Every Interaction Impacts Every Test
Reimagining connected laboratory experiences.
Domain
Healthcare
Tools used
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Figma
Company
Leading healthcare software company within USA
Duration
6 weeks, 2025
Overview
Introducing a new laboratory platform isn't simply about replacing software, it changes how laboratory professionals perform critical diagnostic work every day.
Experienced technicians often rely on years of muscle memory developed through existing systems. For new or less experienced users, learning an unfamiliar workflow while handling time-sensitive laboratory procedures can increase cognitive load, slow adoption, and introduce avoidable errors.
This project focused on designing and validating a new laboratory experience that would reduce the learning curve, improve usability, and build confidence before broader product adoption.
What was the problem?
Imagine this...
The organisation was introducing a new laboratory ecosystem consisting of a laboratory instrument, companion tablet, and desktop application.
While the platform introduced new capabilities, it also required technicians to learn new workflows for configuring assays, operating the instrument, monitoring experiments, analyzing results, and generating reports.
For experienced users, this meant unlearning familiar behaviours.
For novice technicians, it meant learning an entirely new system while performing precision-driven laboratory work.
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Scenario:
Imagine it's a technician's first week in the laboratory.
They prepare an experiment, load samples into a 96-well plate, configure assay parameters, monitor experiment progress, identify wells marked as In Progress, Processed, or Error, and finally review results before reporting.
The scientific process is already demanding.
The software shouldn't make it harder.
What was the design opportunity?
The challenge was not simply improving usability.
The opportunity was to design an experience that technicians could learn quickly, trust during critical workflows, and confidently adopt regardless of their previous experience.
Instead of waiting until implementation to identify usability problems, the team used heuristic evaluation to validate pilot designs before rollout.
Opportunity Areas​​
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Reduce onboarding time for new technicians
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Improve confidence during laboratory testing
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Create familiar and predictable interactions
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Increase adoption of the new platform
What did I do?
As the UX Designer, I contributed to the pilot experience by evaluating early designs across the connected laboratory ecosystem.
Using heuristic evaluation, I assessed the instrument interface, companion tablet, and responsive desktop application to identify usability risks before development and implementation.
Rather than focusing only on interface defects, the evaluation examined how effectively the new experience would support both experienced and first-time laboratory users.​
Contribution
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​Heuristic Evaluation
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Laboratory Workflow Analysis
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Pilot Design Validation
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Information Architecture Review
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Interaction Design Assessment
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Cross-Platform Experience Review
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Accessibility Review
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UX Recommendations
Experience Vision
The experience should enable laboratory professionals to focus on testing rather than learning the software. Across every touchpoint, interactions should feel intuitive, consistent, and reliable, supporting confident decision-making throughout the laboratory workflow. The proposed platform introduced:
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Intuitive onboarding for first-time laboratory users
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Consistent interactions across connected platforms
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Clear visualization of experiment progress and well states
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Faster navigation through laboratory workflows
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Contextual guidance during critical testing activities
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Confident decision-making through meaningful system feedback
Design Opportunity
The heuristic evaluation revealed recurring usability patterns that could slow user adoption. By validating pilot designs early, the experience could be refined to reduce the learning curve, strengthen consistency, and improve confidence for both novice and experienced technicians. The experience aimed to:​
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Reduce the learning curve for new technicians
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Standardize workflows across connected experiences
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Minimize cognitive effort during complex laboratory tasks
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Strengthen usability before large-scale product adoption
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Establish reusable enterprise UX patterns
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Improve long-term product scalability and maintainability
UX Thinking
Designing for laboratory environments meant balancing precision with simplicity. Understanding how technicians monitor experiments, interpret well statuses, and respond to changing conditions helped shape interfaces that communicate clearly, reduce cognitive effort, and support accurate decisions. Below are the design opportunities that came up:
Design Opportunity
Design for Learnability
Enable first-time users to understand workflows with minimal training.
Reduce Cognitive Load
Remove unnecessary complexity from routine laboratory tasks.
Design for Confidence
Present clear feedback that supports accurate decision-making.
Create Consistent Experiences
Maintain familiar interaction patterns across every connected platform.
Heuristic Evaluation Summary
Overview
The heuristic evaluation served as a validation exercise for the pilot designs before wider implementation.
The assessment reviewed the complete laboratory workflow, from experiment setup and instrument operation to data analysis and reporting, identifying usability challenges that could slow adoption or increase cognitive effort.
Evaluation Focus
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Learnability for first-time users
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Workflow efficiency
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Navigation and information hierarchy
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Interaction consistency
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Accessibility
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Cross-platform consistency
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System feedback
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Error prevention
Evaluation Outcome
Identified 67 usability findings
Prioritized recommendations by severity and user impact
Reduced potential usability risks before implementation
Strengthened design consistency across the
connected ecosystem
** The previous design on which heuristic evaluation done are not shared or uploaded nor sharable.
What Makes This Interesting
This project wasn't simply a heuristic evaluation. It was a design validation exercise that helped shape the pilot experience before product rollout.
Rather than identifying isolated usability issues, the evaluation revealed recurring experience patterns that could affect user adoption across the entire laboratory ecosystem. These insights informed design decisions that reduced learning effort, improved consistency, and strengthened confidence for technicians transitioning to a new platform.
Glimpse of the output
Overview
The evaluation surfaced 67 usability findings across the full laboratory workflow, each translated into a prioritised recommendation.
As a result: validated pilot designs and a shared set of UX principles, reducing the risks and cognitive load that could have slowed adoption or added cognitive load once technicians started using the platform.
* The data in the design is hypothetical including the brand.
Outcome
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Evaluated pilot designs across the connected laboratory ecosystem before implementation.
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Identified 67 usability findings and translated them into prioritized design recommendations.
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Conducted a heuristic evaluation focused on learnability, consistency, and workflow efficiency.
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Established reusable UX principles to guide future iterations of the laboratory platform.
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Reduced usability risks before rollout, supporting smoother adoption for both novice and experienced laboratory professionals.
What's Next
The next step is to move from connected workflows to predictive healthcare operations.
Future opportunities include:
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User testing with laboratory technicians
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Measuring onboarding and training effectiveness
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Refining workflows based on pilot feedback
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Proposed to build a shared enterprise design system and shared certain base level component made into a UI Kit.
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Standardizing interactions across connected platforms
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Supporting future laboratory expansion