Case Study: Designing Proteus Discover
Applying mixed research & development methods to impact product efficacy at different stages of the product lifecycle.
Introduction
This case study showcases a series of design projects I led or contributed to between 2014 and 2018 to support the development of a platform called Proteus Discover. It demonstrates how a strategic design development approach and agile research and design methods were applied to meet evolving business objectives.
When I joined Proteus Digital Health in 2014, the organization was in the early stages of developing a new platform to replace a legacy product, Helius. This platform leveraged the company's existing ingestible sensor and wearable sensor technology, capable of tracking patient medication ingestion and biomarkers such as movement, rest, heart rate, and temperature. The goal of the new platform was to enhance this technology with engaging experiences for both patients and providers, enabling the company to package service offerings for various use cases. Initially, the focus was on cardiometabolic conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia, with later expansions to hepatitis C and oncology.
My Role
As the Director of User Experience, my role was to collaborate with and to enable multi-disciplinary teams to develop the product. This included managing and developing the user experience design team, building relationships across multiple sites in the UK and US, and solving user problems as they arose throughout the product development lifecycle. This role required a deep understanding of user needs, strategic vision, the application of various design research and development skills, and the ability to lead cross-functional collaboration effectively.
Untried Technology & Business Goals
Proteus had an outstanding hardware and electronics engineering team that developed and stabilized a groundbreaking technology, which received FDA approval. This technology embedded a tiny ingestible sensor in a placebo pill, capable of transmitting a signal to a wearable patch upon entering a patient's stomach. The patch included sensors to measure movement, temperature, and heart rate, which could be communicated via Bluetooth to a computing device such as a tablet or smartphone.
In 2014, the organization's main focus was to leverage this underlying technology and build service offerings that could be tested in real-world settings. This approach aimed to understand the value the technology could bring to various use cases. A significant part of this effort involved creating a product design and user experience that met the needs of patients, providers, and healthcare systems. By doing so, the organization aimed to demonstrate the technology's value and gather insights to refine and improve it to meet market needs over time.
Design Strategy
From the beginning of the project it was clear that the complexity of bringing a technology as innovative as Proteus’s to market meant there were too many unknowns to initially accommodate. Therefore, our focus needed to be on incrementally learning our way to a successful user experience. This strategy was implemented through a three-step plan. First, we aimed to create a product in a usable enough form to safely place it in the hands of patients and healthcare professionals. This allowed us to gather valuable feedback and learn from real-world use. Second, we utilized these insights to refine the product, ensuring it became more effective and user-friendly. Third, we focused on enhancing product efficiency, making it cost-effective and scalable for broader market adoption.
Part 1: Make it Exist
The first objective for Proteus was to get their technology into the hands of patients and healthcare professionals to start learning how the platform would perform in real-world conditions. The design team's task was to create a functional and engaging user experience. While a separate team worked on the patient app, my team focused on branding, the co-encapsulation system, and packaging.
1.1 | Branding & Assets
Problem
Several unsuccessful rebranding exercises had left numerous incoherent visual and brand assets. A new name and brand for PDH’s flagship product was needed, but it was essential to maintain recognition of the core PDH brand associated with their hardware supply business.
Brief & Design Team
Develop a naming strategy that allows for sub-branded products and enhances existing PDH recognition. Create a new product brand with a mark capable of being embossed on medication. Generate any missing visual assets to support both UI development and marketing materials.
The team included; design by Lottie Crubleholme, photography by Petr Krejčí, user preference testing by Priya Raval, design direction by Gregor Timlin.
Method
Audit Existing Materials: Conduct an audit of existing materials to understand which design elements could be leveraged and what needed development.
Stakeholder Interviews: Interview internal stakeholders to identify Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), marketing requirements, and technical requirements.
Design and Prototype: Design and prototype brand and visual assets, review with KOLs, and conduct user preference testing.
Refinement and Delivery: Refine selected brand mark ideas, complete a photoshoot, and deliver comprehensive design guidelines and assets to the design and marketing teams.
