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COPD Therapy App design

The acapella Choice vibratory PEP system is a single patient use device. It provides Positive Expiratory Pressure (PEP) therapy to help mucus mobilisation, which is particularly beneficial to COPD sufferers. An App MVP was required to explore the benefits of moving away from a print illustrated guide.

COPD App Design

Objectives

Improve the patient experience of using the acapella Choice vibratory PEP system by translating the printed instructional guide into a mobile digital format. The goal was to make the guidance easier to follow during therapy sessions—particularly for COPD patients—by addressing key usability and accessibility challenges observed in real-life use.

My role

I partnered with the Smiths Medical R&D team to design a high-fidelity prototype for user acceptance testing (UAT). I owned the end-to-end digital design and UI, collaborating closely on user research and content adaptation. I also developed the working prototype using jQuery Mobile to support animations, and worked with an internal animator to bring instructional illustrations to life in a format suited to real-world patient use

Incorporated processes

  • Discovery & definition
  • User research
  • Content strategy
  • UI design
  • Prototyping
  • Hi-fi designs
  • User testing
  • Stakeholder reviews

Outcomes and impact

  • Improved patient understanding and satisfaction
  • Animated steps and simplified copy supported accessibility needs
  • Enabled users to navigate therapy with greater confidence
  • Identified future opportunity for device connectivity (out of scope for MVP)
  • Delivered a validated proof of concept
  • Further development paused pending additional investment

Project Details

ClientSmiths Medical International Ltd.

Year2018

CollaboratorsR&D team,Product manager,Internal stakeholders,Internal animator

Tools & techXD, Illustrator, After Effects, JQuery Mobile

The acapella® Choice COPD device, with it’s printed patient user guide.

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