two Microsoft/Carbon collaborations were recognized in the Electronics category. The first, the Microsoft Express Mouse, was developed working closely with the Microsoft Hardware User Experience Team. The playful, affordable Express Mouse challenges the perception that wired mice are inherently uncool. In truth, wired mice are cool. They don’t run out of batteries, they never lose connection, they’re more environmentally friendly, and they cost less than their wireless cousins. The colored cable is treated as an integral part of the product, rather than as an afterthought. It wraps around the product, forming a visual and tactile bumper. The simple, clean silhouette allows the cable to remain highlighted and makes wired cool again.

The cord exits from the front left corner, adding character and relieving cable stress for right-handed users. 

Microsoft Touch Mouse

The second Microsoft/Carbon collaboration to garner a 2011 Good Design Award was the Microsoft Touch Mouse—the first multi-touch mouse from Microsoft. The Microsoft Hardware User Experience Team worked with Carbon to explore what it meant to give form to a multi-touch mouse experience. The final result clearly communicates that it’s a mouse and that it’s an entirely new kind of mouse. To facilitate multi-touch commands, which involve a wide array of finger combinations and strokes, the multi-touch surface extends seamlessly across the top and down the sides of the mouse. A subtle indication tells users where the left and right-click zones are. The touch surface itself is indicated by a finely textured pattern that references the underlying capacitive touch array. By merging a multi-touch surface with the form factor of a traditional mouse, the Touch Mouse was designed to introduce multi-touch computing to a new audience.  

ABOVE: The Artist Edition of the Microsoft Touch Mouse.

PleuraFlow Active Tube Clearance System

Recognized in the Medical category, the PleuraFlow® Active Tube Clearance® System is the first chest tube with a mechanism for actively clearing blood clots. After heart or lung surgery, chest tubes are installed to drain fluids and air. Unfortunately, these tubes routinely clog with blood clots and debris, putting the patient at risk for potentially fatal complications. With PleuraFlow, a guide sleeve outside the tube is connected via magnetic coupling to the internal guide wire. This allows the nurse to manipulate the wire by shuttling the guide sleeve back and forth along the tube. This configuration enables nurses to prevent blockages by quickly clearing debris build-up—even the unseen build-up inside the chest cavity—without breaking the sterile field. Designed and developed for Clear Catheter Systems and manufactured by Xeridiem, PleuraFlow aims to deliver better patient outcomes while reducing pain in the post operative recovery after heart surgery.

All awarded products and graphics are published in the 2011-2012 Good Design Yearbook and available online.

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PleuraFlow has also been recognized with a Spark and MDEA award.

The medical device market has changed drastically. The speed of this evolution will only accelerate in the years to come. Medical device executives who recognize these changes, and learn from consumer products companies will drive success for their businesses.

Two forces are driving medical devices to become more like consumer products:  patient use and physician expectations. Companies who deliver great user experiences to both these groups will capture market share as they capture their customers’ hearts.

This is article, by Carbon’s Paul Leonard, first appeared on Medical Device Summit’s MEDdesign blog.

Evolution of Medical Device Design

Whether a device is used directly by patients or by medical practitioners, successful product development requires significant focus on creating the right user experience. Far more than the merely human factors, user experience is the fusion of functionality, usability, and desirability. What a product does for the user is its functionality, how a user interacts with it is its usability, and how well the product connects with the user emotionally determines its desirability.

To have any value, a product must perform its function effectively. A product with good usability in addition to functionality improves the user’s experience with clear, understandable ease-of-use. But where products can really set themselves apart is with desirability. Fundamentally, the desired user experience is the harmonization of functionality, usability, and desirability. Great products are those that truly embrace and excel at all three.

A medical device must absolutely perform its base function without fail. So, for good reason, medical device companies have focused on functionality. But efficacy and error reduction aren’t solely dependent upon functionality. Clear, intuitive interaction is vital. This is especially true in the medical world where a device whose operation is complex and confounding not only risks market failure, it risks lives.

This reality has been recognized by FDA regulators, leading to increased regulatory emphasis on human factors design and usability. But that’s where the regulators stop. They don’t care if your product resonates with your customers. They don’t care if your user interface makes users smile. They don’t care if your product looks like an East German tank and tells all the patients’ friends and neighbors how sick they are. The regulators care that it works and that it is safe. This is important, but it’s not the whole story. Since they’re necessary for FDA certification, functionality, and usability are table stakes for market introduction. But in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, they will not ensure success.

