Artefact

SIMBA Decision Aid

Easing anxiety after breast cancer

  Design

Helping breast cancer patients understand and discuss their monitoring options

Imagine this: You just went through the emotional and physical hell of breast cancer treatment for months – maybe even longer. You suffered through chemo and lost your hair, changed your schedule and diet, did research, struggled to cope with your emotions and other people’s too, and possibly went into debt.

Like the three million women who survived breast cancer before you, you’re all too familiar with difficult health care choices. In the face of a high risk of recurrence, over the next five years you’re willing to go through a lot to make sure that if the cancer returns, you detect it early. Recently, more women and doctors are adding MRIs to the usual mammography as part of post-treatment monitoring, but should you? Extra tests can be inconvenient, expensive, and create anguish when false detections take time and work to resolve. You may even end up treating something that never would have caused a problem for you. You’re emotionally and physically exhausted and there’s little information available to help you make this decision.

This is the challenge Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) set out to address with their SIMBA study (Surveillance Imaging Modalities for Breast Cancer Assessment). Conducted between 2013 and 2016, the study goals were to conduct the largest-ever analysis of the effectiveness of mammography and breast MRI, then use the data to empower patients to select the right imaging solution. They gathered perspectives of patients and doctors, then began the analysis with 36,000 breast cancer exams. Early in 2016 they approached Artefact to design a decision aid that could help breast cancer patients understand and discuss their monitoring options.

“Human-centered design turned the insights from our research into a tool that can help breast cancer patients feel confident and comfortable with their decisions in time of high anxiety. SIMBA is a great example of what patient research and human-centered design can do together.”

Karen Wernli

Group Health Research Institute 

The SIMBA Decision Aid: minimizing surveillance anxiety through clarity and confidence


The SIMBA decision aid is designed for stage 0-III breast cancer patients who have not had double mastectomies, to help them learn the facts about mammograms and breast MRIs, receive personalized risks and benefit information based on imaging results from thousands of other women, and understand which option is more aligned with the things they care about. Today, there is no other place for women to get comprehensive information on this issue while reflecting on personal impact.

“This information has prompted me to talk to my oncologist about my breast density and if that would indicate an MRI might be warranted.”

Breast cancer patient

Artefact interview

Helping women develop an informed preference

The app walks women through what it’s like to experience each type of imaging, along with stories from women who have been through this decision, and provides a comparison of the various risks and benefits. Women are encouraged to reflect on what matters most to them (e.g., physical discomfort, health risks, cost), and note questions and concerns they’d like to share with their care team.

Personalization

Patients told us that personalization made the decision aid more valuable and interesting than any other resource. The personal report is tailored to each user’s unique medical history, and powered by GHRI’s data analysis. Each woman receives her own numerical, text, and pictograph descriptions of how often cancer will be correctly and incorrectly detected or missed with each type of imaging. The report highlights factors that are personally important, as well as the option she currently favors.

Value reflection

As a woman goes through the decision aid, she is prompted with questions to capture her values. Prompts ask for her current stance, then the factors she finds most important (e.g., avoiding false detections, health risks of the procedure, cost, duration). We designed these prompts to encourage reflection on each topic and capture data that can be included in the personal report in order to guide discussions with family members and doctors.

Science-backed visualizations

We know that small design decisions – like the order in which information is presented or the type of visualization used – have the potential to unintentionally bias women toward one option over another. To reduce bias in our design, we consulted behavioral economics, cognitive psychology and human-computer interaction literature on factors known to influence decision-making and risk perception.

Accessible information

Communicating complex medical information to a wide audience can be especially challenging. Working with a plain language expert from GHRI, we carefully reviewed language we used to ensure that women would be able to easily understand the information regardless of their level of education or English proficiency. To improve readability, we organized the information by topic using a “card metaphor” and used large headers to help orient the patient in the tool.

An invaluable resource for shared decision-making

Rather than a tool for making a final decision, the SIMBA decision aid was designed to be part of a larger, shared decision-making process. Breast cancer patients can use the site to develop an informed preference, and then talk to their doctors and family members about which way they’re leaning. Features like mobile optimization, printing, and emailing ensure the personal report can easily be brought to the doctor’s office. The report highlights questions the patient has for her doctor, as well as her self-reported priorities, to help guide the conversation.

What we delivered

+ Generative research

+ Foresight

+ Concept envisioning

+ Experience design

Learn more about our expertise

SIMBA Decision Aid in the news

Fast Company

Post-Cancer Checkups Are Stressful —

This Decision Aid Is Designed To Help





Next project

AIM


Healthcare in the age of AI



Chronicle

From health data and devices to insights and decisions

  Strategy

Chronicle is our vision for how devices, data and decisions can come together in a real time, context-rich solution.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic conditions that can be controlled but not cured, like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, are the leading cause of death and disability in the United States, accounting for 70% of all deaths. Treating people with chronic conditions accounts for 86% of the costs in our nation’s healthcare system.

But while the macro numbers are staggering, the real-world challenges to an individual who lives with one or multiple chronic conditions are even more impactful.

From daily management of symptoms and medications to constant worry about how new situations and environments might trigger a crisis, if you are one of the 50% of US adults who live with a chronic condition, your quality of life is constantly under threat.

