Macadamian Blog

Tablet Apps in the Healthcare Industry

I recently came upon an article in iMedicalApps.com about how to make Tablets, like the iPad, useful in the clinical environment. There have been a few early attempts at medical applications for iPads and smartphones, so these lessons are timely.

Everyone is a designer

There is a new buzzphrase that has emerged. Apparently, we are entering the age of experience. The future will tell if this, like many other things, will pass or stick. However, one thing is certain, people that build products and offer services are becoming more and more aware of the need to provide the user with an experience that matches their expectations.

The deeper trend that this reveals is that there will be more demand for products to be designed instead of just being put together haphazardly. The corollary to this is that more and more people will be put in a position to make design decisions. And many of these people will not be professional designers.

6 Must-Know Tips To Implement An Effective EMR

This recent article from Health Leaders media lists the top 6 ingredients to building and implementing an effective EHR. In short, they say:

1. Realize that the EHR will not solve your problems.
2. Identify EHR stakeholders and involve them in the implementation process.
3. Keep it simple with as few systems as possible.
4. Remember that communication is essential.
5. Recognize that paper will never disappear completely.
6. Keep usability in mind.

The Apple Magic

We're often asked - "What's Apple doing that makes them so successful?" and "How are they approaching product design and product management that's so different?", and naturally "Can you help us become the Apple of our product segment?"

The launch of the iPad reminds us why Apple makes such successful products.

Is looking good as important as being useful?

Consumer software companies have always been concerned about the looks, or visual design, of their product. Lately, in a phenomenon that some of us in the UX design space call " The Apple Effect", enterprise software companies, telecommunications companies, and medical device compaines are all placing far more emphasis on visual design. Recently a customer, who develops a medical software product, told us explicitly - we want nothing less than a WOW! from customers when they see the new product.

Is looking good as important as being useful? Is great visual design as important as great usability?

Yes. Not at the expense of usability, mind you, but yes - great visual design is important.

Whether we like it or not, we all make snap judgements about products. We make decisions about it's quality and usefulness in a matter of a few seconds. If you create and sell software for a living, this is critical. Your future customers are deciding whether they should spend more time getting to know your product, and deciding whether they should buy it, based on a snap judgement. They decide when walking by your booth at a tradeshow whether they should stop for a second look based on what they see in the screenshots. They decide whether they should pay attention to the rest of the demo based on the first few seconds of seeing the product. It goes without saying though, that visual design can't be at the expense of usability - we've all tried to use great-looking products that simply don't work. They both have to work together in balance.

People will have an emotional reaction to your product, and as we're seeing in consumer products, it has a direct effect on sales. How do you know if you're acheiving a "Wow-Factor" with your product? Test for it. Early in the design phase, put the mockups or prototypes in front of some users, and observe their reactions. Get them to tell you their first impressions.

First impressions matter, so go forth and make great looking products. Just don't forget about usefulness and usability.