This is where lessons from consumer product companies can help medical device manufacturers distinguish their products and their brands. Companies like Apple, Nike, and Sony provide the template for creating great user experiences by delivering desirability to entice buyers to pick their products off of the shelf, and  then follow through their promise through the terrific usability and functionality. Great products don’t just fulfill user expectations, the redefine them.

By delivering on functionality, usability, AND desirability, medical device companies can set their brands apart.

Going Beyond Wants and Needs

Today, more and more medical devices are being used directly by patients themselves. Some of these products are crossovers (like FitBit and Jawbone’s Up Band) that live with one foot in the medical world and one in the consumer world. Many are straight-up medical products (e.g. Holter monitors) that allow patients to monitor key vitals in order to provide critical data for their doctors.

Others, like insulin pumps, allow patients to participate directly in their own care. Whatever the context, we must understand that patients don’t want to lug around a clunky piece of “medical equipment.”

They don’t want any medical device to limit or define them in any way.  It can’t shout “patient,” because that label carries with it the not-so-subtle subtext that one is “less than.” Less than healthy. Less than normal.

Desirability is that critical part of the experience equation that turns a user experience from one that gets the job done yet diminishes the spirit, to one that makes patients truly feel better. Not just physically better, but better emotionally, as well.  

Physician Expectations

In truth, consumer thinking can benefit the makers of nearly every kind of medical device. Whether the end user is a physician, nurse, or patient, their expectations are based on experiences in the consumer world.  A doctor armed with an iPhone and driving a BMW can’t help but feel disappointed by medical products that miss the boat on desirability.

And if you doubt that desirability can be a game changer for products that at first blush are all about functionality, take a look at Nest. This new home thermostat redefines what a thermostat can be. As a smart, wifi-connected device, it programs itself based on user behavior in order to save energy and money. It raises the bar on functionality, changes the paradigm on usability, and brings desirability to an unexpected product space.

It’s exactly this kind of holistic approach to user experience that has made Apple one of the most valuable brands on the planet. They carefully design their packaging, their user interfaces, their online experiences–in short, everything about the customer’s experience with their product, to ensure the customer is having the best experience possible. As a result, users are Apple’s best “advertisers,” telling everyone they know why their Apple product is the best.

Medical device companies that understand these lessons and embrace the entire user experience will become market leaders as they connect with users in powerful ways. This is where the real opportunity lies.

Read more MEDdesign blogs on Medical Device Summit.

This article draws from insights first expressed by Craig Chamberlain on Carbon’s blog.

The Nest thermostat brings desirability into an unexpected category.

On December 6th, IDSA’s Northern Ohio Chapter presented a panel discussion on User-Centered Research. Sponsored by IDSA, Moen, Diebold, Balance Product Development, Lextant, Omnitek, and The Technology House, the event was held at the Chagrin Falls Little Theatre. The panel featured Judy Riley (VP of Global Design, Moen), Jeff Hyde (Managing Director, Ideas in Focus), Dave Loomis (Director of Consulting Services, NACCO Industries), and Linda Wagner (Director of Research, Carbon Design Group). An audience packed with designers, researches, and students was treated to a lively discussion primed with the Henry Ford quote: “If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”

Marty Gage, VP of Research for Lextant moderated the evening and kept discussion focused with a set of targeted questions including: Can consumers lead us to innovative solutions or do they stifle creativity? Can you create a truly successful product experience without involving the end user in the design process? And even simply, “How do you define User-Centered Research?” Approaches, methods, and stories were shared as useful tools to include the user in the development process.  

Left to right: Linda Wagner, Jeff Hyde, Judy Riley, Dave Loomis, and Marty Gage.

Leveraging User Research for Business Success

At Carbon user research is a key tool we use to help ensure our work resonates with users and emotionally connects them to our clients’ brands. “To me, user-centered research simply means involving the end user in the design process,” explains Carbon’s Linda Wagner. “The questions of when, how much, and in what ways we involve them will vary with the context of a given project. Users help us understand what people value, and, as such, help us define opportunity and develop strategy,” says Wagner. This insight can be pivotal at the beginning of a project, but including user input at strategic points in the process can help ensure teams stay focused on delivering great user experiences.

Carbon’s Linda Wagner explains how user research is valuable throughout the development process.

Well, that, or it was a really big fish.

Photos courtesy Jack Gee.