So we asked ourselves – if more than 90 million healthcare and fitness devices shipped in 2015 alone, if people themselves embrace managing their wellbeing through the 165,000 health apps available today, and if patients are willing to share their data to improve health outcomes for themselves and others, shouldn’t there be a way for people with chronic conditions to see and use the experiences of others to create more positive outcomes for their health?

This is the premise of Chronicle, our concept for a cloud-based platform and smartphone app that integrates real-time environmental, device, biometric, and self-reported data from people with shared health factors. Chronicle helps people quickly gain meaningful insights and make more effective decisions regarding their chronic conditions using real-time, shared data.

“Artefact demonstrates how [big data] might be useful in immediate, day-to-day interventions.”

Mark Wilson

FastCo Design

Personalized, relevant, real-time insights in the right context

If you don’t live with a chronic condition, choices like which route to take as you walk to work, are often simple and unconscious ones. But for someone with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), for example, it can be a critical decision that may end up costing her physical pain, time in the hospital, and unexpected medical bills. If they take a more scenic, but longer, more strenuous route, without taking into consideration their current state or environmental factors, they risk a significant health setback.


These are the people Chronicle is designed to help. The app prompts users to develop a personalized profile based on their conditions and symptoms as well as device and sensor availability. Chronicle analyzes and matches one patient profile and layered, real-time contextual factors, to that of others with similar attributes and in similar contexts. It then surfaces insights and alerts that help the person make smarter choices about everyday life. In the case of our COPD scenario, Chronicle can alert the patient that in similar situations, people with similar clinical profile, symptoms, and biometric measurements were able to safely complete a strenuous walk.

Enabling discovery, promoting understanding, encouraging action


While the symptoms of chronic conditions vary, people seek to understand what their symptoms mean, want to discover what impacts how they feel, and need to know how their actions may make their daily lives better. The Chronicle core experience is designed with each of these goals in mind. Insights, considerations, and the ability to explore personal historic trends give people deeper understanding of how their symptoms change in different circumstances. A special high-sampling tracking mode can be activated when a patient decides she needs extra monitoring or guidance, for example when she decides to try a new activity. Proactive alerts and cross-device notifications keep her up to date on what she should know even when she is not focusing on the app.

“If gathering data from my suffering could save someone else from suffering, then for heaven’s sake, please do it.”

Woman living with MS

Support for multiple conditions

Unlike single-focus solutions, Chronicle allows patients to explore multiple conditions at once. This is especially important as chronic conditions often lead to other complications and comorbidities.

Open integration with connected devices

As more and more consumer and medical devices come online, they generate valuable data that can help create a detailed picture of one’s health. We envision Chronicle as an open platform that integrates data from many sources and creates a multidimensional understanding of chronic conditions.

Patient engagement through familiar tools

Chronicle is designed to support the emotional needs of people with chronic conditions. We designed the experience to feel more like communicating with a friend or a guardian and less like a medical device or doctor’s visit.

An app that is always on, a patient that is always in control


As we move to a world where patients are becoming more engaged and making more decisions about their care, it is important to empower them with control over the data they track. Unlike other health apps, which make assumptions about why the user has engaged with the app (and predisposes them to a certain experience tone and workflow), Chronicle allows patients to define the experience which will be most meaningful to them. Chronicle supports this need with an easily glanceable sensor screen and the ability to quickly turn sensors on / off for different views on how they are doing and how they can learn from the data of others like them. The system can learn how people prioritize symptom input and what insight cards are most useful, and then the system can make recommendations to other users on how their experience is best structured.

Chronicle in the news

Fast Company

What iPhone-Based Health Care Could Look Like In 10 Years





Next project

Microsoft Emerging Markets


Understanding South African youth and mobility




Vizable by Tableau

A mobile app for data exploration

  Design

Vizable turns data into beautiful, interactive visualizations that can be shared right from an iPad.

These days, data is quite literally everywhere. Small business owners keep track of their sales and profit margins; the health nut may keep tabs on how many miles run or calories consumed; cities publish stats on growth voting and construction; plus so many more examples.

We are constantly logging data and filing it away, with minimal ways to see what it all means and understand how it impacts us. As more of this data is collected and made publicly available, the ability to visualize it is becoming increasingly important.

Tableau, the industry leader in visual analytics, is on a mission to help people see and understand their data. Recognizing that there is currently no good way to get a quick visual of spreadsheet data on a tablet, Tableau envisioned Vizable: a new application that turns data into beautiful, interactive visualizations that can be shared right from an iPad.

Tableau partnered with Artefact to bring that vision to life and bridge the gap between complexity and clarity. Together with Tableau, we focused on designing a user experience that helps people grow into asking deep questions that data can answer on their iPads.

Our goal was to give people engaging tools that encourage them to explore, while making sure the data remains the hero. From the moment the user opens the app, static spreadsheets become living visualizations that they can flip, move and sculpt, bringing the data to life. From the business owner and event planner, to the health fanatic or anyone with a tablet and some data, Vizable brings the power of data to your fingertips, no server or other expensive products required.

