top of page
A4 - 7.png

Digital Interface Design of Mobility Scooter

Sunrise Medical Sterling Elite2 Plus Mobility Scooter for the Middle-Aged Group

Sunrise Medical x Technical University of Delft, Netherlands

Team

Ankita Arora, Avishya Arali, David Cheng, Jitske van Leusen, Qianhui Liu

Tools

Figma, Miro, Adobe Photoshop, Solidworks, Procreate

Year

2023

Collaboration

3-large_default copy.png

View the Project Overview or explore the entire Project Journey

gallery-elite-plus-2-vip-lifestyle-2.jpg

Background Study

The STERLING Elite² Mini Mobility Scooter is a compact and versatile personal transport device designed for individuals seeking enhanced mobility and independence. 

The Challenge

The design challenge focused on redesigning a modernized scooter design for young middle-aged (45-60) users that aligns with their lifestyles 15 years into the future. The current scooter has usability issues such as difficulty stopping on slopes, hand strain during prolonged use, and challenges with precise control in crowded areas.

"The aim is to empower users with autonomy, ensuring they feel in control and safe while riding the mobility scooter. The design should be intuitive, providing clear feedback on its functions to both the user and their surroundings."

Frame 3208.png

Difficulty stopping abruptly or on slopes

noun-hand-bandage-2427812 (1).png

Long usage causing strain in controlling

noun-crowd-3027033_edited.png

Challenges with precise control in crowded areas

The Impact

The resulting design creates a positive impact by increasing independence, ease of use and ergonomic design 

Increased comfort and usage

Design Outcome

The resulting redesign prioritizes user comfort, safety, and autonomy, ensuring that individuals can navigate their daily lives with greater ease.

Design Process

The design process was divided into three major phases. In the first phase, the problem was defined with some interviews and small user tests, the second phase with design goal, ideations, and concept development, and the third phase was the redesign and final prototype tests followed up by recommendations for the company. 

01. Define

An individual with breast cancer navigates numerous responsibilities, including consulting healthcare providers, undergoing examinations, understanding the illness, managing medications, making decisions, and engaging with a network of people, often creating a complex web of interactions.  

How do they navigate this complexity, managing multiple interactions and decisions post-diagnosis?

 

How do they make decisions in moments of vulnerability, when emotions run high?

As a designer, how can I simplify the process of accessing complex medical information for them?

Interactions during diagnosis_edited.png

02. User Research

Research Methodology

To understand the unmet needs of individuals with breast cancer, I conducted 25+ qualitative interviews and mapped the breast cancer care journey and experiences with the help of the Metro Mapping Tool (Metro Mapping, n.d.) and other mapping activities. The insights generated from this phase helped define the design principles for the ideation session. 

IMG_8449.jpeg
IMG_8562 2.jpeg

Metro Mapping

The metro map was co-created with an oncologist, a surgical oncologist and a healthcare designer from Panton to gain insights into the information flow within the breast cancer care pathway. The map has four layers: 1) Layer Metro which maps the cancer care trajectory. 2) Layer Information which ​​is divided into four components-information provided, channels of information, goals of information, and information collected. 3) Layer Experience and Emotions which maps the emotional experiences of the individuals during the diagnosis process.

Ecosystem Map of Information_edited_edit

Metro Mapping: Information Map in Breast Cancer Care

Qualitative Interviews

04

Healthcare Providers and Nurse Practitioners

07

Representatives of Research Institutes and Cancer Organisations

02

Companions (Family members of individuals)

07

Individuals with Breast Cancer

02

AI Experts

Frame 72_edited.png

Thematic Analysis of the Interviews

Mapping Activities

During the research, a variety of mapping activities were conducted to explore key aspects such as the sources of information, the level of trust placed in those sources, and their accessibility. These activities provided valuable insights into how individuals interact with and rely on different information channels.​

1. Categorisation of Sources of Information, 2. Sources of Information Based on Trustworthiness and Accessibility, 3. Preferred Sources of Information, 4. ​Level of Trust on the Preferred Source of Information​, 5. Preferences on the Type of Information Needs

Quotes from the interviews

"She said, “now I have a new job because the job is now breast cancer."

- Representative from Patient Organisation

"

- Healthcare Provider

"Sometimes the information is too hard to understand. And that’s not easy."

"I think the world, this hole opened up and I just fell like several levels through the floor."

- Individual with Breast Cancer

"I’m not educated as a physician. I think some of the abbreviations were new to me [...] I think it’s a lot of professional language that you are suddenly confronted with."

- Individual with Breast Cancer

"

Key Insights

01.

Overwhelming Nature of Cancer Diagnosis

02.

Nature of Information: Complex and Abundant

05.

Short Duration of the Consultation Sessions

06.

