Design Process

Design Proces Overview

Once we created a project plan and understood more about the UW IHDD and pain points for visitors and patients, we began the design process. The process itself consisted of four milestones: User Research, Design, Prototype, and Evaluation.

Introduction

The UW Institute on Human Development and Disability (UW IHDD) hopes to create a more welcoming physical environment for patients, parents/guardians, researchers, and any professionals and academics who use their space. We define welcoming as a physical space that is calming, relaxing, and reduces feelings of stress, anxiety, and overstimulation that many feel in waiting rooms. 

Through architectural mapping, user surveys, and user interviews we assessed the current state of the building to propose changes and generate solutions to the patient experience inside the building. 

Since we are focusing on the interior design of the physical space, our guiding research question is: 

How can we improve the wayfinding at the UW Institute on Human Development and Disability (CHDD) to be more efficient for visitors and patients?

Foundational Work

Background Research

Before we started our design process, we wanted to understand the project space further. Our background research focuses on the following domains relevant to improving waiting rooms, particularly for our target audience which includes neurodivergent children, parents, and healthcare workers. We chose four papers that fit those domains. More specifically, the first two papers focus on the stress factors and environments of healthcare facilities and the subsequent two focus on potential solutions focusing on the use of visual signage and built environment.

Read more about our background research here

Challenges and Ethical Considerations

The most important obstacle we considered when beginning our design process was ensuring that we do not impede on the privacy of staff members, patients or parents of patients. As we are working in a medical environment, we must abide by HIPPA laws. Because of this we altered our plans in interviewing patients and opted for voluntary, non-identifying surveys. Generally, we also must consider the physical space we are taking up as the center can become extremely busy. This means practicing mindfulness when mapping our the architectural space and finding appropriate times to approach staff members. 

User Research

We conducted survey, interview, and architectural mapping research over the span of 3 weeks. Due to HIPPA constraints, we were unable to talk to our target user group (patients and visitors of IHDD), so instead we pivoted to gathering secondary research from staff at the IHDD. 

Survey

We had 28 survey respondents, most of which were clinicians. In our survey, we asked respondents to rate different statements from a 1 to 10 scale, where 1 represents disagree and 10 is agree. We then gave survey respondents space to elaborate on their responses.

Interviews

We interviewed 9 staff members at the IHDD, including a pilot interview with our sponsor. In our interview, we asked questions around wayfinding, interior aesthetic, and patient experience. 

Architectural Mapping

To create an up to date map of the IHDD, our team navigated the entire facility ourselves and then photographed each space to create a map of the waiting rooms, furniture, signs, and hallways. 

Main Findings

1. While there is one recommended path to navigate to the main waiting room on the second floor, there are multiple possible paths, leading to confusion for visitors. 

2. There is a lack of confidence that visitors are at the correct clinic when arriving at the UW Institute on Human Development and Disability.

3. The interior of the IHDD is not easily navigable for visitors when they are self-navigating through the building.

Read more about our user research here.

Design

Prototyping

In order to create low cost physical prototypes, our team utilized the laser cutter, UV printer, and Vinyl printer at our university's maker space. This allowed us to efficiently create and modify our physical prototypes until we reached a standard we were satisfied with. 

Directional Poster and Directory

Equipment: Roland TrueVis VG-540 vinyl cutter/printer, Paper Cutter

The IHDD already had directional posters in the locations that we wanted to place our updated versions, so to match the size of the current frames in place, we printed a 4' x 4' directional poster. we then printed 15" x 24" directories to place in the elevators. 

Starling Stickers

Equipment: Roland TrueVis VG-540 vinyl cutter/printer, Paper Cutter

To reinforce the Starling branding, we printed stickers of Starling with different designs. The only difference between creating the stickers and the posters were the sizing and type of paper used. 

Starling

Equipment: Epilog M2 32/40 laser cutter, Roland Verra UV LEF-300 UV printer

The prototyping process for starling consisted of 2 steps: first printing 2 versions of Starling onto the 8x10 acrylic and then laser cutting the outline of both starlings. 

Bathroom Signage

Equipment: Printer, sanding block

After some trial and error, we opted to print our designs on regular paper and sandwich it between 2 sheets of acrylic using glue.

Read more about our prototyping process here. 

Evaluation