Neuromodulation
Giving patients the freedom to live.
Karten Design partnered with Axonics to turn a class-leading nerve stimulation technology into a complete ecosystem of physical and digital products, built for people managing incontinence every day.
Client
Axonics
Category
Neuromodulation
Product
Sacral Neuromodulation System
Services
6 Disciplines, Full Ecosystem
The Situation
Neuromodulation is an emerging therapy used to treat conditions like chronic pain, headaches, and tremors, using mild electrical pulses to stimulate targeted nerves inside the body. Axonics Modulation Technologies was positioned to lead the category with a class-leading nerve stimulation device, one-third the size of comparable devices, with a rechargeable battery that outlasts the competition by a decade.
What the startup needed wasn’t just a device, it was help envisioning how that technology would actually be used, and a path to commercializing it.
The Solution
Our research surfaced an unmet need in the treatment of urinary and fecal dysfunction. We took the underlying technology and built it out into a complete ecosystem of physical and digital products designed around the daily reality of living with incontinence.
The system shipped with the industry’s first portable inductive charging device, giving patients the freedom to move through their day without being tethered to anything. A handheld remote lets them adjust stimulation levels and check battery status discreetly, without drawing attention. On the clinical side, we simplified the implant programming process with a lightweight programmer built from the ground up to be simple, intuitive, and genuinely helpful to use during a procedure.
Clinician Tools
Clinician Programmer
A completely new programmer and interface with integrated stimulation control and monitoring, built for greater accuracy, precision, and confidence during every procedure.
Patient Experience
Patient App
Connecting Axonics with the people using it every day, through a compelling diary and information delivered in a way that feels personal rather than clinical.
What We Did
Six disciplines, one ecosystem
Design Strategy
Design Research
Industrial Design
Digital Design
Visual Design
Mechanical Engineering
Sacral neuromodulation is a highly efficacious therapy, but historically physicians and patients have struggled with the interfaces offered by other systems. The reaction we get when people see our system is "wow," and Karten Design's efforts were critical in making that possible.
John Woock — Chief Marketing Officer, Axonics
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