V2 Renal Denervation System
Vessix Vascular
Medical: Understanding Usability
Karten Design’s research ensured that Vessix’s remarkable technology was easy to learn and use.
Vessix Vascular’s catheter-based system has the potential to treat medication-resistant hypertension in a simple, one-minute procedure. To bring the technology toward commercialization, Karten Design was challenged to define and design a system that is easy for cardiologists in the hospital catheterization lab to understand and use.
We worked with Vessix during the early phases of product definition to ensure the system’s design supports the physician’s natural workflow. Karten Design researchers and designers visited hospital cath labs and interviewed doctors to determine the system’s ideal use case scenario. Our research informed many of the system’s functional aspects, such as its flexible, cart-mounted configuration, one-button operation and brilliant, full-color graphic user interface.
A series of four custom-designed screens guides users through the procedure. Before treatment is initiated, it confirms when catheter electrodes are optimally positioned and prompts the user to deliver therapy. After the therapy is performed, the display summarizes relevant information for reporting. Key to the system’s ease of use, designers provided a visual distinction between information that’s displayed for knowledge and information that requires action. Color, layers, and size create an information hierarchy that emphasizes action points.
Vessix’s fast, easy-to-use technology became a differentiator for the company, which was sold to Boston Scientific for up to $425 million.
