Welcome!
9/26/2021
What's this blog about?
Welcome! I'm glad you're here. I created this blog for two reasons: to keep a record of some of the thoughts and inspirations that pass through my head an occupy my days, and to share these with folks that might be interested, like yourself.
I'm going to try to post a new entry here weekly, with emphasis on try. Pretty ambitious goal, but I do know I will have the content available to post, with the governing factor being able to find the time to post about it.
What I'm up to these days
Optum UXDS
By far the biggest news this week, maybe this year, perhaps this decade, is that I accepted an offer to join Optum's User Experience Design Studio as a Senior User Experience Designer. I am over the moon with excitement to begin the work.
From what I gathered from the JD and from the interviews, the role will have me doing a bunch of prototyping based on research I gather and acquire from teammates. I love the way they structure their teams: Optum has 180 designers.
Through its human-centered approach, UXDS is firmly committed to using design to drive innovative healthcare solutions—one human at a time.
Working as a consultancy in United Healthgroup, the UXDS dispatches a designer or two to a product team with engineers and product folks. Each week the designer will work with their team on the product they are assigned to, and huddle with the designers in the Design Studio at the end of the week to gut-check and get feedback. Sounds like a dream.
There is a fantastic article about the team at Design Museum Everywhere's blog here:
UnitedHealth Group and Optum Emphasize the Care in Healthcare
Tufts MS in HFE
I am enroled in the Human Factors Engineering Master of Science degree at Tufts University. My goal in persuing this is to add some more tools to my toolbelt when it comes to research to drive my design.
I am doing the program part time while I work as a user experience designer.
Human-machine systems and automation
When it comes to human-machine systems, I am very interested in prosthetics and how we can use machines to further medicine. "Bespoke Bodies is a major, traveling exhibition program exploring the relationship between craft, design, material, and the human body through tactile objects, case studies, user stories, design process, historical references, and future concepts." This is an amzing sounding exhibition at the Hartford Museum about the design of prosthetics! I'd love to check it out. Maybe I'll be able to get to CT to do so!
Tufts Master of Science in Human Factors Engineering
Bespoke Bodies: The Design & Craft of Prosthetics
An Epic Failure
Epic Systems, the leader in supplying electronic health records, was recently caught red-handed lying about the success of its AI algorithm to catch sepsis before it happens. "Epic claims that the predictions made by its Epic Sepsis Model (ESM) are 76 percent to 83 percent accurate, but there have been no credible independent tests of any of its algorithms — until now." In reality, it was found in an independent study that their software only generated alerts for 33 percent of patients, missing 67 percent who actually had sepsis. And of the alerts they did sound, only 12 percent (!!!) were correct, and 88 percent (?!?!?!) were false alarms, contributing to the already-present burden of alert fatigue in hospitals, among other things. Read more here: AN EPIC FAILURE: OVERSTATED AI CLAIMS IN MEDICINE
Some cool links
Fonts in Use
Font in Use is an amazing curated collection of gorgeous typography found in the world.
Design Museum Everywhere
Mission
Bring the transformative power of design everywhere.
I love this org.
I recently got to sit in on a very cool and nerdy Zoom session with some fantastic designers, an enjoy some lightning talks by inrmation Designer and Data Illustrator Gabriel Merit and Industrial Designer Michael DiTullo, and chat with members of the global design community.
The headliner, Debbie Millman, gave a wonderful closing talk at the end of the event, where she presented a very "behind-the-scenes" feeling look at the design process of the cover for her new book Why Design Matters.
Fonts In Use: An independent archive of typography.
Design Museum Everywhere from Design Museum Foundation on Vimeo.
Portfolio of information designer and illustrator Gabrielle Merite
Portfolio of industrial designer Michael DiTullo