Samsung
CardioBand
R&D, UX/UI, Motion, Branding
2019-2020
Overview
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming 610,000 lives each year. The Digital Health team at Samsung conducted years of research and developed CardioBand (R&D), an FDA 510k cleared ECG monitoring band. I was responsible for designing the companion app for ECG detection, long-term heart rate monitoring, and atrial fibrillation (AFib) screening.
Patients with AFib often struggle with tracking their ECG due to the limitations of short-term monitoring patches. In 2018, while the wearable market was growing rapidly, no wearable devices were dedicated to ECG screening and long-term monitoring—until CardioBand.
Mission
I was passionate about joining the Digital Health team, driven by the desire to make a real difference and improve lives. Every effort I put into our projects reflects my deep commitment to this mission. Together, we believed in the power of technology to save lives.
My Role & Team
As a Product Designer, I collaborated closely with a cross-functional Digital Health team, ensuring seamless integration of design, engineering, and user experience.
Research
I conducted three rounds of onsite user testing with team, each round consisting of groups of 10 to 15 people with all of design materials and user flow that matters. The onboarding process and the ECG spot check were the stages where the most critical issues and failures occurred.
Problems
During user testing, we identified some UX failures in both the band and our companion app. The most significant problem we encountered was the absence of a screen on the watch. This made it challenging to effectively communicate with users due to the lack of visual indicators.
Solutions
As the instruction guide did not effectively communicate with certain age groups, our focus shifted towards integrating the mobile app.
This integration will enable users to check real-time data visualization on Samsung phones.
ECG Spot check - Feature
In this project, the most critical feature was enabling users to easily check their ECG. To ensure seamless access, I designed the home screen so users could initiate an ECG spot check with a single tap, either directly on the CardioBand or through the companion app. This focus on accessibility was key to improving the user experience, allowing patients to monitor their heart health with minimal friction.
Reports
Monitoring ECG report data and the patient's heart rate trends is important for tracking health progress and sharing information with cardiologists. I have worked on daily, monthly, and yearly reports, and users can also check the hourly heart rate through the app.
User can send or download the PDF report so that easily share the document to the physicians.
Goal
Outcome
Throughout our R&D activities, we encountered various challenges related to hardware, software development, data collection, and UX failures. However, after undergoing multiple rounds of user testing and enhancements, we successfully obtained FDA clearance. As a result, Samsung released the ECG feature on the Galaxy Watch in 2022.
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