Vizable is a free application available now through the iPad app store here.

“Ultimately, Vizable wants to make deciphering data approachable, intuitive, even enjoyable.”

Meg Miller

FastCo Design

An experience of guided exploration

Vizable aims to help people create a better understanding of how to manipulate data. To help users grow into asking more insightful questions and using the powerful tool to its full potential, together with Tableau, we identified the key interactions to get them started and created a first run experience that teaches people enough to learn the rest by exploring on their own.

A new way of thinking with new interactions

Vizable’s dynamic, interactive experience puts it closer to a generative drawing tool than to a cumbersome spreadsheet. This new interaction model helps people quickly grasp not just actions, but a way of thinking. For instance, a slide-in menu makes powerful functionality like slicing filters easily available without forcing users to memorize all of the app’s gestures.

“The rise of big data has put considerable wind into the sails of visualization tools like Tableau, but it’s also put a new premium on simplicity and accessibility…Vizable [is] a free new iPad app that puts sophisticated analytics capabilities at users’ fingertips.”

Katherine Noyes

IDG

Data sculpting:
The science of data and the art of design

Tableau’s unique animation engine can give people deeper insights into the connections between data. Together, we connected the animations to intuitive gestures that make the interactions and implications of data manipulation direct and tangible. Finding the right balance between transitions that are dynamic and engaging, yet precise and readable was key to developing a design that isn’t “dumbed down.”

Starting off on the right foot

We created several animated tutorials to give users an introduction into the subtle but powerful interactions housed in Vizable. From how to add and rearrange columns to changing fields and filtering, new users will instantly be able to see their data come to life.

Learn by doing

We worked with Tableau to introduce a filter menu in Viable to make key functions of the application available even when users have not yet learned the shortcut touch gesture to perform them. This gives users the chance to see and understand the power of the application right away, and learn more about shortcuts like swipe, pinch, and drag and drop over time.

See the full picture

Going full-screen allows users to push all the buttons, palettes, and tools out of the way, elevating Vizable’s core feature and functionality: data visualizations. Subtle UI features like this let users focus on the data, not on the interface.



Tableau’s Vizable comes at a time when the need to understand data is no longer only the job of the data analyst.

We can download all kinds of information from our finances and fitness to open civic data, but what does it mean? Vizable represents an opportunity to visualize that information, play with it, shape it and manipulate it with our fingers in a way that will help turn those endless spreadsheets into meaningful information.




What we delivered

+ Generative research

+ Concept envisioning

+ Strategic assessment

+ Experience design

Learn more about our expertise


Vizable in the news

Fast Company

An Easy, Intuitive Tool For Making Sense Of Your Data

PC World

Tableau’s new Vizable app puts analytics at your fingertips





Next project

Baobab


Supercharging scholarship for change



Dialog

Designing a wearable for chronic conditions

    Strategy

Dialog helps people with epilepsy live their lives to the fullest.


At Artefact, we believe that design can play an important role in helping achieve better health outcomes. By aligning contexts to experiences, building deeper connections between patients and their caregivers, and surfacing clear paths to better decisions, we can improve the life and care of the more than 130 million Americans who live with a chronic condition.

Dialog is a concept designed to help people with epilepsy gain a deeper understanding of their condition and make better decisions about their care. It gives them an easier way to manage triggers and thresholds while it empowers them to use assistance from family caregivers, first responders, and clinicians as needed.

Dialog consists of a wearable module that collects a range of meaningful data about the patient and her environment while a smartphone app provides the patient with insights into the factors that trigger events or lower thresholds.

The platform can connect to the person’s family and caregivers or even educate bystanders in cases of emergency. The easy, lightweight data input lets the patient log key information about her condition and subtle notifications help the patient respond better.

“I like the idea of a lot of smaller, simple device which is connected to you. This is about your health. It should not be lost in everyday social life on a phone.”

Jody R.

Person with epilepsy 

How can we give people with epilepsy a sense of control?


In the U.S. alone, nearly 3 million people live with epilepsy. 50,000 die from epilepsy-related cause each year. It affects more people than multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson’s combined. Yet current solutions fail to address more than one aspect of the condition, or are so cumbersome to use that they become a constant reminder of the condition that defines the person’s life. Design thinking and new technologies like miniature biometric and environmental sensors, low energy draw displays, and flexible printed circuit boards allow us to build innovative solutions that make managing and living with complex conditions easier.

Dialog gives people a sense of control in all aspects of their life by helping them learn about their condition and answer the question of what causes seizures, as well as warning and preparing them for seizures before they happen. Dialog reminds the wearer to take their medications and helps them get more informed support from family caregivers and first responders while comprehensive biometric and environmental data also gives them the ability to better collaborate with their physicians.

“Designers often talk about doing good, but Artefact actually backs it up.”

Kyle Vanhemert

WIRED

Detailed reporting that delivers insights from multi-dimensional data


The Dialog patient and family caregiver apps provide an easy way to interpret logs of observable symptoms and overlay that with data about relevant events and activities, providing rich insights over time of factors that may change thresholds or trigger events.

