KCI Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

KCI asked us to identify new product opportunities for a potentially market-disruptive treatment for spinal cord injury patients, while training its innovation team in design research methods.

First we trained the KCI team in ethnographic methods, before they joined us in conducting in-context research in hospitals, assisted living facilities and patients’ homes with paraplegic and quadriplegic patients, caregivers, nurses, physiotherapists, doctors and medical directors, across 6 cities in the US. After the research, we applied a number of Human-Centred Design (HCD) methods to analyse and prioritise the findings. As a key outcome, we discovered and validated a new product category for KCI that would offer patients a novel suite of preventative tools for managing their health.

We also collaborated with the KCI team to adapt a range of design tools (personas, experience diagrams, ecosystem maps) that can be leveraged as KCI develops new product ideas, helping them create solutions based on the experiences, needs, and desires of real users.