The blogger Amy Tenderich posted her “Open Letter to Steve Jobs” in April, pleading with the Apple CEO to apply some of that company’s design expertise to improving the lives of the 20 million American diabetics who rely on technology to manage their condition every day. Amy’s blog post got a lot of attention, even making its way to TechCrunch.
The company Adaptive path spent time with diabetics, who showed them their routines and talked about how hard it can be to stay motivated to keep them healthy. They shared their experiences with the technology products that they literally depend on for their lives. With their insights, the scientists in Adaptive path were able to came up with dozens and dozens of possible design concepts, sketching out different approaches to achieving those goals. Out of those concepts, a few key elements started to fall into place. They looked at the solutions out on the market and talked to diabetes educators about what works for people and what doesn’t.
They built on those concepts by fleshing out the interaction design of the product, mapping out how the users would monitor their condition and give themselves insulin. At this point, it became clear that a bunch of interface mockups wouldn’t be enough to convey their ideas. That’s when they started producing this video.
The video doesn’t stand alone. They’ve provided all the background on the thinking behind the Charmr concept, including their research findings, as part of their case study. It’s been an exciting project that has pushed them in unexpected ways — in other words, just the kind of project they had hoped for.
High quality video of Charmr (18 MB)
Sources
http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/08/14/charmr-a-design-concept-for-diabetes-management-devices/
http://www.diabetesmine.com/2007/04/an_open_letter_.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQe1tssyGkU
http://www.adaptivepath.com
Thanks to Simon for the links :)
