Last year Amy wrote an open letter to Steve Jobs. The design company Adaptive Path took up the challenge and created a design concept for a new device called Charmr.
Recently Medgadget (co-host of the competition) reported on some diabetes device design work by Sascha Morawetz.
This year the challenge has two prizes. $1,000 for 18 and over and the same for those under 18. The competition is open until May 26th. Read Amy's blog for full details.
Designers, ask someone you know with diabetes about the devices they use several times a day. The 'design' is close to awful. Some of the newer devices are an improvement, but very small. Look at the market reaction to the UltraMini blood glucose meter, and that's just because it's got a cute shape and is available in colors.
I do hope this year produces some designs that will make it into real devices. I can't wait to watch the entries on YouTube.
I couldn't resist this. Apparently B&O has a division called Medicom. They've designed a new inhaled insulin delivery device called the Insulair
This is clearly meant to steal the huge market share of the Exubera insulin bong. Personally I think the issues with the Exubera was the silly marketing name. Why not just come out and call it the exuberant bong. I can see the name designers say "We can use the slogan - Get a hit from your insulin!". Hah
B&O is well known for their product design, I can't help thinking this one might actually stand a chance. Though from a Google search it's not clear whether this is just a design concept like the Charmr or a real product that's not yet available.
Amy Tenderich posted an open letter in April that expressed her frustration with current diabetes devices.
This has been a recurrent theme on diabetes blogs for some time. In the book Universal Principles of Design, there's a Hierarchy of Needs that follows Maslow's hierarchy for self-actualization. This principle argues that a design can't be Creative before it empowers people to be Proficient. And it can't enable Proficiency until the design is Usable. Usability builds on Reliability and Reliability on Functionality.
The trouble is that the diabetes devices have been stuck at the Reliable and Functional levels of the hierarchy for way too long.
Amy's challenge was to get past what we use today and start providing us with devices that are 'insanely great', like this types of things we expect from Apple.
The (insanely) great news is that the design firm Adaptive Path have taken up this challenge. They've created a concept device called the Charmr, and they've blogged extensively about their design process for the Charmr. There's even a Charmr video on YouTube.
My hope is that diabetes device makers take this challenge seriously. And that they also remember that all devices are part of a larger system.
This system includes: those of us with diabetes; our various devices; the data collected by the devices (insulin intake, blood glucose readings, health information, etc.); and our healthcare team(s).
Remember the iPod? It's successful because it combines the iPod hardware with software that allows us to add music from a variety of sources.
Our diabetes devices will only really be successful when they combine beauty (creativity) and all the other important design attributes with the ability to get the data off the devices and easily share it with other devices and systems. In other words when the accompanying software is an integral part of the system, instead of an afterthought.
Diabetes: technology, devices, software, and other stuff.
About Me
Name: Bernard Farrell
Location: Massachusetts, United States
I was born in Ireland and now live in the US.
I have had Type 1 diabetes for over 35 years. I struggle with my blood sugar, the same as most people with diabetes.
I wear a Cozmo 1800 insulin pump and a Dexcom SEVEN CGM to track my blood glucose levels. I also take Symlin to help control my post-meal blood sugars.
I'm blessed by God, and every day brings the possibility of a cure.