Better insights, better treatment


The Dialog patient and family caregiver apps provide an easy way to interpret logs of observable symptoms and overlay that with data about relevant events and activities, providing rich insights over time of factors that may change thresholds or trigger events.

Early warnings


Dialog communicates to the patient or family caregivers the potential onset of a seizure so that the patient can proactively get to a safe setting or take any preventative action possible to prepare for the seizure.

Flexible wearing styles


Different wearing styles, as a patch on the body or a bracelet on the wrist, allow the patient to determine where to place the device, depending on how discreet they want to be. This flexibility takes into account the person’s emotional needs and how she manages her condition.

Support when needed the most


In cases of emergency, a bystander app provides first responders with instructions on how to help the patient.

A glimpse of a possible reality


The components that can make a concept like Dialog possible are already being developed and tested. Creating innovative experiences that help people understand and manage their conditions better will empower them to live better lives – that’s creating a preferable health outcome by design.

A comprehensive solution for a complex condition 


Dialog helps people with epilepsy achieve a deeper understanding and make better decisions about their condition. By considering all stages of epilepsy—pre-event, event, recovery, and living—we were able to design a solution that impacts the entire experience of living with epilepsy, not just one aspect of it. Dialog enables natural, frictionless time stamping of seizure onset and auras via a wearable module that is discreet and responds to intuitive gesture interactions. The platform allows the patient and family caregiver to report on observable symptoms, as well as other relevant activities and events. This is collected along with key biometric and environmental data. Over time, patients have access to a log of aggregate and multi-dimensional data that allows them to learn from past experiences and make decisions in the moment.


The wearable module can detect changes in threshold and can communicate to the patient or her caregivers, so that they can get to a safe setting or take preventative actions to prepare for the seizure. During a sustained seizure, the Dialog bystander app notifies nearby first responders and gives them instructions on how to help the person through the emergency. It also provides a direct line of communication to the family caregiver. The settings of the apps are configured by the patient, giving them flexibility and control over the extent to which they engage caregivers or bystanders. After a seizure, the Dialog patient app refers the patient to key contextual data to help reorient them and fill in any cognitive gaps from the event.


Finally, Dialog features a flexible form factor, giving the patient the opportunity to wear it in a way that fits with her lifestyle. The different gesture interactions, together with the flexible adhesive form factor, allow the patient to wear the device and easily input data even when placed under clothes. A bracelet form factor is for patients who would embrace the opportunity to feel special and proud. Dialog is a promise, but the technology components that could make it a reality are not far on the horizon. Most are currently being developed, prototyped, and tested.


Beyond epilepsy


According to the Center for Disease Control, chronic conditions are by far the leading cause of mortality in the world, representing 63% of all deaths. In the United States alone, 75% of adults aged 65 and older are living with a chronic condition such as heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, and diabetes. Chronic disease accounts for $3 in every $4 of health spending in the U.S. The issue however is not just prevention, mortality, and cost. It is about an approach to care that allows people to live as freely as possible despite chronic conditions.


We decided to focus on epilepsy because we wanted to explore a solution that can improve the patient experience for one of the most complex, unpredictable, and misunderstood conditions. Ultimately, our approach to building deeper connections and driving better decisions in the context of the patients’ lives can be applied to multiple chronic illnesses.


Dialog in the news

Fast Company

An iWatch For Epileptics, With A Brilliant UI

WIRED

Three Ideas Wearable Designers Should Steal from this Smart Medical Device

dezeen

Epilepsy aid uses wearable sensors to predict seizures and call for help

MedCity News

Way beyond a watch: Sensor + app + bracelet combo is the future of wearables

PSFK

Epilepsy Tracker Explores How Wearable Tech Can Ease The Pain Of Chronic Conditions





Next project

10,000ft + 10,000ft Insights


Planning and collaboration for creative teams



Juice Box

A concept to empower the developing world

Juicebox portable battery with two cables connected to a cell phone and external battery.

  Technology

Safe and reliable access to electrical power, no matter where you live.

Juice Box is an open energy system concept that allows people to capture energy from multiple sources, store and transport it to where it is needed, and power devices even in the remotest locations.

Designed to be flexible, Juice Box supports multiple energy sources—from the electrical grid, to solar, car battery, or even kinetic. It is our vision for a simple device that gives people, regardless of where they live, safe and reliable access to much-needed electrical power.

We centered the design on human needs to improves one’s ability to work, learn, get access to information, create better living conditions, or begin new business opportunities.

“From set top boxes to mobile UIs, the Seattle design firm Artefact is justly proud of its tech savvy. So when guest editor Bill Gates wished for a recharge-anywhere power source, we went to Artefact for help.”

Cliff Kuang

WIRED

How can we bring electricity to 1.2 billion people who live without it?

More than one billion people, or 20% of the world’s population, live without electricity. Vast rural areas in Africa and Asia are without power, limiting access to education, health, safety, and social mobility. Simply put, lack of electricity means permanent poverty. While the places where people live without electricity vary widely—in natural resources and seasons, they share a technical ingenuity, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a sense of community. Our challenge was to design a solution that addresses the energy access problem for the largest number of people possible in a way that gives them the freedom to build a better future. Our timeline was four weeks.

