EACTS

Adult Cardiac Database

The story

The European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) is the leading membership organization in Europe devoted to cardiothoracic surgery. The ICT group was asked to redevelop their 'Adult Cardiac Database' (ACD) tool to new standards. 

When development was nearing completion, I joined the project part time to help transform the developer-driven UI to something more ecstatically pleasing and in line with the EACTS house style. Additionally, there were several usability questions and hurdles in the UI for which the team sought consultation.

Watch this video for more information about EACTS and the ACD

The problem

While executed to high technical standards, the project did not involve dedicated UX or UI activities until I joined. While budget was calculated for these activities, UX was only involved late into the process.

The process

I quickly jumped in and discussed the needs with stakeholders and the development team. These turned out to be:

• Execute a usability scan and process existing usabililty remarks to come up with interaction designs that eliminates these findings. 
• Update the UI design to be more in line with the EACTS style.

Naturally, I quickly informed if there was a design system in place, but this did not seem to be the case, nor was there any design documentation available. So I started out by creating my own 'mini design system' in Figma, mimicking the EACTS.org website and used that create some quick design improvement. 

In a few short interations with the development team and reviewed by stakeholders from EACTS, we upgraded the look and feel of the UI.

 A redesigned vs original screen

 Result and Takeaway

Even though being involved late, the new UI design was swiftly implemented by the ICT development team and was met with great enthusiasm by the EACTS client who described it as “Excellent, 100%, It looks amazing!” The ACD went live for surgeons over the whole of Europe later in 2024 and has been a great success!