Results
New brand mark options applied as mock embossing to tablets of varying size and colour. Proteus discover mark applied in various lock ups for product platform and as potential replacement to company logo. Sample image assets generated from UK photoshoot to assist the development of future UI content and marketing collateral.
1.2 | Co-Encapsulated Medication
Problem
Integrating sensor technology into medications for mass production is expensive, carries a high failure risk, and takes a long time. Proteus identified an opportunity to supply its inert ingestible sensor pills and allow third parties to co-encapsulate these pills with active medications.
Brief & Design Team
Devise a safe and effective design strategy to incorporate co-encapsulated medication into a cohesive product experience. Deliver a system that would allow for the development of drug panels for multiple, scalable therapeutic areas.
The team included; capsule and packaging design by Liam Turner and Lottie Crubleholme, UI design by Ramunė Rastonis, usability testing by Celine Pering, design direction by Gregor Timlin.
Method
Gather Data: Conduct desk research, interviews and site visits to understand the encapsulation process, manufacturing, and regulatory requirements.
Design System: Create a design system for the co-encapsulated medication panel.
Prototype and Test: Prototype medication and UI solutions, and conduct usability tests with patients.
Collaboration and Delivery: Work with the manufacturing and supply team to finalise and deliver designs.
Results
Co-encapsulation design system adopted increasing recognition between physical medication, medication packaging and UI medication representations.
1.3 | Packaging System
Problem
The Discover go-to-market strategy involved combining regulated components, like ingestible and wearable sensors, with an unregulated app. While this allowed for rapid iteration on the app, the regulated components had to remain fixed due to long development lead times. A packaging and collateral system was needed to seamlessly integrate these elements and create a cohesive user experience.
Brief & Design Team
Create a packaging and collateral strategy to integrate regulated and unregulated product components into a cohesive user experience that is understandable and usable for early technology adopters.
The team included; packaging design by Liam Turner, usability testing Priya Raval, design direction & usability testing by Gregor Timlin.
Method
Assess: Collect existing approved packaging and assess regulatory limitations with internal teams.
Develop: Explore packaging and collateral wrapper concepts to tie product components together.
User Test: Test concepts with healthcare professionals and patients in real-world settings to understand contextual efficacy.
Deliver: Work with internal engineering teams and suppliers to ensure the production line viability of solutions.
Results
First versions of Sensor Pack (6 patches) and Starter Kit (Set Up Guide, iPad & Test Pill) released for use in clinical trials and test sites.
Part 2: Make it Work
Following the release of Proteus Discover into two successful clinical trials the company supported a small number of sites to soft launch the product and gather data to assess how it could be integrated into healthcare systems to meet the needs of patients and providers. In this phase we used this data and conducted further research to assess what aspects of the offering needed to be enhanced and how we could implement changes to prepare for a wider roll out.
2.1 |Friction Point Mapping
Opportunity
Twelve active sites partnered with Proteus to soft-launch the Discover product. After several months of use, we had customers in the form of experienced healthcare professionals and patients. In addition, Proteus had grown its own active on-site customer partnering team with close connections to these service users who had on-site knowledge of how the product was being valued and what aspects of the product were not functioning well.
Brief & Design Team
Work with the customer partnering team to gather insights from Discover service users. Translate data into actionable insights to improve service delivery.
The team included; user research & visualisation by Shruti Grover, strategy & UX direction by Gregor Timlin.
Method
Gather: Run workshops with customer partnering staff, patient groups, and healthcare professionals to gather insights.
Theme: Group insights into themes related to product improvement.
Share: Share findings with the wider product and design teams.
Prioritise: Work with product managers to prioritize and roadmap product improvements.
Results
The work resulted in a detailed tabulation of consolidated friction points experienced across sites and a roadmap of incremental product improvements required to address them. The work was presented to and adopted by executive and product leadership, informing many initiatives, some of which are included in the rest of this case study.
