Product Ventures announced today that it has received the prestigious GOOD DESIGN award for its work on behalf of the medical equipment manufacturer, Smith+Nephew, on their TriVex System. Product Ventures designed an elegant, efficient single piece of equipment to be used to perform an emerging vascular surgery procedure. Javier Verdura, VP of design, led the Product Ventures' design team, which included Guy Wilkins and Matt Prancuk.
"We're extremely honored to receive such prestigious recognition from our global peers," said Verdura, "It's meaningful that the judges rewarded the TriVex design for its ingenuity. It simply and elegantly addresses the ergonomic and functional needs of dual end-users, each with a specific set of functionality requirements."
Product Ventures was asked by Smith+Nephew to design a single piece of medical equipment used to perform an emerging medical procedure for removing varicose veins. The primary design challenge was to further enhance the medical advance through a design befitting its innovation.
From Many Parts Emerges One Single, Elegant Design
Although perfectly functional, the old equipment configuration was in dire need of an ergonomic and efficiency overhaul. Five pieces of equipment, a web of cords, tubes, wires, multiple power sources, and biohazardous waste, were all competing for space on a single cart. The cumbersome combination of components forced medical staff into each other's work areas. Nurses were in the surgeon's way when required to check IV flow or eliminate medical waste. Further, with low-readability equipment panels, hard-to-reach controls, and an uncomfortable working radius, the set up was the cause for eyestrain, twisted necks, and shoulders. A typical vascular surgeon might do multiple procedures per day, compounding the level of fatigue and pain. The improved design had to allow the entire medical team to perform the procedure more easily and comfortably.
The design solution is a sleek, aesthetically pleasing "all-in-one" unit that meets the needs of the surgeon and procedure team. Evoking a high-end sensibility, clutter and incongruity have been replaced with an elegant arrangement of one unit, one plug, one switch, one panel. When viewed from a variety of perspectives, the form language of the clever bowed design, role-related accessibility, and the organization of controls & sterile fields visually communicate the surgeon and support staff space. In addition to improving functionality & aesthetics, the image makeover helps create a distinctive product identity for the client, Smith+Nephew.
Images: Product Ventures