Featured In
Trusted by medical device leaders since 2002
- Medrad
- Edwards Lifesciences
- COBE
- Thermo Fisher Scientific
- Johnson & Johnson
- DermSpectra
- Medtronic
- ANEUVO
- Life Technologies
- Alcon
- Baxter
- Enigma Diagnostics
- Ormco
- Braun
- Niche Bio
- Life Scan
- Gambro
- Wavetec Vision
- Advanced Bionics
Experience that helps us know where to focus
Our 25+ years in medical device design help us quickly assess your needs and identify which decisions we can make using experience and existing evidence, and which require input from users, marketing or product managers.
When clinical research is needed, our familiarity with clinical settings helps us recognize important details, ask more focused questions and concentrate the research on the decisions your team needs to make.
OUR SERVICES
Medical device design services
Your project can draw on one service or several. The sequence below shows how the work can develop, with prototypes and testing revisited as the design takes shape.
Healthcare UX design
Healthcare UX brings research, design and human factors together to turn complex features into simple, natural workflows that fit how people work and what they expect. The aim is a product that feels familiar and responds predictably, helping clinicians, patients and caregivers act with confidence.
User research
Focused conversations and observation uncover users’ needs, both spoken and unspoken. When clinical research is needed, our familiarity with the setting helps us recognize important details and ask better questions. Existing evidence and input from marketing and product managers keep the work focused on your team’s decisions.
Anxiety Maps
Moments of hesitation often reveal needs that people do not put into words. Anxiety Maps connect what users say with what they do, showing where uncertainty, workarounds or lost confidence affect the experience. These findings guide design decisions that make the next step easier to understand and the product’s behavior more predictable.
Illustrative Anxiety Map connecting concerns about records and treatment options to early interface concepts. View full-size map ↗ Clinical workflow design
The next step should feel natural, even when a clinician is interrupted or hands a task to someone else. Our clinical experience helps shape the flow of tasks, information and feedback around those realities, whether your project needs one interaction improved or a broader workflow developed.
Prototyping
Interactive prototypes give your team and intended users something to try before development. Early concepts help explore directions; more detailed prototypes help refine workflows, product behavior and visual design. The level of detail follows the question that needs an answer.
Quick usability testing (iterative)
Short, focused sessions with intended users show where people hesitate or struggle with a task. Findings feed directly into prototype changes, followed by another round of testing as needed. These quick iterations help resolve design questions while the product is still taking shape.
Formative usability testing & Summative validation
Structured formative studies examine realistic tasks with intended users and prototypes appropriate to the development stage. The findings document use difficulties and guide design refinements.
When summative validation is needed, the focus is on evaluating whether the final design can be used safely and effectively. Areteworks coordinates with human factors specialists and your regulatory team on the study and documentation, including appropriate independence from the design work.
Explore our medical device usability testing services
HOW WE WORK TOGETHER
A focused path from questions to design
The scope determines which activities are needed and how far we take them.
Review your priorities
Discuss the product, development stage, existing evidence and decisions ahead. Identify what we can resolve now and where we need more input.
Resolve open questions
When research is needed, focus it on the users, tasks and clinical context that matter to the project. Include input from marketing and product managers where relevant.
Design and evaluate
Translate findings into workflows and interface concepts. Use prototypes and formative testing, as agreed, to examine behavior and refine the design with intended users.
Support implementation
Provide the design detail your team needs to build the product. Review implementation questions and coordinate with engineering and human factors specialists within the agreed scope.
What your engagement can include
UX assessment and priorities; focused research findings; task flows and Anxiety Maps; interactive prototypes; formative usability findings; UI specifications and design guidelines.
Explore our healthcare UX approachSELECTED WORK
Medical device experience applied to design
Our work spans complex clinical information and interfaces that guide people through unfamiliar tasks.
EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES
Clarity in clinical monitoring
HemoSphere brings complex hemodynamic information into the clinical workflow. Areteworks designed the monitoring interface with attention to information hierarchy, task flow and what clinicians need to understand at a glance.
The design challenge was to organize that complexity around the people using the system.
Explore the HemoSphere project
DERMSPECTRA
Guidance for patients and clinicians
DermSpectra connects patient-guided total-body imaging with clinician review. Areteworks designed the experience across positioning guidance, image comparison, lesion annotation and treatment tracking.
The work considered what patients need while taking images and what dermatologists need when reviewing them.
Explore the DermSpectra project
DIRECT COLLABORATION
Direct access to senior design experience
Steven Liu, founder and principal UX strategist at Areteworks, works directly with your team to define priorities, review findings and guide design decisions. We collaborate with your product managers, engineers and human factors specialists, agreeing on any additional support the project needs.
Meet Steven LiuQUESTIONS ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER
Planning your design engagement
What do your medical device design services include?
Healthcare UX brings together user research, Anxiety Maps, clinical workflow design, prototyping, quick iterative usability testing, formative usability testing and summative validation support. The activities and deliverables are agreed around what will be useful to your team.
Can we begin with one specific problem?
Yes. We can start with a UX assessment, a difficult task, an interface redesign or a usability evaluation. We define a useful scope around the decisions your team needs to make.
Do you need user research for every design decision?
We begin with your existing evidence and our experience to identify where additional input is needed. When clinical research is appropriate, we focus it on the unresolved questions that matter to the project.
Can you improve an existing medical device?
Yes. We review current tasks, user feedback and existing evidence to identify improvements. We consider familiar behaviors and the effect of proposed changes, then evaluate the relevant design decisions within the agreed scope.
How do you work with engineering and human factors teams?
We work alongside your team, contributing research findings, design decisions, prototypes and UI specifications. When summative validation support is needed, we coordinate with human factors specialists and your regulatory team.
Will we work directly with Steven?
Yes. Steven leads the engagement and works directly with your team on priorities and design decisions. We agree on any additional research, design or specialist support when defining the scope.
Tell us what your team needs to resolve
Start with a free 30-minute medical device UX review. Tell us about your product, its current stage and the decisions ahead. We will discuss where Areteworks can help and what a useful next step could be.