Medical Products Are Sexy, Too

By Noah McNeely

Product designers often tend to think in terms of “sexy products” or “WOW factor,” especially in the realm of consumer products. What will cause this product to fly off the shelves? What will make it the must-have accessory for next year? What can I do with this product to draw industry acclaim? Medical products, however, usually aren’t sold on retail shelves, they aren’t thought of in terms of desirability and they don’t compel throngs of people to gather at malls the day after Thanksgiving. So, what does being “sexy” mean in the realm of medical product design?

Consider the example of a system that assists with the containment and disposal of bodily fluids in hospital rooms. This product isn’t exactly something that the average person even wants to think about, let alone be excited about. Through interviews and research, however, it became obvious to the system’s designers that nurses and other healthcare providers would be excited about this product if it worked well. Though it may not have been a super-sleek cell phone or the latest video game console, the product had a certain “sexiness” to end-users because it reduced the amount of nasty materials to which they were exposed. By understanding what defined “sexy” for the target market, the designers were able to create the product exactly right.  

Fundamentally, a “sexy” product is one that people get excited about enough to choose it over competing products. Medical professionals, like most professionals, get excited about products that solve problems for them, or that make their tasks a little easier or faster. This advantage is absolutely critical in any market where competition exists. If your products aren’t more desirable than the competition, then you’re left with reducing price and margin to increase market share.

So, it is absolutely vital to figure out what excites your target market and then to develop your products accordingly. But how?

The Value of Performing Front-End Research

The appropriate use and interpretation of front-end research provides the answer. Front-end research is an important first step in most successful product development programs because it clarifies the goals of product development.

This research includes a variety of techniques and approaches aimed at identifying the needs of the target users and the opportunities possible through addressing those needs. In some cases, the best way to understand these consumer needs is through direct observation of the users performing the tasks in question or through contextual inquiry, in which direct observation is followed by in-depth interviews. In other cases, focus groups (or similar activities) are employed because this approach gets several members of the target market to argue through their experiences, drawing out overall consensus and viewpoints. In other instances, if the goals of the research are straightforward, online or phone surveys are a suitable way to gather data.

Regardless of which methods are employed, front-end research methods are designed to build a greater understanding of the needs of the target market, so that those needs can be addressed through product design and development.

Front-end research is an important element of successful new product design in any industry, but it actually may be even more important for medical product design. Consider, for example, that every designer in the world has made a phone call—so, when designing a new telephone, designers have personal experience on which to draw. This experience often is combined with sophisticated consumer research, trend analysis and other tools to make sure that the new phone is appropriate for the brand and target market, but the designer certainly had some idea of where to start before beginning the project. Even for less ubiquitous products, such as electric hedge trimmers, it’s relatively easy for designers to become extremely knowledgeable about the challenges faced by users; in this case, spending several days immersed in the activity of trimming hedges is an ideal way to learn about hedge trimming. This “total immersion” approach, however, is not always feasible when designing medical products.

In terms of understanding unmet user needs and innovation opportunities, medical products present designers with a more sophisticated challenge. It is not possible for a product designer to become a surgeon for a few days, or to experience the same challenges that nurses’ experience. The years of education and real-world experiences that make medical professionals experts in their fields cannot reasonably be simulated. Instead, designers must seek information from the source. In these cases, front-end research and the proper use of that research in product development become vitally important. It is only through observing and carefully interviewing medical professionals that designers can gain an understanding of the challenges they face. Only by watching an actual operation (live or, at the very least, on video) can a designer efficiently identify opportunities to improve the ergonomics and overall user experience of the implements used by the surgeon.

A “Sexy” Product Solves Problems

On a basic level, design and innovation represent the art of solving problems. Solving the right problems—and solving them well—are what make a product desirable, or “sexy,” but sometimes the “right problems” are not obvious.

For example, during the development of a chemical dispenser for hospital rooms, the problems faced by the designers seemed quite straightforward: The chemical should dispense when needed, the product should be easy to reload, the power usage and battery life should be right, etc. However, if the product had been designed only to solve these problems, it would have been a failure in the market.

Fortunately, in this case the designers took the time to hold focus group discussions with nurses and observe them dispensing and using the chemical. Only through this research were the designers able to understand that the probable placement of the dispenser in various hospital locations would create unique problems, especially with regard to keeping the unit clean. Additionally, this research revealed that the nursing staff would be relying on maintenance workers to keep the dispenser stocked with batteries and chemical. This revelation identified an entirely new level of user, whose needs also had to be factored into the design. Had the design team not taken the time to understand the points of view of the target user group (the nurses), the designers would have created a wonderful product that was entirely wrong.  

A “sexy” product is one that causes users to prefer it significantly versus the competition. In other words, it is a product with a certain “WOW!” factor.  Within the realm of medical products, that type of sexiness and desirability has much more to do with a design that successfully addresses unmet user needs than it does with sleek curves and fancy finishes. Therefore, identifying the right problems to solve is as critical a step in product development as is innovating the solutions.

Through properly structured front-end research, such as procedure observation and interviews with doctors and nurses, designers can gain a much clearer understanding of how to meet the needs of medical professionals. When this is achieved, the resulting products are well positioned to capture market share because they are built around the market’s needs. The market prefers them. They are “sexy”!

Noah McNeely is vice president of Slingshot Product Development Group in Lawrenceville, GA. Slingshot is a vertically integrated product development consulting firm that services the medical, consumer and military/security products industries. Slingshot’s services span the entire product development process, including front-end research, ideation, conceptual design, prototyping, engineering, design for manufacture, packaging, program management and manufacturing coordination. For more information, visit www.slingshotpdg.com.