Chen brings more than six years of industrial design experience to our team. Prior to joining Carbon, Chen spent four years as a Senior Designer for Qisda, a large OEM based in Taiwan. There, he and his colleagues in the Creative Design Center earned the company eighteen product design awards, including the prestigious Red Dot: Best of the Best Award for product design in 2011. While his work for Qisda was primarily in the consumer electronics sector, Chen’s work spans many industries, from automotive styling through interactive art.

“Yi-Yaun had opportunities at several firms across the U.S. and Europe. We were flattered to be his top choice,” commented Dan Blase, Carbon Design Group president. “He is an extremely talented industrial designer with a stunning portfolio. His talent for delivering sophisticated, elegant design solutions enhances our ability to create products that resonate.

Yi-Yaun’s experience seeing products from concept to market fits perfectly with our work at Carbon. His cultural perspective only furthers our capability to develop products that create powerful business impact for our clients.”

Chen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Industrial Design from Ming Chi University, and a Master of Arts degree in Industrial Design from the Institute of Applied Art at National Chiao Tung University. He has also studied at the prestigious Pratt Institute.

“I’m happy to join a design team that collaborates so closely with research and engineering,” said Chen. Carbon’s culture was another influencing factor in his decision. “Leaving Taiwan to work abroad has always been my dream, but it is also a big change. I chose Carbon because they make me feel like part of the family.”

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With over 20 years of program management experience, Newton has successfully delivered more than 25 consumer electronics products, resulting in literally millions of devices and touching countless lives. Prior to joining Carbon, Newton worked in a variety of Seattle area companies including T-Mobile, a medical startup, and Microsoft. This broad background meshes perfectly with Carbon’s work which spans consumer, medical, and industrial markets.

In his sixteen year tenure at Microsoft, Newton was the architect for an end-to-end product life cycle process including front-end product definition, development, and go-to-market strategy that is still in use today. He also built outsourcing solutions in Mexico, Japan, China, Europe, and Southeast Asia. In these ways and more, Newton was a significant contributor to building the foundation for Microsoft’s keyboard business.

More recently, Newton was brought on as a consultant for Microsoft’s Xbox Accessories group as Lead Release Manager serving as a liaison between varying business units. In this tenure, he took on the challenge of coordinating several groups in order to guarantee the smooth and timely delivery of test equipment required to support the ultra-high-volume production of Kinect for Xbox 360—one of the top three fastest selling consumer electronics devices of all time.

Newton received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has a drive for bringing out the best in his teams and a passion for technology that improves lives. Beyond his work in product development Newton is known in the Pacific Northwest through his Woodinville-based winery. Established in 1983, the DiStefano Winery was one of the first five wineries in Woodinville. Today, Woodinville is home to nearly 100 tasting rooms, and DiStefano is still producing award-winning wine, with half a dozen wines recognized in the 2011 Seattle Wine Awards. “Producing a great wine is really no different than producing a great product. From the early inspirations to the bottom line of user experience, the process is extraordinarily satisfying,” says Newton. “Being a business owner myself, only deepens my appreciation of how keeping teams focused on the product vision delivers great results for Carbon’s clients.”

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In the past few years, sustainability has grown from being a fringe movement to being widely accepted as a smart business practice. It’s important to understand that sustainability goes beyond merely being “green” or environmentally friendly. The mostly widely accepted definition for sustainable development is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (United Nations Brundtland Report). Our effect on individuals and society is interconnected with our effect on the environment. Because of this, more and more businesses are managing for the triple bottom line—people, planet, profit. Facing significant and unique barriers to adoption, the medical device industry has quite understandably been slow to embrace sustainable practices. Medical design has rightfully put safety, efficacy, and usability first.

This is the first in a series of articles written by Carbon’s Paul Leonard for Medical Device Summit’s MEDdesign blog.

Pressures for Finding More Sustainable Solutions

More and more companies are managing for the triple bottom line, understanding that truly sustainable businesses take into account social, environmental, and economic performance.

While safety, efficacy, and usability will always be at the forefront of medical device design and development, there are more and more pressures for finding solutions that are also more sustainable.

These pressures include:

Regulatory Pressures:  European Union (EU) regulations on waste reduction and use of hazardous materials have already had a big impact on product development in consumer electronics and industrial categories. While medical devices have been exempt from many of these regulations, it’s only a matter of time before regulations like these are more widely adopted and applied to medical markets.

Market Pressure: As they begin to apply triple-bottom-line thinking to their businesses, more and more hospitals are beginning to use “sustainability scorecards.” These scorecards factor into purchasing decisions. A low sustainability score can mean the difference between winning or losing a multi-million dollar sale.