“1.2 billion people live off the power grid. This prototype from Artefact could make a big difference for them.”

Bill Gates

via Twitter

Detachable LED light

The detachable light has versatile settings for task and ambient lighting, enabling people to work or study after dark.

Swappable and stackable batteries

Swappable batteries with a USB port can be stacked together for extra energy or rented out, creating new business opportunities. 

Source-agnostic input panel

The input panel safely connects to multiple sources, including raw cables.

Multiple outputs, immediate impact

Multiple outputs could power phones or tablets, a smoke-free stove, air purifiers, medicine refrigerators, and more – all improving the health of families.

Never powerless

A clear display calculates time remaining so people can plan ahead. An attachable dynamo harnesses kinetic power and enables manual charging in emergencies.


Juice Box in the news

WIRED

4 World-Changing Products Dreamed Up by Bill Gates

Fast Company

This Small Box Collects Power From Almost Any Source, From A Bike To The Wind

GeekWire

GeekWire Radio: Amazon Drones, Artefact’s ‘Juice Box,’ a beautiful app and a classic console challenge

Seattle Times

Seattle-based Artefact designs concept model for Bill Gates wishlist item





Next project

Storyboard VR


Download a free tool to prototype VR ideas




DreamBox Learning

A dashboard for success in education

  Design

Turning data into insights that improve learning outcomes.

One of the most promising applications of edtech is the ability to generate and analyze data, which empowers a deeper understanding of how students learn. By obtaining individual insights and developing a more personalized learning experience for students, teachers can be empowered with the data needed to differentiate instruction for all students, transforming the way students learn math.

This is the mission of DreamBox Learning® Math. Its Intelligent Adaptive Learning platform uses formative data embedded within and between lessons to tailor lessons for each individual student and motivating them using game-based strategies and engaging behavioral nudges that get students excited about math.

The platform analyzes 48,000 data points per hour, per student. To fully utilize the rich and deep data, the company wanted to move beyond spreadsheet reports and deliver easy to interpret, actionable insights that are relevant for each type of user. Recognizing the complexity of the challenge, DreamBox Learning sought a partner whose design and development expertise could help bring their vision of personalized learning to life.


Relevant, Actionable, and Easy to Interpret Data

Artefact partnered with DreamBox Learning Math to create their new Insights Dashboard, an intuitive, actionable application that features nearly real-time data visualizations that allow educators to turn data into insights.

With easy-to-read progress reports, a simple and clear information architecture that supports the different needs of different users, and a rich set of instant monitoring and notification tools, the dashboard has been redesigned to help educators better understand and implement insights about student learning.

The Insights Dashboard helps teachers and administrators make confident, personalized decisions about how, and when, they connect with students.

Architecting complexity

The ability to use one massive data set to tell unique stories to multiple users creates an interesting design challenge. We built a navigation structure that creates a common experience across a range of scenarios. The navigation of the new Insights Dashboard allows the platform to show contextually appropriate views of the same data, making it easy for DreamBox users to access the information most relevant to them. A school administrator can see data across the district, school, and class levels together, whereas a principal’s view is focused only on their school and classrooms. Teachers see classroom and student data, and can make in-the-moment decisions about whether to stay the course or pivot to accelerate, differentiate, or remediate instruction.

“With a human-centered approach to technology at their core and a passion for education technology to match, Artefact was the natural partner for DreamBox Learning.”

Jessie Woolley-Wilson

CEO, DreamBox Learning

Scalable, role-based,  context-relevant information that matters

The Insights Dashboard navigation and information displays are scalable and designed to meet the needs of different user personas. Teachers can hone in on individual student performance, while school administrators can compare progress across grades, classrooms, and schools.

Balance between common standards, flexibility, and control

As schools focus on curricula that align to common standards, the Insights Dashboard helps educators view real-time insights to learn when to stay the course or when to modify and differentiate instruction. At a time when funding is often tied to performance, administrators can now quickly identify which schools – or educators – may need additional resources or support, and how their student population are tracking to grade-level proficiency. 

Finding new patterns and timely opportunities to intervene through learning trends

The Insights Dashboard not only highlights individual achievements, but provides a historic overview of learning trends within a classroom, school, or district – giving educators new ways to analyze progress or discover new patterns and dependencies. 

Focus on the right student at the right time

Student spotlights elegantly show student proficiency in the context of his or her peers, alerting instructors to opportunities and needs for remediation or additional challenge. The Insights Dashboard is also designed to support activity feeds that could prompt teachers when a student is falling behind or when they’ve mastered a new skill, making one-on-one communication not only simple, but timely and effective. 

From big data to meaningful data

Most reporting systems are all about data intensity—cramming as many numbers and metrics into a platform as possible. But all of that information is meaningless without the ability to hone in and illuminate it in actionable ways. We designed interactive report building blocks to produce relevant and meaningful insights. Easily customized visualizations allow for quick data exploration and targeted decision-making. For example, the new visualizations make it easy for teachers to track and compare student progress across the curriculum, helping identify where to provide guidance and when to celebrate success.

More time to engage students

Adding more technology to classrooms does not solve one of the biggest problems educators still face: they are pressed for time and supplying personalized attention to all students is nearly impossible. To make it easier for educators to track student performance in real time, we designed monitoring and notification features that align with educators’ goals. As a result, teachers are able to differentiate instruction early and often.

What we delivered

+ Generative research

+ Foresight

+ Concept envisioning

+ Experience design

+ Evaluative research

Learn more about our expertise





Next project

Behavior Change
Strategy Cards


Encouraging positive behavioral outcomes



10,000ft + 10,000ft Insights

Planning and collaboration for creative teams

 Technology

10,000ft gives creative organizations and their thinkers a big-picture view of their business, teams, and projects.

Managing workflow and resources is a challenge for any creative company, Artefact included. When we couldn’t find a simple and efficient tool for resource planning, painless time tracking, and organizing our ideas, we decided to build one.

10,000ft is a design-inspired visual resource collaboration tool. It allows dynamic organizations – and the creative thinkers they employ – to get a big-picture view of their business, teams, and projects.

It also enables easy collecting and sharing of ideas in a unified project space called 10,000ft Insights, which facilitates timely and relevant feedback and helps organizations share and retain knowledge across disciplines.

10,000ft and 10,000ft Insights promote autonomy, independence, and a unique ability to make real-time strategic decisions based on complex data, which ultimately leads to more opportunities to innovate. To sign up for your free project, visit www.10000ft.com.  

More flexibility, better insights

In the ever-changing environment of teams, people, and projects, we constantly have to make strategic decisions on the fly. Faced with the reoccurring need to adjust plans, reshuffle priorities, or reassign employees, we created a way to capture the big picture of what makes our business successful. We also established better insight into available resources, utilization, and projected workloads, while keeping our projects profitable and on time, and our creative workers independent and autonomous. 10,000ft addresses all of your project pipeline planning and day-to-day operational needs.

“Where the product shines is as a budgeting tool, constantly accounting the man hours on a project, giving instantaneous projections as to whether or not a project is within its financial bounds.”

Mark Wilson

Fast Company

A flexible architecture that matches the creative process


10,000ft Insights consists of sparks, groups, and projects that give you the ability to dive into the details of specific ideas or look at the project’s big picture, depending on your role on the team. Designed to support seamless grouping and organization, as well as commenting on every level, the tool adds structure to your process by grouping similar ideas or related insights together, regardless of their source. No more searching for files and folders, slides and decks, photos of whiteboard brainstorms or emails.

10,000ft Highlights

A clear, intuitive, flexible interface

A simple, dynamic, and visual interface features drag and drop interactions, visual controls, and requires minimal data entry for easy resourcing, scheduling, and forecasting.

Empowers the creative worker

Personalized information helps individuals make decisions autonomously while remaining accountable to the organization.

Real-time, actionable data

Real-time project statuses show the impact of scope and resource adjustments. Changes are recorded in an activity feed for decentralized decision-making.

Efficient resource planning

Personalized pages for team members display time-per-project. An innovative time-tracking experience requires users to simply confirm time.

Customizable reports and analytics

Instant analytics and reports that can be customized in a few clicks without the need to program formulas.

Strengthen collaboration for confident decision-making.


Each of the 10,000ft Insights analysis tools generates data that can be visualized to quickly understand the impact of everyone’s input. As a result, you can make objective decisions based on meaningful, even subjective input – requirements, feedback, principles, or values. More importantly, you can clearly communicate the rationale of your decision to other stakeholders or clients. Recording the thinking behind every micro-decision along the way allows you to revisit decisions or quickly bring new team members, internal or external, up to speed.

“We’ve heard a lot about the importance of design in business, and tools like 10,000ft [Insights]…are manifestations of that new focus.”

Liz Stinson

WIRED

10,000ft Insights Highlights

Collect and organize ideas and content in a shared space

Easily add, group, and comment on files, notes, images, and other project content to create a collaborative space for teams to share insights and perspectives.

Gather input from multiple perspectives

Capture input from people with different areas of expertise. By layering multiple tools on top of each other, you can create a balanced perspective of the problem or challenge and ensure that everyone’s contribution is considered.

Take your ideas further with built-in design thinking tools

Analyze your ideas and content by choosing from a gallery of design thinking tools like feature prioritization, voting, and SWOT analysis.

Drive confident decisions with your clients and stakeholders

Visually synthesize the group’s process and analysis to help stakeholders understand the impact of everyone’s input and evaluate alternative scenarios based on shifting priorities.

Innovation: Accelerated

10,000ft and 10,000ft Insights help you plan and deliver stronger collaboration between teams, clarity and transparency in the design process, and ultimately, achieve decisions, direction, and success with confidence.

What we delivered

+ Generative research

+ Foresight

+ Concept envisioning

+ Strategic assessment

+ Experience design

+ Evaluative research

Learn more about our expertise


10,000ft in the news

WIRED

This New Tool Helps Designers Find Better Insights

Fast Company

A Project Management Tool Built For Some Of The Country’s Best Design Firms

GeekWire

Artefact spinoff launches first product: 10,000ft helps manage projects, people





Next project

PATH


How design can improve maternal health



Magic Leap

Reimagining reality with Magic Leap


Technology

Magic Leap pushes the boundaries of how digital content can be brought to life in the real world.