2.2 | Service Blueprinting
Problem
As product use expanded to new sites, the company increasingly saw variation in delivery workflows and healthcare delivery roles. These variations were complex, caused by differences in primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare, treatment model and disease area variations, and a diverse EHR technological landscapes alongside which the product had to operate. This complexity caused significant challenges for general customer understanding, internal cross team collaboration and , significantly, product improvement.
Brief & Design Team
Document service delivery workflows across all current sites. Consolidate into standardise system to enable service automation and simplify product software releases.
The team included; user research & visualisation by Shruti Grover, strategy & service design by Gregor Timlin.
Method
Map: Interview customer partnering and support teams to map existing service delivery models.
SenseMake: Look for replicable workflows and opportunities for standardization.
Simplify: Create a simplified, controllable model. Review and refine the design with sales and support teams.
Share: Share the new model with product owners and wider delivery teams to aid product improvement.
Results
The project was remarkably successful. It standardized everyone's approach to both the company's service design architecture and how that architecture was applied across different sites. It made customisation quantifiable, allowing customer partnering and product teams to communicate clearly on critical business capabilities such as new product feature definition and product release rollout.
2.3 | Patient Engagement
Problem
The primary value proposition of the Discover product was to help patients achieve their desired health outcomes by tracking lead measures such as adherence, exercise, and sleep. As more patients used the system and Proteus collected more data, there was an opportunity to identify patterns and surface useful insights in the patient interface, thereby helping patients achieve their health goals more effectively. A deeper internal understanding of treatment adherence was needed to help teams identify opportunities from the data.
Brief & Design Team
Scope and model knowledge on the characteristics of patient treatment adherence. Propose new patient activation features for the patient app.
The team included; user research & modelling by Shruti Grover, strategy & product improvement definition by Gregor Timlin.
Method
Research: Conduct desk research to map known factors affecting patient adherence to medication.
Create framework: Analyse and map these factors into tangible problems that can be searched for in the data.
Prioritise: Review and prioritize findings with the data science team to focus on critical areas related to current use cases.
Develop: Collaborate with the wider design and development team to flesh out concepts for implementation.
Results
Thanks to the effective work of Shruti Grover, the project delivered a comprehensive framework to help the company understand the complexities of treatment adherence and provided an initial understanding of the data that needed to be monitored or collected. This framework aimed to build a more responsive experience that could specifically target causal factors. The work resulted in several design initiatives, the first of which was missed dose feedback. This feature provided information to healthcare prescribers to prompt treatment changes.
Part 3: Make it Scale
With the main friction points understood and initiatives underway to address them, the teams effort could be shifted towards making Proteus Discover scalable. The cost of components, such as medications and patches, needed to be reduced. Processes had to be scaled to serve larger teams, and the platform needed to be engineered for customization to meet the needs of future pharmaceutical customers.
3.1 | Reusable Wearable
Problem
The first generations of wearable sensor patches were an expensive component of the Discover system. Each patch contained a circuit board, battery, Bluetooth, and sensors, which were disposed of after 5 to 7 days of wear. Splitting the device into disposable and reusable elements offered a way to reduce waste and cost.
Brief & Design Team
Create a new industrial design for the Proteus wearable sensor patch to reduce costs for Discover users. Ensure the new device is usable, wearable, and creates minimal extra steps in the setup and use of the Proteus Discover system.
The project ran over multiple years, during 2017/18; industrial design was delivered by Anvil Studios, usability testing by Priya Raval, packaging design by Liam Turner and Lottie Crubleholme, UX direction by Gregor Timlin.
Method
Gather: Compile existing user research findings from previous patch testing and create an industrial design brief.
Prototype: Work with suppliers and internal teams to explore prototype variations for industrial design, packaging, and user interface.
Test: Manage the user research component of clinical wear and use testing, gather feedback, and iterate.
Submit: Submit the final design and human factors engineering documentation for FDA approval.
