Johnson & Johnson
Managing the Design of the Industry's Most Complex Knee Replacement Solution
2015 | Lead Industrial Designer & HF Engineer
Attune Revision is the most complex knee replacement system in the world. Across the platform, there are more than 10 different revision solutions with numerous implant configurations.
I led the design and strategy of the project that had over 1200 instruments.
Business Objective
Ensure that the new Attune Revision System looks and feels like the Attune Primary System. Lead and own a visual brand language that can scale across the product portfolio.
Design Objective
Apply Attune's new visual design language to Attune Revision while maintaining cost targets and quality craftmanship.
DESIGN REVOLUTION
I joined Johnson & Johnson in the midst of a design revolution. For the first time, JNJ was looking to invest significantly into design and human factors - something the 100-year-old company hadn't done before in orthopedic devices. The company was building a design team from scratch to reflect this new initiative and that's when I got the call.
"Come be apart of something great."
I was designer #3.
The company focused on a primary total knee solution called Attune while its younger brother, Attune Revision, received little to no support. In addition to an advanced engineered prosthesis, revision solutions were meant to fix its primary counterparts using similar processes and instrumentation.
I was asked to led the design of Attune Revision, the industry's most complex and sophisticated joint replacement solution.
LEAD & EXECUTE
As the industry's most complex orthopaedic replacement system, I was responsible for ensuring the entire system was intuitive, easy to use, and visually branded.
The system has over 1200 instruments, which I had to design, apply human factors and ergonomic elements, test with usability testing, label with required compliance markings, and assign their positions within the kits. Additionally, I observed numerous surgical procedures, tested competitor products, and ran hundreds of user research studies both with and without cadavers to ensure our devices were the best in the industry.
After months of creating distinctive IDHF Design Principles, I dove into the details of each device to design them according to our spec. From spans to curves, each element was intentionally crafted to provide usability and brand value to our users.
Even elements such as color are important to the whole user experience. For instance, color is used to highlight touchpoints and controls or used to help identify hidden screws or locking mechanisms.
SUMMARY
For this project, I created a Johnson & Johnson Master Brand Guide composed of several pages on our design philosophy, design strategy, guidance on designing and developing instrumentation, design for manufacturing techniques, and our position on scaling the visual brand language across the entire product portfolio. Today, this design guidance has been implemented on several platforms including the Attune Revision Total Knee Replacement Solution, Delta Extend Shoulder Replacement, and Mobility Total Ankle Replacement.
References to the guidelines can be found here: