Sara Vasquez
Work

Avail

Passage Studio

How can we leverage new technology to create a safer, more collaborative surgical patient experience during and after the pandemic?
View Passage Studio’s full Avail case study

My contribution

In the final design, you can see the zoom function that I helped create. This was one of three possible zooming-in ideas that were presented to the client.

ROLE
UX/UI designer
Project type
quick start contract
Scope
Research + Ideation
A remote participant uses Avail on a laptop to view two surgical video feeds and call controls.
The remote browser experience connects participants to the operating room. Image: Passage Studio.

Avail Seeks Safer Surgeries

SUMMARY

This was a quick start contract with an awesome consultancy, Passage Studio.

Let’s Talk NDA: The studio recently published the following images and content to the public. I worked on two other really cool projects under NDA with Passage, and can speak generally on the experiences in interviews, but I will only be displaying content that has been cleared with Passage and has already been disseminated to the public.

Avail connects medical professionals with surgical teams remotely. Passage Studio’s published case study describes a redesign shaped by the operating room: clinicians need to consult and collaborate across video feeds, devices, and locations.

The studio’s wider engagement covered the portal and in-call experience, supported by a shared design system. My quick-start contribution focused on exploring the zoom interaction within that broader product.

Avail operating-room console with surgical video and imaging feeds above a separate call-control screen.
The operating-room console pairs clinical views with a dedicated control screen. Image: Passage Studio.

Research + Ideation

On day one I researched, mocked up and identified three different product features to enable easier collaboration, explored edge cases and identified the primary Hero Flow.

I didn’t have direct access to the varied users, so I dug deep into the documentation, created a rapid set of user journeys and personas, and clarified my findings with teammates who had worked with the users and stakeholders. The VP expressed that he was impressed with the depth of understanding and exploration I could reach in such a short timeframe.

Passage Studio’s Figma workspace showing in-call screen explorations for hiding cameras, layouts, and presets.
The published Figma workspace shows the in-call interface that framed the feature exploration. Image: Passage Studio.

Iteration

Rapid ideation in a new industry required clarity.

I met with the team and started working through the existing Figma file and built a Lofi framework. Before going further, I sent what I had to the VP with a set of clarifying questions. He was able to reorient me to get closer and closer to what the client was looking for and helped me set aside the other possible product improvements that they were not prioritizing at that moment.

By starting with Lofi scaffolding, asking quality questions, and clarifying with my collaborator, the VP of design, I was able to target exactly what the client was looking for and create a super-effective design.

Avail video and imaging feeds displayed across a laptop and tablet, each with device-specific call controls.
The same clinical collaboration experience extends across browser and tablet views. Image: Passage Studio.
Layered Avail surgical video views showing a vertical zoom slider and directional camera controls.
A closer view of the published zoom and camera controls connects the product visual to my zoom-feature exploration. Image: Passage Studio.

The wider studio engagement

Passage Studio continued to support Avail through ongoing design iterations. The client feedback below describes that broader partnership; my contribution was the focused zoom exploration above.

“Passage was integral in this successful software refresh…”

James Domine
CTO, Avail Medsystems
Client feedback on Passage Studio’s engagement · excerpt

Explore the complete Avail case study at Passage Studio

Impact

This was one of my favorite projects as a UX Designer, healthcare continues to be one of my favorite, most meaningful complex problem spaces.

Had I a similar project today, I would have loved to be in a hybrid model so some of the collaboration and validation could move even more quickly. Further, I would have loved to have access to actual users, patients or medical staff to conduct user testing, interviews and observations of how they truly utilize the product.

This was such a fun project on such an incredible team!