Applying the principles of human-centered design to real-world health care challenges, from drug packaging to early detection of breast cancer.

This book makes a case for applying the principles of design thinking to real-world health care challenges. As health care systems around the globe struggle to expand access, improve outcomes, and control costs, Health Design Thinking offers a human-centered approach for designing health care products and services, with examples and case studies that range from drug packaging and exam rooms to internet-connected devices for early detection of breast cancer. Written by leaders in the field—Bon Ku, a physician and founder of the innovative Health Design Lab at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, and Ellen Lupton, an award-winning graphic designer and curator at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum—the book outlines the fundamentals of design thinking and highlights important products, prototypes, and research in health design.

Health design thinking uses play and experimentation rather than a rigid methodology. It draws on interviews, observations, diagrams, storytelling, physical models, and role playing; design teams focus not on technology but on problems faced by patients and clinicians. The book's diverse case studies show health design thinking in action. These include the development of PillPack, which frames prescription drug delivery in terms of user experience design; a credit card–size device that allows patients to generate their own electrocardiograms; and improved emergency room signage. Drawings, photographs, storyboards, and other visualizations accompany the case studies.

Copublished with Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Included in Fast Company's "14 most important books for designers to read right now."

"Presented in practical, approachable prose, it offers context, methods, and case studies sourced from the medical community, such as a hand-held device for detecting breast cancer or a clothing line with functional openings that people with chronic illnesses can wear during medical procedures. Graphics by Lupton’s longtime collaborator Jennifer Tobias bring the ideas to life."
—Architectural Digest

"Ku’s medical perspectives and Lupton’s sensitivities to the history and future of design take the reader on an entertaining journey that is not only fun, with one-liners inserted with surgical precision, but, with an abundance of case studies to illustrate their message, it is also very educational."
—Health Environments Research and Design Journal

"The healthcare system is ripe with challenges and opportunities for innovation. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted this issue more than ever. If you’re a designer working in healthcare, or interested in understanding how design is being used in a healthcare context, this book is for you. The book is filled with real-world projects and examples of applying design to health."
—Thinking Design