Avoid Joining the Patient Organisation

The Unmet Needs

Despite the support available from various sources, the overwhelming nature of cancer diagnosis makes individuals feel isolated and highlights the need for more support that can address their information and emotional needs. These needs are interconnected and interact continuously with each other. To reduce uncertainty, they go look for information and due to the nature of illness and the information it presents, they need emotional support. The findings also complement the literature study. Although there is an overlap between these needs, they vary from person to person and hence require more personalised support. 

03.

Influence of Seeking Information from Various Sources

04.

Variability in Seeking and Understanding Information

07.

Variations in Information-Seeking Behaviours

08.

​Varied Emotional Support and Coping Strategies

Needs for poster_edited.png

The Design Principles

To conclude the research phase, I created a set of design principles.The design principles serve as a foundation for ideation

Assist in Making Information Clear and Easy to Comprehend

Understand the Emotional State and Address the Emotional Needs

Foster Approchability and Affective Interaction

Provide Personalised and Relevant Information

Ensure Transparency, Reliability and Trustworthiness

03. Ideate

With the findings of the conducted research, the outcomes of the needs of people and the formulation of the design principles, the next

step was to create a base for the design. A design goal was formulated based on the overarching research question to carry out the design explorations. 

“To create an AI-driven intervention that supports people with breast cancer in dealing or preventing information overload post-diagnosis”

Design Facilitation Workshops

Design Workshops

02 

10 

Participants

I conducted two design facilitation sessions each with a distinct group, to gather diverse insights on the support needs of individuals. 

MasterThesisReport_Addressing_Information_Overload_In_Individuals_With_Breast_Cancer_Ankita_Arora.jpg

With fellow design students

MasterThesisReport_Addressing_Information_Overload_In_Individuals_With_Breast_Cancer_Ankita_Arora copy.jpg

With healthcare designers at Panton

Screenshot 2024-08-15 at 6.28.26 PM.png

Ideations and Brainstorming

During ideation, I began by formulating "How To" questions for each design principle to explore potential solutions and guide idea generation. A brainstorming session followed, focusing on concepts addressing users' informational and emotional needs. This process yielded six distinct ideas, two of which shared functionalities but differed in delivery mediums. The ideas were evaluated using the Harris Profile, leading to the selection of a final design direction.

ideation_edited.jpg

Design Direction

In the current interaction, individuals consult healthcare providers, receive documents, and seek additional information to reduce uncertainty. However, this often leads to fragmented, overwhelming, and one-dimensional information, causing information overload.

The desired interaction with 'My Cancer Companion' minimizes reliance on unreliable sources by retrieving trusted information and presenting it in simple, clear, and interactive conversations. It centralizes accurate information while offering empathetic communication.

12.png

Current Interaction​

13.png

Desired Interaction​

Design Outcome: Bremo

Bremo breaks the traditional, one-dimensional approach of static documents by offering interactive, conversational access to information, from multiple reliable sources. It also serves as a sounding board where individuals can share their feelings and concerns. It is envisioned as a secondary source of information to be accessible via smartphones. 

Bremoooooo_edited.jpg
Bremoooooo_edited.jpg
Bremoooooo_edited.jpg

04. Design

Introduction of Bremo during Consultation Sessions

Bremo will be introduced to people with breast cancer during consultation sessions through the following steps:

Introduction of Bremo in consultation_ed

Wireframing

3+

Iterations

WW_edited.jpg

Prototyping

Prototypes

10+

Prototyping_edited.jpg

1

2

3

4

Ensuring secure access through government-authorized DigiD login

Conversational interactions to ask and clarify medical questions

Compiling a personalized question bank to prepare for the next medical consultation

Recording consultation sessions to revisit and listen later

05. Evaluate

Bremo was evaluated with three distinct user groups to ensure a comprehensive understanding of its usability, feasibility, and potential:

1. Individuals with Breast Cancer: To evaluate the usability and overall user experience, ensuring the design addresses their needs effectively.


2. Healthcare Designers from Panton: To assess its integration within the Dutch healthcare system using a Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability framework, ensuring alignment with system requirements and user expectations.


3. AI Experts: To explore the technical capabilities of AI and identify opportunities for further enhancement in supporting users.

"I think you found something that there's a gap and then it's valuable. I like that it's very integrative with various established data sources."

- Individual with Breast Cancer

"

DVF_2_edited.png

“I would maybe say this intervention is very useful because you can use it as a recording app for your conversations and have it summarize it, and also have the only information that you need in one app then is each, it could make our complete patient journey a little easier and even and we reduce some of the stress.”

- Healthcare Designer from Panton

"

"It has the potential to be very effective. It could be very good at summarisation."

- AI Expert

View Full Case Study Report

Explore Other Case Studies

Mask group.png

Digital Interface Redesign: Mobility Scooter​

IMG_4092 2.jpeg

Happiness Card Deck 

Objects provided to the children (3).png

The Tube

bottom of page