Social Pressures: As sustainable thinking becomes more ubiquitous, social pressures from media, consumers, and practitioners increase the call to reduce waste in general and medical waste in particular.

Corporate Pressures: Realizing that Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable practices are good business, medical device companies are adopting them. These practices will no doubt play into how these companies develop medical devices.

Some may look at all these pressures and see an endless array of constraints, doomed to raise costs and bog down the process. But when you understand that truly sustainable practices can result in lowered costs and streamlined operations, you realize that leading the charge for sustainability in medical devices presents a great business opportunity. Embracing the push toward more sustainable practices now will give you and your company a competitive advantage by providing product differentiation and increasing profits. 

The Big Picture View

Life Cycle Analysis helps us look at the big picture and understand the full impact of the products we create.

One of the most valuable insights from the sustainability arena is zooming out to a broader view as we think more systemically. The medical devices we develop cannot be considered in isolation. As we zoom out one level, Life Cycle Analysis helps us extend the view of our products from sourcing raw materials, through development, use, and finally through end-of-life disposal and recycling. But the real big picture view extends beyond typical life cycle assessments. Products exist in a larger ecosystem where cultural factors come into play.

In fact, societal fears about the spread of diseases like HIV were a key driver of the increased use of the disposables business model in the medical industry.  We quickly shifted away from the old practices of reusable products (often made of glass and metal) that were sterilized between uses. Today, that paradigm has largely been replaced with disposables. From simple syringes to high-tech surgical tools, countless medical businesses have been built around the one-time-use model. Patients are comforted by the thought that these throw-away products protect them from blood-borne pathogens. And while they do offer protection, society is increasingly realizing that a throw-away model is ultimately not optimal. Things that are thrown away cost us money to produce, they cost us in terms of hard dollars for disposal and recycling, and they cost us in environmental damage associated with landfills and incineration. The pendulum has begun to swing away from the peak where high use of disposables made the most sense. Thinking systemically helps us understand this, and helps us develop medical devices more efficiently, effectively, and appropriately.

Obviously, the disposable business model isn’t going away any time soon. But even working with disposables, we can make a real difference by re-examining the medical devices we create through a lens of sustainability. Where can we reduce the number of disposable elements or the amount materials involved in these products? Can we limit the number of different materials to facilitate recycling? How can we reduce waste in the manufacturing process? How can we innovate to create a more sustainable solution? Incremental changes can quickly add up to make a real difference, resulting in more sustainable products, competitive differentiation, and increased profits.

Key Areas for Innovation and Optimization

In futures posts, we’ll explore approaches for meeting the challenges presented by the disposables business model. We’ll also look at two additional areas ripe for innovation and optimization:  materials and packaging. For materials, we’ll discuss bio-sourced plastics and innovative new materials with properties that allow for longer use, sterilization, and material reduction through smaller wall thicknesses. In the packaging world, we’ll look at the special challenges faced in the medical industry where sterility can be a top consideration. We’ll consider packaging from both the “close-up” perspective of optimizing the packaging itself, and a more “wide angle” view of how packaging plays into operations—for example the most minimal packaging solution could require a redesign of stock rooms.

Creating sustainable medical devices is challenging, but there is great opportunity to step back, get a big picture view, and examine our approach. When you understand that sustainable solutions are often found through minimizing waste and optimizing efficiency, you understand that sustainable design presents a great business opportunity. True sustainability isn’t about compromise… it’s about creating innovative solutions that are not only good for the world, they’re good business.

Read more MEDdesign blog posts on Medical Device Summit.

Paul Leonard is Director of Programs for Carbon. With over 22 years in product development, Paul has extensive management and technical experience in the medical device industry. At Carbon, Paul guides medical device projects from opportunity identification through market launch. Paul holds over 20 US patents and has shepherded scores of products to market.

The winners of the 2011 Spark:Pro Awards were selected this week by a jury of experts from design, media, and education. Encompassing a spectrum of categories including architecture, graphic design, branding, and product design, the Spark Awards recognize design’s ability to act as a catalyst, address problems, and improve lives. Carbon collaborations with Microsoft, Milgard, and Clear Catheter received a total of four 2011 Spark:Pro Awards—one Gold and three Bronze. “We’re delighted to have our work recognized in this way,” said Dan Blase, President of Carbon Design Group. “It’s particularly rewarding that the four entries span the broad range of industries our clients represent.”

