What Healthcare Must Learn from Zamboni

After a turbulent undergrad full of sophomoric drunkenness and failure, things turned around. I managed to demonstrate enough “potential” that I was “conditionally” accepted into a unique grad school program focused on consumer sciences. In addition to a teaching stipend, the allure included partnering with a cohort of students, creating independent curriculums studying consumerism, design and fashion.

At the end of our studies, the perplexed administrator, unsure how to label our Master’s, conferred us five degrees. Our diploma reads Consumerism, Apparel Design, Fashion Merchandising and Interior Design. Oh yes, Housing as well! Little did I realize that exposure to this curriculum would shape my passion around human centered design and experience in healthcare. While no expert in any of these disciplines, the principles were embedded in my ever evolving leadership and guide me today. 

One privilege serving as chief digital officer for Tech Mahindra Health & Life Sciences a few years back was being introduced to design soul mates at Pininfarina. They are the most respected design firm globally, having enhanced experiences from airplanes, yachts, buildings, Olympic torches, Ferrari, Coca-Cola, etc. The list is vast. I stopped into their Americas headquarters recently and met with the general manager, Claudio Da Soller. If you want to learn more about Claudio, listen to the podcast we did together recently on DGTL Voices “Design”.

New F1 Trophy Adapts Colors to Surroundings

Claudio and I previously collaborated on design ideas for healthcare which centered on everything from functional yet elegant hospital furniture to patient centric devices to robots. While Pininfarina is industry agnostic, they have some of their healthcare designs proudly displayed in their office. What really caught my thinking, is the timelessness of good design. The Olympic torch, the ski boot, the furniture, the cars, the airport tower…they all looked modern despite some designs being decades old. Captivating, functional and enduring.

Claudio showed me some of the latest Pininfarina designs including the Zamboni and the F1 trophy. Wait. Full stop! The beloved Zamboni being graced with design? The Zamboni has been exactly the same since I put on those rental skates 55+ years ago in the Baden-Baden Ice Rink. Remember Mohawks, Shoot the Duck and Bunny Hop anyone?

Claudio and I at Pininfarina

I went through the reimagination of the Zamboni with the design team lead and this is a sampling of what I learned. I think about the application to healthcare.

1. Personal Experience. Sit on the dang thing. Yep, before you can sketch you should acquire first hand experience. Smell it. Ride it. Feel it. Live it.



2. Customer Engagement. Talk to the drivers. They know best. Why do we skip this step?

3. Collaborate & Communicate. Collaborate with engineers from the get-go. It is about form and function. You can design the coolest thing but if it won’t work mechanically, it is a waste. Healthcare is littered with such examples.

4. Design Principles. Avoid trends and stick to designs with timeless aesthetic value. Ever walk into an outdated feeling hospital or office and question their practice of medicine.

5. Prototype. Immediately after experience, engagement & collaboration - create a prototype. In their office you will find the 3-D printer. The initial redesigns were molded and allowed for tactile exploration by the entire team.

6. Continuous Iteration. And then redesign some more. And mold. Improve. Rinse and repeat.

Using such an approach is more than just creating a design that meets all technical requirements and delights the customer. You save time and money and aggravation.

Imagine designing healthcare around human-centered design. Taking a Pininfarina like approach? We would not look and act outdated. We would instill confidence to our customers and their loved ones. Healing would be accelerated. We would create more joy. We would simplify our complexities. We would not become a place to go when something is wrong but perhaps an environment to look forward to?

If you have not experienced good design, I encourage you to connect with Claudio or take advantage of educational opportunities that expose you to these kinds of ideas and principles. Incorporate customer centricity in all you do from physical design to virtual. it is all a part of helping save lives and improving clinician and patient experiences.