Christian Richard

Interaction Designer, Philips Healthcare

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Design for Emergency Medical Services

What does designing an AED have to do with two ball bearings?

For people that experience sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), the chance of survival decreases approximately 10% for each minute that passes. Time is of the essence when performing a rescue, but Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel must frequently contend with noise, extreme temperatures, uncertain lighting conditions, and an unstable physical setting (picture an ambulance travelling over speed bumps). Creating an easy-to-use EMS device requires that we follow a user-centered design approach to ensure a device that meets up to this intense, high stakes environment. In his presentation, Christian will share his experiences and the process developing Philips’s latest Automated External Defibrillator. He will explain why, when designing for EMS, you need to know about the story of the two ball bearings.

Bio

Christian Richard is the lead UI designer responsible for Philips Healthcare’s award-winning Automatic External Defibrillators. He has championed a human-centered design process, leading extensive user testing with firefighters, police personnel, MERT teams, and hospital personnel, and has collaborated with healthcare teams at the Mayo Clinic and many EMS organizations across the United States.

He recently led a successful completion of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration Design validation testing initiative for 510k submission, and was proud to be a part of the team that won the iF product design award in 2009.

Christian has 15 years of international design experience, ranging from traditional print design to interaction design and usability. Born in Rhode Island, Christian graduated with a B.A. in Graphic Design and Typography from the University of Massachusetts and later received a Master’s Degree in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. His career started as a graphic designer with a small firm in Boston, followed by several years as an interface designer and brand consultant with IBM.

After obtaining his Master’s, Christian pursued a position in healthcare with Philips. For the last several years he has been designing the user experience for Philips EMS devices, and has served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Washington.