PP Smith

Vismo is a reusable, wearable vital signs monitor designed for use in the home. It is designed to be worn for short periods of time - up to 8 hours - by children between the ages of 1 and 4 years old. Vismo attaches directly to the skin using medical grade, hyper-allergenic silicone adhesive patches, and can be worn under clothing. It measures body temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate from a central position on the left hand side of the rib cage which can then be viewed in real time in the accompanying Vismo app. It aims to provide parents with extra knowledge and reassurance, allowing them to make more informed decisions based on the results in the illness detection app.

Insights were gained through continuous, focused research throughout the project. I spoke to parents, GPs, doctors and other health care professionals to understand the problems associated with monitoring and detecting respiratory problems in young children. In the early stages of the project, I worked closely with the NHS Medical Devices Unit in Glasgow to understand the most up to date technologies and design limitations. These links were also vital for discussing concepts, ideas and the final product.

Sketching was used frequently to quickly visualise ideas, with varying degrees of detail and resolution. I find a sketch can be really helpful for generating assembly and manufacturing ideas, but also as a tool for bringing ideas to clients in a rough and honest form. It was also useful to create initial sketched wireframe concepts for the app before creating more sophisticated UI mockups.

Physical prototypes were created at all stages of the design process, from rough cardboard models to flexible, 3D printed aesthetic models. (You can never get bored of flexible 3D printed polyurethane). Functional prototypes of the technology used within Vismo were also created using Arduino and ATTYS software. Various sensors were tested iteratively to find the most appropriate sensors required to measure each vital sign.

Initial sketch concepts were evaluated and developed using Illustrator to create UI wireframes. It was important to test the suitability and legibility of the visual elements with users - a targeted survey of parents provided a great insight into how to develop the final design of the app's interface. Additional feedback and iterations highlighted that simplicity and trust were the key requirements.

Following feedback from users, the final app walkthrough was proposed to enable an easy, familiar user experience. Feedback is offered in each screen to ensure the user understands the presented information. Parents were very positive about the use of a traffic light system to indicate whether their child's vital signs were in the normal or at-risk ranges as it was a familiar concept used in other children's healthcare products.