Menu
At Pushstart, we believe technology has the power to change lives for the better. Nowhere is this potential greater than in how we manage and maintain our health. In this series we’ll look behind the scenes at our work on Curio, a kid-friendly, connected home spirometer.
According to the CDC, 6.8 million children in the US live with asthma — that’s about one in ten US kids. Nearly 60% of these have symptoms that flair more than twice a week. Poorly controlled asthma can have long-term impacts like reduced stamina and lesser participation in physical activities. Beyond health implications, nearly half of children with asthma report missing school due to symptom flare-ups.
Could connected, intuitive technology help families better manage this disease and thereby improve kids’ lives? We challenged ourselves to find out.
Regular testing and tracking of lung function can be a critical tool in the treatment and management of childhood asthma, making attacks easier to prevent. Curio’s primary goal is to help families track a child’s lung function more easily and accurately.
The global market for respiratory care devices is projected to reach $21.9 billion by 2020 due in large part to a growing focus on lung health monitoring and a mounting demand for home healthcare solutions. Meanwhile, digital spirometers on the market leave much to be desired.
In our audit, we found products that look and feel like clinical equipment. These products may be intimidating to a child, and certainly require parental supervision and assistance. We saw definite opportunities to design a better experience.
A home spirometer must help users track lung function consistently so that test data can be used to predict or prevent attacks. Identifying patterns and triggers over time can help guide treatment plans. While today’s home spirometers provide some level of data tracking, their convoluted data management processes diminish their value.
Some offer on-device data display only, making evaluation or sharing difficult. Others require users to connect via USB in order to upload data with proprietary software. Though either method is an improvement over tracking test results manually, they still require significant user effort.
Meanwhile, the rise of connectivity is changing user expectations. As fitness and health tracking trends continue — led by brands like Nike, Fitbit, and Apple with the introduction of Apple Health — consumers are beginning to expect instant access to personal health data.
By bringing connectivity to the humble home spirometer, Curio enables effortless data management. Data can be shared with health providers, instantly. Users can more easily analyze their own data to discover how factors such as weather, pollen count, or pollution levels impact lung function.
Even the best data management is useless without good data to manage. To fully realize the benefits of testing, spirometers must be used regularly. Connectivity helps here, as well. In addition to motivating users with in-depth analysis, Curio’s companion app reminds them to test in the first place. Preventing missed tests creates a more complete data set to analyze.
Curio’s ability to encourage positive user behaviors aids both consistent use and correct use. The accuracy of each test depends on factors like user posture and device orientation. Curio encourages more accurate data collection with on-device sensors that alert users to improper use. The companion app not only provides step-by-step instruction on testing technique, it also instantly identifies outlying results. If results signal user error, the app prompts users to re-administer the test.
Convinced of the connectivity benefits and commercial viability of a new home spirometer, we focused on developing a product strategy. Connected devices involve interdependent physical and digital components that create unique user experiences. In every aspect of design, we kept our users — families with children — in mind.
Understanding the entire user journey is the key to an attractive and usable product. One of the first steps in the design process was to map user interaction points, identifying both potential challenges and potential opportunities for differentiation.
As with any sensor-based device, understanding the limits and requirements of the technology was paramount. Digital spirometry is nothing new, so we began by auditing the most prevalent solutions in the market. Low costs units most often employed lightweight turbines monitored by IR sensors. Though accurate and cost effective, durability, cleanability, and form factor challenges made this solution less attractive. We opted to use a pressure differential sensor that met more of our user requirements, despite having more complex implementation requirements.
With a sensor solution selected we began validating the rest of our electronics and hardware. Our requirements called for some onboard processing, a little memory, sensors, and Bluetooth in a relatively small (at least for prototyping) package. Ultimately we selected the RFduino which proved to be a great platform for our test rig.
Then, we turned our attention to the firmware that would collect and manage data from Curio’s pressure sensor and accelerometer, control onboard LEDs, and communicate with the companion app. While most code came together quickly, dialing-in the pressure sensors took a bit of trial and error as we fabricated test air constriction passages in parallel. With the program up and running, we conducted a series of stress tests to validate our approach before refining Curio’s architecture and design for production.
Having established our technical requirements, we started a design sprint to rapidly explore possible form factors. From the start, we focused on forms that met the ergonomic needs of our target audience — kids. Curating the plethora of possible solutions our team generated, we built rough models of the most promising directions.
Then, we met with the harshest critics we could find to get some hands-on feedback: five to ten year olds. In-home visits are a great way to gather a wealth of data, fast. Spending time with users gave us real insights on child ergonomics, aesthetic preferences, and use patterns—not to mention parent-child dynamics.
While technology and usability are key to the success of a product like Curio, the brand experience also plays a critical role. To develop Curio’s brand, we wanted to resonate with kids while building trust with doctors and parents. As with similar brand-building efforts, we worked from a set of core values and attributes then expanded into moodboards, color palettes, tone samples, and marks. Fun and approachable, smart and trustworthy were our watchwords.
Armed with a more holistic understanding of usability considerations and a cohesive brand focus, we leapt into a second design sprint. We filtered concepts on ergonomic considerations, brand alignment, and manufacturability to quickly narrow down to a select few. Selected concepts were moved into CAD for feasibility validation, then 3D-printed for additional testing.
In parallel, our interactive folks built up the companion app experience. After adjusting the user journey based on in-home learnings, we moved into wireframing.
Early layouts were tested as click-through demos, then refined per test feedback. Once the team was happy with usability, we set to work applying the brand vision we’d established for the product.
Because the Curio app would be used by both children and parents, we needed to strike a balance: being simple enough for a child to use, but robust enough to satisfy parental expectations. Throughout the interface, we worked to communicate with imagery and iconography, minimizing text to make things intuitive for children of any age or reading level.
So what’s next? Curio is moving into a pre-production phase where we’ll refine components for manufacture. Electronics will be miniaturized and cost-optimized while firmware is tested and improved. Curio’s housing will be subjected to final validations and some detailed refinements. Last but not least, the companion software will be developed into native apps.
Can Pushstart help bring your product vision to life? Let’s collaborate!