Results
The new wearable sensor patch was approved by the FDA and is still in use in the market today. Numerous usability errors where found in testing and addressed int he industrial design to make the product safe and effective for use.
3.2 | Self Directed Set Up
Problem
Proteus Discover was initially launched with a patient setup process run by healthcare professionals and partner sites during regular patient appointments. This approach was suitable during the initial launch as it allowed for higher touch contact and increased learning. However, as production scaled up, it became essential for the patient setup experience to scale as well. This included signing up, pairing and placing their first patch, and accurately setting up a medication schedule for all digital medications.
Brief & Design Team
Redesign the patient setup experience to allow patients to use their own smart phones or a provisioned device, autonomously set themselves up on the Discover product.
The team included; design direction by Lottie Crubleholme, industrial design by Tone, usability testing by Priya Raval, design strategy by Gregor Timlin.
Method
Assess: Review results from previous assisted setup testing and compile critical requirements for the teams.
Prototype: Collaborate with cross-functional teams to prototype a new cross-touchpoint product experience.
Test: Coordinate iterative testing of critical tasks, providing feedback to teams until the success rate is achieved.
Soft Launch: Implement a soft launch at two partner sites. Strengthen customer support processes and training.
Results
The project significantly improved the patient set up experience paving the way for autonomous patient set up, scalability and significant burden reduction for sites.
3.3 | Digital Medication System
Problem
As use cases such as hypertension and diabetes expanded, it became viable to scale up production of digital medications from co-encapsulation solutions to integrated solutions. The company needed to develop a system to integrate these new medications into the existing Discover platform.
Brief & Design Team
Design a system for integrated digital medications, including the form and graphic treatment of pills, packaging, and digital representations of medication. The system should meet regulatory requirements and be scalable to allow future medications to be added to the panel over time.
The design team included; design by Lottie Crubleholme, specification & design direction by Gregor Timlin.
Method
Specification: Review medication regulations and interview key stakeholders to understand requirements.
Prototype: Explore pill and packaging solutions, and review them with internal stakeholders to ensure viability.
Review: Review solutions with regulatory and marketing teams to ensure requirements are met.
Submit: Compile design files and human factors engineering documentation to be included in the FDA/CDER submission.
Results
The project resulted in a design system capable of showcasing Proteus Digital Health as a distinctive brand across multiple medications while also meeting the differentiation requirements of medication regulation. Ultimately the designs where not implemented because Proteus chose to explore a different single medication offering for commercialisation.
3.4 | Insights Database
Problem
Proteus had numerous sites up and running, established in-house customer support, clinical research, customer partnering, and user research teams, but no unified way of capturing and collecting insights to feed product improvement. Furthermore, there was no clear prioritization process, meaning decision-making was, in part, based on the personality and opinions of key figures rather than data and insights from users in the field.
Brief & Design Team
Assess opportunities to capture data from internal user-facing teams, design a system and tool to leverage user insights already being gathered, and optimize the internal product development prioritization process.
The design team included; tool evaluation and implementation by Shruti Grover, strategy & internal process integration by Gregor Timlin.
Method
Assess: Evaluate internal opportunities for data collection from ongoing user-facing activities.
Explore: Investigate potential platforms and processes for optimizing internal prioritization systems.
Seed: Populate the database with existing research studies using friction point analysis and existing reports.
Launch: Train user-facing team members on the new system and process, and launch the platform.
Results
A database was created using an existing platform called UserVoice. This enabled on-site data collection by customer-facing teams as well as data input from existing channels such as user research, clinical research and customer support. The resulting database assisted internal alignment and the prioritization of features by the product management team.
Conclusion
This case study of Proteus Discover highlights the successful application of strategic design and agile methodologies to navigate the complexities of launching and scaling a cutting-edge health technology. By focusing on user-centric design, iterative learning, and collaboration across multidisciplinary teams, the project achieved significant milestones, including improved branding, user experience, and system scalability. The comprehensive approach not only addressed initial challenges but also paved the way for future innovations, helping meet market demands and enhance patient outcomes.