Medical Design
While my role is a bit atypical, I would say that there are many benefits to learning outside the realm of traditional industrial design.
Patient care shot provided by Tiffany Do, UX Designer who works in Industrial Design and User Experience at Hillrom via Hillrom.
Tiffany Do, UX Designer at Hillrom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, working both in Industrial Design & User Experience.
Hi! I’m Tiffany Do and I’m a UX designer at Hillrom, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, working within our frontline care portfolio.
My role differs a bit compared to others within my network, mostly because of the fact that it is widely interdisciplinary.
My role requires that I work within industrial design, user experience, and also have a foot in the realm of research and user needs development.
I learn so much about our product at play within hospitals and the future state of improved interactions is always at the front of my mind. I also get to work very collaboratively with a fantastic R&D team on a daily basis!
A little about the Vision and mission of Hillrom, an American medical technology provider: EStablished in 1915.
“Since 1915, we have become a global leader in medical technology, inspired by one mission: Every day, around the world, we enhance outcomes for patients and their caregivers.” “Our Vision, Advancing Connected Care™. It starts with cutting through complexity and focusing on the human side of healthcare, everywhere. From the doctor's office to the hospital to the comfort of home, the best way to advance connected care is by incorporating many different perspectives.” Hillrom’s vision & mission.
“While it might sound overwhelming, I absolutely love it; I am able to exercise my design skillset between the physical device design and on-screen interactions, while also developing a deeper understanding of the end-user and research that help direct design decisions.”
Centrella® Smart+ Bed via at hillrom.com. Supporting changing needs of healthcare facilities—so you can deliver elevated care.
“All too often, life-altering health events are accompanied by costly complications. To manage these events, you need a comprehensive solution. Meet the Centrella® Smart+ Bed—designed to help you improve your patients’ safety and satisfaction.”
We designed it to address your primary concerns: PATIENT SAFETY—Fall prevention; Pressure injury prevention; Continuous heart rate and respiratory rate monitoring; Real-time incontinence detection. PATIENT SATISFACTION—Increased comfort; Enhanced patient experience; Improved communication. It's a future-ready investment that evolves as your needs do—via a roadmap of innovations only offered by the Centrella platform. Data alerts and connectivity; Fall protocol automation; Contact-free, continuous monitoring; Incontinence detection.
Learning and cross-pollination of skills and experiences at Hillrom.
While my role is a bit atypical, I would say that there are many benefits to learning outside the realm of traditional industrial design. I have always been very interested in the world of user experience, as what people in the design community interpret it to be—but I see UX as end-to-end service design.
Good UX can be a combination of good hardware, good software, and well-thought-out workflow implementation that is scalable across several user groups. Learning how to be well versed in both the physical and digital experience can result in a more cohesive and unified end product.
Being in my current role has allowed me to frame problems and solutions more broadly and understand the impact of design within larger systems. It’s allowed me to better understand how research is applied to direct product development activities, which enables teams to work around a common goal & understanding.
“The research side of my role has also been very eye-opening.”
Design Work. Airway clearance therapy vest, Photo provided by Tiffany Do, UX Designer working in both Industrial Designer and User Experience at Hillrom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Projects, exploratory work, and problem-solving.
I can’t share the work I’ve done from Hillrom! But I am able to share that I was able to dip my toes back into doing industrial design contract work this past year. I was able to work on a few projects that were directed towards totally different consumer groups that I’ve never designed for before (children and men)— and that was very interesting!
I really liked doing the early exploratory work and trend research intended to hash out an overall aesthetic, and it was really refreshing to think through a different lens throughout the project. I enjoyed working through how to make those products a market differentiator by form and aesthetics too.
I love new design problems to tackle and the work that needs to be done upfront to familiarize myself with new products.
When you work corporate & in-house, things are very much in-depth. I think I recall Spencer Nugent [Industrial Designer, Founder of Sketch A Day, and Instructor at Offsite by Advanced Design] saying that working for a corporation can be like getting a master’s degree sometimes. It’s not a bad thing—just expect to wear a lot of hats and be ready to learn. I’ve learned so much in my role!
“I think another benefit of working in-house is the need to understand and familiarize oneself with existing product offerings and development processes. This allows us to work more efficiently as a team.”
Medical devices an excellent industry to work in right now; there is so much innovation within the design community that’s happening as a result of Covid-19. Being a designer working for a medical device manufacturer feels pretty fulfilling; I go to work feeling like I am making a positive impact on the lives of patients and clinicians. I’ve grown a lot as a person and designer through my work at Hillrom, and I’m grateful for it.
THANK YOU, TIFFANY, FOR GIVING US A GLIMPSE INTO YOUR CAREER & WORK AS AN INSPIRING WOMAN IN DESIGN.
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