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Empowering Cardiac Patients Beyond Rehab

End-to-End Design

How I designed and validated a digital medical device to support long-term recovery and behavior change after heart attacks.

Empowering Cardiac Patients
Beyond Rehab

End-to-End Design

How I designed and validated a digital medical device to support long-term recovery and behavior change after heart attacks.

Empowering Cardiac Patients Beyond Rehab

End-to-End Design

How I designed and validated a digital medical device to support long-term recovery and behavior change after heart attacks.

Project Overview

Project Overview

Role: Lead UX Designer & Researcher | Timeline: 2021 - 2025
Role: Lead UX Designer & Researcher | Timeline: 2021 - 2025

→ Full design ownership from concept to market release
→ Close collaboration with CEO, CTO, developers, clinicians, and patients

→ Full design ownership from concept to market release
→ Close collaboration with CEO, CTO, developers, clinicians, and patients

Company: Switzerland-based MedTech Startup
Platform: iOS (Flutter), Android, Apple Watch, Polar Watch, Website, Web Dashboard
Main Tools: Adobe XD, Miro, Github

Company: Switzerland-based MedTech Startup
Platform: iOS (Flutter), Android, Apple Watch, Polar Watch, Website, Web Dashboard
Main Tools: Adobe XD, Miro, Github

Context & Challenge

Context & Challenge

After a heart attack, most Swiss patients receive 9-12 weeks of
rehabilitation, then they’re left alone.

Our solution set out to change that. As a certified medical product, it provides continuous support for cardiac patients as they return home, combining a mobile app with wearable data and clinical inputs. But designing for this vulnerable group - mostly men aged 60-80 - required care, creativity, and medical compliance.

This was one of the most meaningful and complex projects I’ve worked on.
I joined early and stayed through every phase - discovery to delivery.

After a heart attack, most Swiss patients receive 9-12 weeks of
rehabilitation, then they’re left alone.

Our solution set out to change that. As a certified medical product, it provides continuous support for cardiac patients as they return home, combining a mobile app with wearable data and clinical inputs. But designing for this vulnerable group - mostly men aged 60-80 - required care, creativity, and medical compliance.

This was one of the most meaningful and complex projects I’ve worked on.
I joined early and stayed through every phase - discovery to delivery.

“We wanted to help people stay safe and motivated, even without clinical supervision.
It wasn’t just about designing an app - it was about building a service patients could trust.”

“We wanted to help people stay safe and motivated, even without clinical supervision.
It wasn’t just about designing an app - it was about building a service patients could trust.”

Our Mission

My Process

My Process

Understanding the People

  • A lot of secondary research

  • Interviews with patients and clinicians

  • Workshops with stakeholders

  • Initial in-house usability tests with live app prototype

  • 3 longer-term formative studies with real-world app use over 3–8 weeks

  • 1 summative study for regulatory release (medical device compliance)

Understanding the People

  • A lot of secondary research

  • Interviews with patients and clinicians

  • Workshops with stakeholders

  • Initial in-house usability tests with live app prototype

  • 3 longer-term formative studies with real-world app use over 3–8 weeks

  • 1 summative study for regulatory release (medical device compliance)

Key Methods

  • Patient journey mapping

  • Personas & simulation profiles

  • Task analysis

  • User Stories

Key Methods

  • Patient journey mapping

  • Personas & simulation profiles

  • Task analysis

  • User Stories

Insights shaped every decision

  • Patients were afraid of doing too much - or not enough

  • They felt abandoned after rehab

  • Many were tech-savvy but needed emotional support and structure

  • Care teams were short on time but they wanted the best for their patients

"Even 80-year-olds could navigate it confidently."

"Even 80-year-olds could navigate it confidently."

Target User Insight

Typography. Simple.

Leveraged clean, but modern typography for readability and approachability.

Palette. Light.

Selected a turquois tones, and energetic colors for progress indicator to convey safety and confidence.

Navigation. Minimal.

Employed three menus, to reduce cognitive load and fuel findability. Tried to keep navigation simple throughout the iterations.

Designing the Service

I was responsible for all UX flows, wireframes, and architecture - always under medical device constraints.

  • Designed the entire iOS app: onboarding, adherence tracking, symptom reporting and more…

  • Developed web dashboard for clinical care teams and personal health coaches

  • Designed brand website with short deadline

  • Created process flows and service journeys, not just UI

  • Took part in designing operations around the system

  • Took part in designing clinical trial (metrics, e-CRF set up)

  • Collaborated closely with devs and wrote product specs, test cases, and UX documentation to align with ISO 13485 standards

  • Lead creation of the marketing materials including experimenting with new technologies (i.e. videos with help of AI)


High SUS Scores
Medical Device Approval
Behaviour change focused
End-to-End Design

We ran:

  • 3 formative studies (to shape the system)

  • 1 summative study (to prove that system is safe and does what it was designed to do)

Used mixed metrics & methods, including:

  • SUS, NPS, UTAUT model, CSUQ, Word Choice

  • Qualitative interviews

  • Tasks & Observation

  • Iterative design sessions

  • Affinity mapping

We ran:

  • 3 formative studies (to shape the system)

  • 1 summative study (to prove that system is safe and does what it was designed to do)

Used mixed metrics & methods, including:

  • SUS, NPS, UTAUT model, CSUQ, Word Choice

  • Qualitative interviews

  • Tasks & Observation

  • Iterative design sessions

  • Affinity mapping

Testing for Real-World Safety

  • Increasing SUS scores across all studies

  • Enabled product launch as a certified Software as a Medical Device (SaMD)

  • Provided evidence of safety and usability required for release

  • Enabled conducting randomised clinical trial

  • Patients reported increased motivation, reduced anxiety, and better health tracking

  • Initial data from clinical trial suggest improvements in some of the health metrics, adherence to rehabilitation plan and quality of life

Impact

  • Increasing SUS scores across all studies

  • Enabled product launch as a certified Software as a Medical Device (SaMD)

  • Provided evidence of safety and usability required for release

  • Patients reported increased motivation, reduced anxiety, and better health tracking

  • Enabled conducting randomised clinical trial


Impact

What I Learned

  • Real patient needs go far beyond interface: emotion, vulnerability, and trust are key

  • UX in health is a process that needs to satisfy many stakeholders (Patients, Care Teams, Insurances, Public institutions) and often conflicting needs

  • Medical UX requires balancing regulatory rigor with real-life empathy

  • Continuous feedback loops can shape safer, more effective care experiences

Ready to build simple tools for complex systems?

Curious how behavioral science, design, and health tech can come together?

Let's work together

Let's work together

Let's work together

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