USER RESEARCH / ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING / MECHANICAL ENGINEERING / INDUSTRIAL DESIGN / DIGITAL DESIGN

Spectral MD develops medical device technologies using predictive analytics and AI algorithms to help clinicians make more accurate and faster treatment decisions.

Spectral MD's DeepView® Technology provides clinicians a way to get a clear picture of a wound before treatment or other interventions. This medical countermeasure (MCM) is a non-invasive portable imaging platform that allows instant wound assessment by providing clinicians with physiological information invisible to the human eye.

Spectral MD's DeepView® design needed to address the concerns clinicians associated with high-tech medical devices that are adaptable, portable, and non-invasive. The device needed to be simple while still retaining all the functionality of Spectral's advanced technology vision. Since the DeepView's ® functions centered around the imaging arm being positionable and rotating more than 180-degrees across a patient's bed and body, smooth articulation and agile rotation of the arm joints were critical. As a potentially life-saving imaging device that would see high-stress situations, the DeepView® project would require a balance of usability vs. mechanical performance vs. design risks throughout the entire design process.  

Journey mapping and user research were the essential first tools our team implemented during the design process. Only by understanding multiple users' parts in the use-cyle of the DeepView® was our team able to ideate better the proportion archetypes, balance aesthetics, and wire-management integration. Through a medical cart design analysis, surveying, and ethnographic research, Speck's research team was able to identify what mobile medical device features were working well for users and which to avoid. Multiple concepts were explored, featuring various options for base size, arm orientation, and scale. The final design included the top user-requested features and most desirable functional configurations of the best three concepts. 

The final form of the DeepView® is visually balanced with the appearance of stability and balance needed in a medical setting. Prerequisite from Spectral MD, the full extension of the imaging arm is 45" and can pivot past either side of a 91" hospital bed (with rails). The ergonomic advantages of the design include a single-axis rotating screen that pivots up and down and a four-point wheelbase for grounding. The major pain points unearthed during the discovery process in Speck's research phase informed the internal Cord storage pocket, the integration of handles, and a slim-line design that allows for agility and quick implementation in emergency situations. Spectral MD is currently in production, and as of May 2022, its state-of-the-art capabilities have been shortlisted for two European Mediscience Awards.