My second sprint: Healthcare and design Royal College of Art
Fidelity prototyping, accessible design, and promise of an eBook - my April healthcare and design sprint led to some exciting ideas…
Back in September 2021, I enrolled in a masters in Healthcare and Design at The Royal College of Art, 6 months later and I’m back in action. As a clinical-design collaboration course pioneering the next generation of healthcare designers, I’m often asked how the two connect - what’s the relevance of an app in the operating theatre? What impact can a logo have on patient morale? While they may seem incongruous, design and healthcare are joined at the proverbial hip, working in tandem to optimise the wellbeing of both patients and workers.
Six months on from the kick-off and I took on the second sprint, an intensive two weeks with the Helix Centre, a design studio and innovation lab with connections to Imperial and the RCA. Working alongside a practising healthcare design studio provided an opportunity to see the process in real time, collaborating with designers actively embedded in a hospital setting. We structured our time with the centre across five days, deconstructing challenges and context, uncovering opportunity areas, prototyping concepts, and presenting through storytelling. Learning how the Helix Centre translates research into products that optimise high quality care got me thinking - how can we help bridge the gap?
My design outcome focused on how we navigate the labyrinth of the NHS waiting list, an ever-increasing wait, currently standing at over 6 million people. Named “Patient’ly”, it prototyped a concept created for equal access, exploring how we can optimise (and prioritise) authentically accessible design. We discussed design mindset and the importance of “low fidelity prototypes”, hearing how the process of putting pen to paper helps to articulate your early thoughts, laying the foundations for a fully fledged mock-up.
My key takeaways:
Start like you mean to go on. Begin your prototyping process as early as possible.
You won’t get it right the first time around. Shift your mindset into iteration from an initial prototype.
Rethink the mantra: “A prototype is worth 1000 pictures”
Start with a pen and paper. Increase the fidelity of your prototype as you move through phases of development.
Focus on the idea. Brainstorm, make it, and test it!
These learnings have directly informed my studio work, impacting the Helena Traill Design outlook, as well as our practical approach to design. Stay tuned for our design eBook coming later this year, which will guide you through my process.
At Helena Traill Design, we work within the healthcare and community-led industry, a professional and personal space that needs both form and function, recognising the importance of a holistic understanding of how, where, and why design intersects with healthcare.
Do you want to collaborate on a project led by a healthcare focused design studio? Get in touch!