This year, the Spark Awards have been divided into Spark:Pro and Spark:Concept—two separate competitions.

Microsoft Touch Mouse—Gold

Capturing a Gold 2011 Spark:Pro, the Microsoft Touch Mouse is the first multi-touch mouse from Microsoft. Carbon collaborated with the Microsoft Hardware User Experience Team to explore what it meant to give users a touch experience. The final result clearly communicates that it’s a mouse and that it’s an entirely new kind of mouse. To facilitate multi-touch commands, which involve a wide array of finger combinations and strokes, the multi-touch surface extends seamlessly across the top of the mouse and down the sides. A subtle indication tells users where the left and right-click zones are. The touch surface itself is indicated by a finely textured pattern that references the underlying capacitive touch array. By merging a multi-touch surface with the form factor of a traditional mouse, the Touch Mouse is designed to introduce multi-touch computing to a new audience.

The Touch Mouse is the Microsoft’s first multi-touch mouse.

Microsoft Express Mouse—Bronze

Another result of Carbon’s long collaborative relationship with the Microsoft Hardware User Experience Team, the Microsoft Express Mouse garnered a Bronze award. The playful, affordable Express Mouse challenges the perception that wired mice are inherently uncool. In truth, wired mice are cool. They don’t run out of batteries, they never lose connection, they’re more environmentally friendly, and they cost less than their wireless cousins. The colored cable of the Express Mouse is treated as an integral part of the product, rather than as an afterthought. It wraps around the product, forming a visual and tactile bumper. The cord exits from the front left corner, adding character and relieving cable stress for right-handed users. The simple, clean silhouette allows the cable to remain highlighted and makes wired cool again.

The Express Mouse design treats the wire as an integral part of the product, not a tacked-on afterthought.

Milgard SmartTouch® Patio Door Handle—Bronze

The Milgard SmartTouch® Patio Door Handle earned a Bronze Spark:Pro Award. The simple, intuitive SmartTouch is easily operated with a single hand–all in one easy motion. In contrast, most sliding doors employ a separate button or lever to engage the lock. This makes for an awkward, two-step process. The SmartTouch handle pivots slightly so that locking and unlocking occurs as a natural result of opening or closing the door. Pulling back on the handle naturally pivots the handle away from the face of the door. Conversely, pushing the sliding door closed results in forces that push the handle toward the door. Simply push or pull. The result is an intuitive product that also leverages existing internal mechanics, enabling Milgard to develop a new premium door line for the development and tooling costs of only a handle. The SmartTouch handle is so easy to use it has also received an Ease of Use Commendation from the Arthritis Foundation.

The SmartTouch handle pivots naturally to lock and unlock as the door is opened and closed.

PleuraFlow™ Active Tube Clearance™ System—Bronze

Winning a Bronze award, the PleuraFlow™ Active Tube Clearance™ System is the first chest tube with a mechanism for actively clearing blood clots. After heart or lung surgery, chest tubes are installed to drain fluids and air. Unfortunately, these tubes routinely clog with blood clots and debris putting the patient at risk for potentially fatal complications. With PleuraFlow, a guide sleeve outside the tube is connected via magnetic coupling to the internal guide wire. This allows the nurse to manipulate the wire by shuttling the guide sleeve back and forth along the tube. This configuration enables nurses to prevent blockages by quickly clearing debris build-up—even the unseen build-up inside the chest cavity—without breaking the sterile field. Designed and developed for Clear Catheter Systems and manufactured by Xeridiem, PleuraFlow aims to deliver better patient outcomes while reducing pain in the post operative recovery after heart surgery.

PleuraFlow has also been honored with a Medical Design Excellence Award

Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse—Spark!

In addition to these four wins, Carbon collaborated in the development of the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse, which was recognized with a Spark!, the competition’s top-level award. As part of a relationship that began in 1998 and spans well over 60 projects, Carbon’s mechanical engineers were instrumental in realizing Microsoft Hardware Group’s vision for a mouse that curves for use and snaps flat for portability. The flex and snap of the Arc Touch body creates an addictive fiddle factor and a magical product experience.

Spark winners, media, and design fans will gather October 21^st at the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco for a celebration and exhibition. The Spark winners will also be showcased in Guangzhou Design Week, one of the largest, most influential and comprehensive international design festivals in China. Winning designs will also be featured in Spark’s first annual yearbook being created by world-famous designer Kit Hinricks of Studio Hinrichs.

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The “body” of the Arc Touch Mouse has over 93 moving parts.