How thinking about useability kick-started an 'iPod for the heart'

The issue

In the UK alone, someone dies from a heart attack every six minutes. Cardionetics is a young company that aims to make a serious dent in this depressing statistic. The firm, based in Bracknell, Berkshire, designs and manufactures software and related hardware to monitor, screen and diagnose patients with heart problems.

Its first product, the C.Net2000, was a groundbreaking ECG heart monitor – light enough to be worn on the move while still providing fast, accurate analysis.

But was Cardionetics better at helping hearts than it was at presenting its own products? Feedback from users, and a sense that its initial product was looking dated, led the company to re-examine its design principles in 2003 – and it chose an unlikely inspiration.

Rather than look at other areas of medical analytics, Cardionetics studied the way the iPod had reshaped consumer expectations of wearable technology. The company realised it needed to develop a product that was easier to wear and simpler for patients to use.

It teamed up with Designing Demand, the Design Council’s programme to help UK businesses make the most of design. Its Innovate service, which offers sustained support to technology start-ups, helped Cardionetics develop a smaller, more lightweight successor to the C.Net2000.

The solution

The design team began with the user in mind, rather than the technology. “We took a lot of time and trouble to involve users of the C.Net2000, to find out what the strengths and weaknesses of the first generation product were,” says Cardionetics CEO Philip Needham.

That done, Cardionetics looked at its own business to help identify the best way forward. “We began by analysing what they were selling to whom, and whether that was right for the market,” says John Boult, the Designing Demand design associate on the project. “We explored who uses this technology and how different groups have different needs and preferences in how to use it, and where.”

It became clear the new model needed to embrace the latest technological developments and that to stand out, Cardionetics needed a more distinctive brand. Electronics and software for the new model, the C.Net5000, were designed in-house. But the new body was developed by IDC – an industrial design company – in tandem with the revised circuit board.

“Work with IDC was directed by a far more detailed design brief,” Needham says. “This included all we had learned through Designing Demand and our fresh understanding of how to brief designers clearly.”

The outcome

The C.Net5000, for healthcare professionals, was launched in 2006 and sales are twice as brisk as for the C.Net2000. A sister product, the MHM100, was developed in partnership with Medick Healthcare (set up by Cardionetics’ former chair). It shares the core functionality of the C.Net5000 but offers a simpler data display so patients can use it.

Following Designing Demand recommendations, Cardionetics also rethought its brand, bringing Aloha Design on board to update the corporate identity. They worked at achieving reognisable tone of voice and brand personality, changing the colour scheme of the logo, device and associated literature.

“Designing Demand helped us see new ways of applying design,” says Needham. “It has helped ensure we can continue selling our products successfully.”

For more on Designing Demand, visit www.designingdemand.org.uk

A brief history of heart care

Italian physicist Carlo Matteucci demonstrates that an electrical current accompanies each heartbeat

Étienne-Jules Marey uses an electrometer to record a frog’s heartbeat1887 First recorded human electrocardiogram

Willem Einthoven modifies string galvanometer (amplification system used for undersea telegraph lines) to produce electrocardiograms

First portable electrocardiogram, weighing 50lb

Augmented limb leads added, to produce the 12-lead electrocardiogram used today

Norman Holter develops a backpack that can record and transmit the wearer’s ECG

Danish cardiologists report improved treatment when ECGs of patients are transmitted wirelessly from ambulance to cardiologist’s handheld PDA

Article first published in Design Council Magazine, Issue 6, Summer 2009