The Delve Blog

I grew up in the 1970s when family dinner was all about conveniences like microwaves, canned food, frozen entrees and instant mashed potatoes. Taste … not so much.

I love to BBQ! I’m not talking a Sunday afternoon burgers on the grill. I’m talking pork shoulder, ribs and brisket. The kind of food you have to cook low and slow for hours over smoke-infused fire.

Living in Wisconsin I find that I need to have a certain mindset to embrace the change of seasons and prepare for the inevitable cold and snow that will eventually blanket the Midwest. Typical annual rituals for me involve putting snow tires on the car, winterizing the lawn mower and digging the snow blower out of the shed.

My six-year-old daughter wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up. Given the way she can rock a Sophia the First t-shirt and disco ball silver leggings, she may have an actual shot.

“Was it you?!?” Al points at the fake political sign stuck in his garden celebrating his 89th birthday. He can’t decide if he’s annoyed or amused. Al hates birthdays and that’s too bad because he’s had a ton of them.

Do you know someone who can absorb a vast amount of complex information about a problem and combine it into a cohesive, elegant solution?

I’m not going to beat around the bush — I’ve known I was on the docket for months now and assumed that some flash of genius worthy of a blog would present itself. But life got busy going into the field for a project, attending a destination wedding in California, and starting my MBA. So instead of a nice story that reads like your favorite episode of This American Life, here’s a few thoughts on “things I’ve noticed” over the last couple months. (And if you are a TAL fan imagine Ira Glass is reading this and it will totally redeem itself!)

Medical diagnostics is where the often unwieldy, slow-moving beast of healthcare collides with mind-blowing, quickly changing advances in technology. It is the behind-the-scenes intersection where healthcare workers interact with equipment, day in and day out, in hospitals, clinics, laboratories and universities. This is where fast and accurate results may mean the difference between someone getting the correct diagnosis and treatment in time and, well, not.

Here at Design Concepts, you’ll sometimes hear the term “co-creation” used on a project. Typically it’s used to refer to a kind of brainstorming activity we undertake with design research participants where we brainstorm together with them, our “users,” to co-create solutions for their needs.

A couple of weeks back I had one of those great experiences that makes this job absolutely unbeatable. We had the chance to visit a client who is wrapping up final testing on the prototype of a product on which we collaborated. Unfortunately, confidentiality still reigns on this project so I need to keep the exact client and project under wraps. But it looks like they’re pretty close to springing it on the market – and we’re pretty sure it’s going make a huge impact. It doesn’t just look and work great — it completely rethinks the industry. In short, it’s a wow.

We recently heard from a valued client of ours and learned some great news. Using the BioReactor we helped design and manufacture, Dr. Richard Hopkins and his team at Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, have been able to reach a major milestone in their development of a process for replacing heart valves in children.

Making a difference and calling attention to important issues through design is more achievable once designers get over the fact that they're not artists.

'Our healthcare system is unsustainable.' People who say this are usually speaking in terms of cost. But it’s also true in terms of medical device design.

“Dori-toes snack foot!” design strategist Dan Sarbacker announced proudly holding a half-sheet sharpie sketch.

How might Leonardo da Vinci operate as a UX designer in the year 2014? I sent him a time machine and asked him.

User interface design patents are more important than ever. Here are tips for designers on how to make the UI patent process work for you.