This month, Design Department team members watched the sun rise over the New York City skyline while traveling to attend the first annual SciViz Conference. This day-long symposium on data visualization and other intersections of science and art showcased the great diversity and nuance of work in this field—and effectively turned the notion of science visualization as a clear-cut, linear process. Read more

Looking for icons to represent all the sections of the brain? How about an icon representing a bodily system like the nervous system? As a company that often uses iconography to create easily understood deliverables, we often find ourselves scrolling through a host of websites, looking for specific medical icons without success. Read more

This year, Design Science is excited to host our first ever international short term employees! Audrey and David both have European backgrounds, living and working in France and Germany, respectively, before joining Design Science. Audrey is working in the Design Department and David is working with our Human Factors team. We asked them to speak a little about the work culture of the United. Read more

The research that we do at Design Science is truly multidisciplinary; with experts in psychology, cognitive science, engineering, anthropology, and videography, we cover a pretty large range of academic and professional specializations. Read more

Verification and validation are two critical elements of product development. One informs the elements of a product’s design, while the other looks at those design elements in the hands of users. Although often used synonymously, these alliterative terms sit on opposite sides of the product development life cycle. Read more

Why Use Cadavers? The study of human anatomy using cadavers dates back to roughly 300 BC, when the Greek physician Herophilus started to use dissection to understand human anatomy. Since then, cadavers have served as a major aid to education and research. For medical students learning anatomy and surgeons perfecting their instrument techniques, cadavers provide physical training materials. What's. Read more

At Design Science, our research most often focuses on the environments of medical professionals—ORs, cath labs, clinics. Yet some of the most rewarding research I have conducted here has involved visiting patients’ homes. Accompanied by a videographer, I’ve traveled past cornfields and baseball diamonds to meet families that are coping with serious conditions and investigate how they are wielding. Read more

Human behavior can be hard to predict and even harder to explain. Study participants will often manage to do similar things in different ways, and they’ll rarely work with the same tools with equal proficiency. Read more

As a recent addition to the Design Science team, I know that there is a steep learning curve when it comes to the specific tools and skills needed for usability testing. There’s a lot to learn, from the nuances of interview styles and follow-up questioning to the requirements of study documentation and reporting. Thankfully, an effective training program can make all the difference when. Read more

How can experiencing information be poetic? What tools are at the forefront of data visualization? Should (ro)bots be designed more like C3PO or Iron Man? Read more