Leading provider of innovative software within healthcare.

Cirdan is a leading provider of innovative software that enhances and speeds up the diagnosis of patients. I joined Cirdan in August 2019 as a Junior UX Designer, collaborating with their design team to contribute to the development of ULTRA - a web based laboratory information system. This placement report shares the projects I engaged in and the wealth of experience I gained during this period.

Key Roles

Introducing dynamic prototypes into Cirdan's design process was one of my first accomplishments. These prototypes aid the understanding of how a function performs correctly, thus eliminating any confusion between the designers and developers. They also enabled designers to consider every small interaction that collectively shapes the overarching user experience - for instance, the sequence of feedback following a button click.

I was given the responsibility of redesigning the software's icons. The existing icons required a refresh as they didn’t represent their purpose and weren't consistent in design or size.

I led a thorough evaluation and enhancement of the existing design pattern library. The goal was to include new components and define a standardised layout that enhances accessibility.

Given the platform's emphasis on high-volume data entry with minimal user input, keyboard navigation was a huge focus. Delving into interactive states, tabbing orders and hotkeys, I contributed to crafting an interface that intuitively caters to efficient interactions.

A substantial part of my role revolved around the Community of Practice (CoP), a group established to engage with ULTRA's customer base. This is where we set up meetings and regular trips to gain feedback from our customers through demo & discussion sessions, interviews and usability testing. This hands-on involvement within the CoP really highlighted to me the importance of designing with the end users in mind.

In summary, my time at Cirdan was extremely valuable. Undoubtedly, the most influential year in my university journey as I learnt the importance of user research and contributed to building a product used by thousands of customers worldwide.