In August of 2018, Magic Leap introduced a groundbreaking addition to the world of mixed reality with the launch of the Magic Leap One Creator Edition, a spatial computing system that pushes the boundaries of how digital content can be brought to life in the real world. But how do you design a user experience in a medium like mixed reality that is being built from the ground up? This is the challenge that makes Magic Leap One an impressive accomplishment and a fascinating design challenge.

Artefact had the privilege of working alongside Magic Leap designers, artists and engineers to imagine, design and prototype the operating system of the Magic Leap One, LuminOS. As an entirely new kind of computer working with digital lightfields and the human brain, the mixed reality user experience was a complete blank slate and there were no established design rules or paradigms to follow. Artefact helped Magic Leap to build a user experience in LuminOS that puts people first in the Magicverse.

“Artefact shares our vision for the future of spatial computing. They provided the frameworks and prototyping tools that enabled our designers to iterate within a medium that didn’t yet exist. And their talented, multifunctional team helped us bring delight and a focus on the user to all phases of the design process.”

James Powderly

Director of UI/UX, Magic Leap

LuminOS: A whole new operating system

LuminOS is at the heart of everything on the Magic Leap One Creator Edition and manages all typical OS functions. It has been specially designed to enable functionality unique to spatial computing and to make software development simple. Additionally, a complete set of Perception services manage environment and user sensing, custom audio and graphics services, high performance compositing and other services that support the seamless blend of the virtual into the users’ real world.

We worked closely with Magic Leap’s design team, to help craft an experience that stays true to the user’s notions of depth, space and the laws of physics, while also introducing new behaviors and abilities that are authentic to spatial computing. This allows even the most magical of digital objects to feel grounded in a consistent and clear experience. As a result, LuminOS empowers Magic Leap users to fully integrate their digital lifestyle and to experience Magic Leap One in a way that is as comfortable as it is captivating.

Magic Leap: A remarkable project

Artefact was thrilled to work with a visionary company like Magic Leap to imagine the next era of spatial computing and mixed reality. Seeing Magic Leap One Creator Edition come to life has been incredibly exciting, and we look forward to watching Magic Leap help creators continue to unlock the boundless magic and opportunity of mixed reality.

“Artefact supported our team with their incredible expertise, design mentorship, and innovative and trailblazing spirits.”

Savannah Niles

Design Lead, UI/UX, Magic Leap





Next project

USAFacts


A trustworthy source for civic engagement




VICIS ZERO1

Protect the athlete, elevate the game

Technology

The ZERO1
improves player safety while increasing comfort and performance.

Research increasingly connects sports-related head injuries to chronic brain issues like light sensitivity, depression and anxiety. Yet, despite awareness and huge leaps in material science, today’s helmets are hardly different from the helmets Jim Brown and Johnny Unitas wore 50 years ago.

VICIS, a tech company that spun out of the CoMotion incubation lab at the University of Washington, is working to tackle this challenge with the ZERO1, a 21st century football helmet that is safer, sleeker and more functional.

At the core of VICIS’ innovation is the concept of local deformation. Designed to absorb the impact of a collision, the outer layers of the helmet slow acceleration and protect precious cargo, the brain.

Similar concepts may sound familiar, as they have been in use for years in the automotive industry. Borrowing from these industries and leveraging scientific principles to specifically address the issue of concussions, specifically, VICIS’ revolutionary ZERO1 helmet is designed to reduce the risk of head injury for football players.

VICIS recognized early on that superior technology alone does not guarantee a success and reached out to Artefact to design a helmet that is as functional as it is iconic. We embraced the opportunity to collaborate on the design of the ZERO1, a helmet poised to improve player safety while increasing comfort and performance.

“Artefact understood the critically important need to merge safety, form and function into the design of our new helmet. When we review our helmet designs with current and former NFL and NCAA players, they are consistently impressed by the look and feel of the ZERO1.”

Dave Marver

CEO, VICIS

Trusted,
Sleek,
Bold,
Iconic

In elite-level sports, the demands and requirements placed on equipment are extreme, making the job of designing a helmet a very complex one. We spent time with players and coaches, equipment managers, trainers and medical staff and learned to appreciate the complexity of diverse requirements and priorities.

We considered both the functional and human factors, as well as the emotional needs of the players, to deliver a design that reflected the ultimate equation of our research findings, achieving Performance through a balanced mix of Safety, Style and Comfort.

Professional football players are acutely aware of their personal brand. The design of the VICIS ZERO1 inspires confidence, balances style and function, expresses strength and personality, and stands out as unique and recognizable. The ZERO1 is a reflection not only of the values of the VICIS brand, but of the game itself – classic, bold and unforgettable.

Balancing comfort, safety and style for ultimate performance

A helmet needs be comfortable and trustworthy, allowing the player to focus exclusively on running their next route or making their next tackle. During a game, the helmet must be easy for equipment managers to adjust and quick to repair. In case of suspected injury, it must be quick and easy to remove the facemask and helmet. It can never get in the way of a player being on the field.

