Industry
Healthcare
Time
May 2022 - Aug 2022
Scope of Work
Branding | Product Design | Saas Product
Team
1 Team Lead, 1 designer, 8 developers
Molarray is a biotech company specializing in liquid handling systems for diagnostic testing and research. Our systems simplify the analysis of biological samples for genetic mutations, infectious diseases, and cancer diagnosis. As the sole designer, I led the design of a healthcare application interface for molecular diagnosis products and digital screens, designed an operational dashboard to simplify user flow, and conducted user research through collaboration with stakeholders.
After conducting interviews with key stakeholders, including research scientists, technologists in the diagnosis department, and the company's QA team, it became evident that Molarray's liquid handling system was posing challenges in terms of usability issue, leading to significant training and installation costs. The dashboard proved to be particularly cumbersome for users, resulting in frequent errors. Additionally, we collaborated with the business owner and identified that these usability were also impeding the product's entry into the broader market, resulting in revenue limitations. To address these challenges, we conducted further research to analyze the problem.
Importance of listening to stakeholder requirements:
After the interview with all the stakeholders, we determined that the main design goal for us is to improve the usability of use of the liquid handling system and increase the efficiency of the system by reducing the time it takes for users to complete tasks. Below are few matrix we used to measure our design success matrix.
Usability
Efficiency
Laboratory Technicians (Over 70%)
Perform diagnostic testing and analysis of biological samples, such as blood or tissue samples, for genetic mutations, infectious diseases, or cancer diagnosis.
Safety: June wants to feel safe and protected from biological hazards while handling large quantities of samples.
Efficiency: June values fast and efficient operation of the machine to save time and improve productivity.
Simplified Preparations: June finds the preparations for experiments cumbersome and desires a more streamlined process.
Continuous Operation: June faces issues with the machine pausing halfway during experiments, leading to the need to restart all analyses.
Usability testing revealed challenges for Molarray users, including low task completion rates and operational errors. Interface changes may be necessary to improve efficiency and productivity.
To gain a deeper understanding of the existing system, we conducted user research on the exisitng interfaces to identify the specific problems users encounter while conducting experiments.
User Journey Map on the Existing Interfaces
Based on these findings, it's clear that improvements are needed in the set-up and process steps to make the liquid handling system more user-friendly and reduce operational errors.
To enhance the design, my initial step involved gaining a comprehensive understanding of the current system's workflow. By conducting a card-sorting test, we restructured the Information Architecture, reorganizing the presentation of information on the sidebar and floating bars. The previous sitemap primarily showcased the machine's usage, whereas the updated sitemap places greater emphasis on ensuring the successful execution of the workflow.
Furthermore, I made significant improvements to the workflow. In the previous version, the machine was divided into three sections, necessitating the technician to set it up 3 separate times. However, by aligning with the mindset of the biological technician and their experimental approach, I consolidated the workflow into a single streamlined process for setting up the protocol.
The chart below illustrates the simplification of the process, transitioning from 3 separate set-up processes to a unified and integrated approach guided by step wizards. This visual representation helps to clearly demonstrate the enhanced efficiency and user-friendliness of the new system.
To improve the user flow of the liquid handling system, I collaborated with the software development team to adopt a step-by-step approach for experiment setup. This approach minimized the impact on the development team and maximized adaptability for the UX team. The wireframe includes solutions such as:
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Discover multiple solutions and deliver the final version that fits the developer habit and coding convention. The final version integrated the updated style guide and improve the accessbility.
Improve the UX maturity
To educate the importance of UX, I listened to feedback from different departments within the company and actively used my UX skills to solve their problems. By doing so, I was able to improve the overall UX maturity of the company and lay a solid foundation for the team to adapt to user-friendly design and development. Some key takeaways from this process include:
