Boehringer Ingelheim: Retinal Health
Research showcase panel at arvo 2024
Role: UX Designer
When: May 2024
Duration: 8 weeks
What: Product design for a sphere
Objective
Boehringer Ingelheim needed a unique knowledge sharing tool for the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Conference in 2024 to present retinal health research from around the world. In combination with a more traditional touch screen, also designed by HCG, we proposed a using a sphere in which users could interact with an actual globe and select research studies of interest from specific locations.
Goal
Design a product for a sphere that achieved our needs within the technical limitations of the device while engaging users in a meaningful way.
Market
Attendees of the annual Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) conference in 2024
Problem
Conferences have an overwhelming amount of content for attendees to see, we need a way to more deeply engage and interest users
Mission
Create a product for a sphere which would allow conference attendees to view information from research studies within the context of their location on the globe
Research & Discovery: Learning the capabilities of a new device
The first step was to understand the capabilities and functionality of existing products for sphere devices. Pulling from youtube videos and developer guidelines, we captured different pieces that could potentially be put together and used for our product. Because spheres were a new-to-us device, we needed to make a lot of assumptions on how the final product could work.
Pinpointing study locations
Knowing we wanted to design a globe, we needed to see how the study locations would live together on the world map. By adding pins to a map, we learned that many of the study locations overlapped.
Overlapping locations created a need to find solutions in which users could easily select different locations without accidentally tapping a different one, and also a way to see all of the studies clearly.
Capabilities: Designing for the different needs of the product
Using our initial research we began to dive into possible solutions for our three main capabilities
Filtering
Filter research studies by indication and study topic
QR Codes
Provide large amounts of data to attendees to take with them
Knowledge Sharing
Provide legible, easily scannable blocks of information
Filtering
One of the requirements was the ability to filter research studies by indication and study topic, we which we initially explored as two layers of filtering (first by indication, then by study topic within an indication). But when the development team communicated that this couldn’t be achieved within our means, we needed to find new solutions that resolved into a single layer of filtering, while still communicating both indication and study topic to users.
The filtering would need to be shown as a single later, with the other criteria still being clearly represented in a visual way.
QR Codes
The sphere created a unique challenge of limiting the viewing area on the screen because of what would become hidden or illegible when it was on the lower or upper portion of the globe. One solution was putting information behind QR codes for users to scan and take with them on their own devices.
The QR codes would also need to be large enough for users to easily scan them, and include clear instruction and information about what they were.
Knowledge Sharing
The main goal of the product was to relay information from retinal health studies to users -- but as mentioned with the QR codes, there was the challenge of a limited amount of real estate that could be used.
A solution was needed that would create legible, easily scannable blocks of information for users to read while interacting with the device
Product Architecture
Beginning with a list of research studies classified by both indication and study topic, the initial sitemap showed paths based on filtering both of these criteria. To do this we organized it to show each indication, and all study topics repeated under each one.
Our assumption had been that we could use two layers of filtering, but after sharing the sitemap with the development team we learned that this vision of the product was beyond our budget and timeline. Eventually the sitemap, and in turn the product, evolved to have one layer of filtering for study topic and include a coloring system & legend for indication.
Wireframes
The research and architecture gave us the takeaways needed to begin developing the product visually in wireframes. We incorporated the following into initial designs:
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A way for users to see all study location pinpoints clearly
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Filtering and a clear representation of both indication and study topic
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Easily scannable QR codes with clear instructions and prompts
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Legible, easily scannable blocks of information for users to interact with
Final Design
The wires were used as a base for UI designers who moved into the look and feel of the product. Visual design was done in tandem with initial development, revealing some additional usability concerns along the way.
myself and the UI team worked closely together to continue to update the product as it was developed into it’s final version
Finished Product
Once the product was developed, some additional changes needed to be made before going to the event, like adding a magnifying action for locations on the globe to be seen clearly.
Once our own testing was done, the product was ready to go out, and the next step was seeing how it would perform among new users.
We had a team present at ARVO ensuring everything was set up properly, and allowing us to see how users interacted with the globe so we could improve the experience in the future.