Design School Confidential

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project brief

This project is connected to the activities of a

research unit in medical design, located inside

the Venice hospital. It involves private business

fi rms and research centers giving students fi rst-

hand information about the most pressing prob-

lems, in order to devise experimental, innovative

solutions and to test them under real conditions.

The projects presented here deal with different

topics in the fi eld of medical information design.

One concerns the orientation and information

systems within hospital structures, a second

concerns the communicative interface of medi-

cal products and equipment. Another important

subject relates to the distribution and intake of

drugs in hospitals and at home. The signifi cance

of the communicative aspects in all these cases is

heightened by the widespread diffusion of digital

technologies and by the changing cultural profi le

of the users of such information systems.

project goal

The project brief expresses the needs of the dif-

ferent users of information systems as based on

previous contacts with various experts and medi-

cal institutions. But each student must develop

supplementary broad spectrum analyses and

interviews, to more thoroughly investigate their

topic and to create innovative and unconvention-

al design proposals.

The project explores different ways to solve

relevant social and personal problems by offer-

ing the right information at the right time to

people needing and providing medical care.

project outcome

Many of these projects, such as orientation sys-

tems for hospitals, electronic clinical records, and

vocal and tactile tools for blind people using dis-

pensers, are on the road to being realized.

21

Class: Master in Medical Design/

Information Design

Level: Masters

Faculty: Medardo Chiapponi

Duration of Project: One Semester plus Thesis

University IUAV of Venice /

Department of Art and Industrial Design

Venice, Italy

Medical Information Design

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MyKey, Universal Remote Control

for Vending Machines

Student: Erika Cunico

It’s important for vending machines to be acces-

sible to everyone, so they don’t create new social

barriers. This project analyzes the automatic dis-

tribution theme, from food distributors to ticket

machines, aiming to increase the use of this

technology to make it easily accessible to people

with impaired vision. The idea developed in this

project is to update existing machines with a new

technological device: MyKey, a remote control

that communicates with the vending machines

using Bluetooth technology. MyKey will tell blind

people which kind of vending machines or dis-

tributors are they in front of and what services

and possibilities each of them offers. Using the

remote control and its pad, they will be able to

select its functions. During this operation, the

person receives audio and physical feedback. For

example, a short acoustical sound or a light vibra-

tion will help the user identify their choice.

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Smart Wayfi nding Totem

Student: Carlo Busolin

The Smart Wayfi nding Totem

provides a fl exible solution to

wayfi nding in a hospital envi-

ronment. When one enters a

large and complex public space

such as a hospital, it is usual to

feel out of place and confused.

To solve this problem, I imag-

ined providing every hospital

visitor with an RFID transpon-

der, tagged with their destina-

tion, and leading them there

along the shortest path, with

the support of “intelligent”

totem poles. To achieve this, I

designed a dispenser that sup-

plies a tagpass containing an

integrated memory and anten-

nas to communicate with other

poles, purposely designed to

lead guests to their destina-

tions. The poles are fi tted with

a screen and specifi c hardware

able to exchange information

with the RFID card in the pass.

When guests bring their pass

close to the pole’s antenna, hid-

den inside a yellow shell, the

system reads their destination

and directs them appropriately

with an audio-visual message.

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