Helx Ultrasound System
The Siemens ultrasound system with touchscreen
PROJECT INFO
Oct. 2013 - Oct. 2014
Ultrasound Platform Redesign
Siemens Healthcare, Princeton, NJ
TEAMMATES
1 Design Lead
1 Visual Designer
1 UX Designer
MY ROLE
UX Designer collaborated with product manager and the dev team in Issaquah and Industrial Design team in Korea.
HELX ULTRASOUND WITH TOUCH CONTROL
SIEMENS Ultrasound Systems
HELX Evolution with Touch Control system is designed with a dedicated focus on the user experience. Powered by intuitive, user-focused technologies, they promote streamlined processes for improved exam quality with less effort. The systems are working to create new levels of workflow efficiency, imaging performance, and sustainability.
BEFORE & AFTER
The goal of this project is to complete the redesign of the workflow and hardware/software interfaces for the entire HELX Evolution product line. The touch screen is designed for context-sensitive controls and fast access to functions. With 33% fewer tactile keys and a simplified home-based control structure, the result is optimized exam efficiency and reduced training time.
Before
HELX
After
HELX with Touch Control
PROBLEM
Outdated and Inefficient User Experience
The previous ultrasound system faces the challenges of evolved market direction and lost market share. The market feedback and analysis lead to the problem of outdated and inefficient user experience.
USER RESEARCH
We conducted over 170 usability sessions including site visits and user tests and spoke with many healthcare professionals from around the world (for example, United States, China, Germany, and France) to find out what they wanted in an ultrasound system.
CONTROL PANEL DESIGN
Through multiple iterations in the design phases, different concepts are evaluated for the control panel layout explorations. The result is that 33% fewer tactile keys and a simplified home-based control structure help to optimize exam workflows and reduce training time.
Before
After
INTERACTION DESIGN FOR THE WHOLE SYSTEM
The touchscreen, monitor, and control panel work together. We analyzed the user workflows, all the functions, interactions, and control types, etc. Based on the navigational models, different concepts for touchscreen and monitor interfaces are generated and evaluated during the process.
Touchscreen
Monitor
WIREFRAMES
We designed the monitor and touchscreen wireframes for all the system states and modes. The following are some sample screens during the iterations. The wireframes and content below are modified for presentation purposes which doesn't reflect the actual system.
VISUAL DESIGN
We looked at what is the visual language of different industries (e.g., automotive, smart homes, health) and how the visual language reflects the industry’s core values. We defined values that we believe the visual language the system should convey. 3 groups of attributes/characteristics that represent the core values are defined and developed in 3 visual languages for the dark themes and light themes.
Dark Version 1
Dark Version 2
Light Version 1
USER EVALUATION
From low to high fidelity prototypes are developed for the user evaluations: paper & cardboard mockups, semi-interactive prototypes, interactive prototypes, production level prototypes. The prototypes are used in different design phases with different testing goals to get the right user feedback.
Low Fidelity Prototypes
Semi Interactive Prototypes
High Fidelity Prototypes
"75% of sonographers preferred Siemens HELX Touch over major competitors."
- Comparative study performed by an independent research company
“All of the sonographers were shocked at how simple and easy the system was to use.”
- Feedback during launch demo