From the chinstrap to the facemask, the comfort liner to the occipital support – every part of the football helmet needs to meet the specific and often divergent requirements of players and equipment managers. Our goal was to develop a modern yet classic design, highlighting the innovation of VICIS technology while leveraging the components that have historically proven to work. We emphasized the essential over ornamental – with the goal of improving player safety and health outcomes.


VICIS ZERO1 in the news

Bloomberg Business

This Football Helmet Crumples — and That’s Good

WIRED

The Zero1 Flexible Football Helmet May Save Players’ Brains

The Daily Mail

The ‘inside out’ football helmet that crumples: Radical design that could reduce brain trauma






Next project

Juice Box


A concept to empower the developing world




USAFacts

A trustworthy source for civic engagement


Technology

Making government
data easy to understand

The United States government is vast in scope and spending. It serves 321 million people across 90,000 jurisdictions, spending more than $5 trillion a year.

The United States government is vast in scope and spending. It serves 321 million people across 90,000 jurisdictions, spending more than $5 trillion a year.

When USAFacts launched, more than 2.5 million people visited the site in the first 24 hours, a testament to the demand for a resource that helps people explore and understand government data and its impact.

Animated GIF of USAFacts website header showing where the US government's money comes from and where it goes.

“[USAFacts] looks nothing like its bureaucratic counterparts or startups like OpenGov, which also tries to organize and parse government data. Its typeface is pleasingly legible. The site navigation is intuitive. But most importantly, Artefact has made dry facts and figures actually feel engaging.”

WIRED

Uniting an unprecedented
amount of data in one place

USAFacts aggregates the data of more than 60 different government agencies, from the US Census to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To manage these huge quantities of information, we designed a website framework that brings a structured, unified feel to the data, allowing for easy exploration and understanding.

The framework organizes the information around the central missions of government: establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Visitors to the site start exploring the data at the highest level possible: overall revenue and spending. From there, they can dive deeper into more specific subject areas, like education or defense spending. Within these categories, users can dial in on the data from different perspectives and through different filters, drawing their own conclusions and forming a deeper understanding of government impact.

Animated GIF on the USAFacts website showing total US federal, state, and local government spending in 2014.

Bringing clarity and comprehension to complexity

Dozens of government agencies report data on different websites in a wide range of formats, from charts to tables to spreadsheets. Sifting through lines in spreadsheets to determine spending can be daunting even for experienced policymakers and journalists. USAFacts strives to make government data not just easier to find, but easier for everyone to understand.

To accomplish this, we designed a cohesive set of data visualizations that makes complex data clearer and more comprehensible. These visualizations scale across the website, bringing disparate data sets under the same unified organization and design. Data visualizations like flow diagrams and sparklines transform dense spreadsheets and convoluted charts into crisp, clean visuals so that numbers can be understood at a glance. These visualizations also offer interactive elements that help users digest the data, such as pop-up annotations and the ability to see changes over time.

Animated GIF on the USAFacts website of US K-12 education spending in 2012.

Without context, even good data can be misleading or misunderstood.


Data visualizations can make information easier to understand, but without context, even good data can be misleading or misunderstood. Because USAFacts strives to reduce confusion and increase comprehension, it is crucial that the website presents information without stripping away the context that gives the data meaning.

To retain context, the USAFacts website design allows exploration into detailed datasets while keeping the bigger picture in sight. When you explore a specific trend, USAFacts.org places related spending and measures alongside for perspective. For instance, you can view all employment data and then examine employment by age group, or compare education spending with graduation rates. The result is unlike any other data sites because the contextual design of USAFacts.org allows users to comprehend scale and relationships in addition to facts and figures.

Animated GIF on the USAFacts website of education and vocational rehabilitation and employment spending in the US from 1980 to 2015.

We want users to draw their own conclusions, so we let the numbers speak for themselves.

Many times, data visualizations are used to tell a story—think of the common infographic. And yet, because the goal of USAFacts is to be unbiased and objective, our design crucially avoids storytelling and editorializing. We want users to draw their own conclusions, so we let the numbers speak for themselves.

Although the data visualizations are minimalistic and engaging, each has a source button that enables users to easily verify all the information for themselves. The source button links to original data sets and provides information on publication dates. It also directs people to the government agencies involved so they can continue their research. What’s more, a whole section of the site is devoted to explaining the choices and methodology used to organize the government data. As a result, the design of USAFacts reinforces the credibility and trustworthiness of the initiative.

What we delivered

+ Generative research

+ Foresight

+ Concept envisioning

+ Experience design

Learn more about our expertise

USAFacts in the news

The New York Times

Steve Ballmer Serves Up a Fascinating Data Trove

WIRED

Steve Ballmer’s USAFacts Uses Smart Design to Make Sense of Government Spending

NPR

Former Microsoft CEO Launches New Tool For Finding Government Data

The Verge

Steve Ballmer’s new project: find out how the government spends your money

Fast Company

Steve Ballmer Spends Millions To Redesign Government Information

The Economist

A Form 10-K for America’s government

CBS News

Steve Ballmer on USAFacts: A database of government finances

CNN

Steve Ballmer launches USAFacts to track government spending





Next project

The Tarot Cards of Tech


Discover the power of predicting impact