Cardiac Defibrillation
Empowering anyone to save a life.
Karten Design partnered with Cardiac Science to package a life-saving defibrillation algorithm into an AED simple enough for an untrained bystander to use in the worst moment of someone’s life.
Client
Cardiac Science
Category
Cardiac Defibrillation
Product
PowerHeart AED
Services
5 Disciplines
10%
Survival chances drop 10% for every minute that passes.
After sudden cardiac arrest. Every design decision on this device was made against that clock.
After sudden cardiac arrest. Every design decision on this device was made against that clock.
The Situation
In cases of sudden cardiac arrest, defibrillators save lives, but only if rescuers move fast. Cardiac Science had built a defibrillation algorithm that could detect abnormal heart rhythms and automatically deliver a corrective shock. The technology worked. The problem was getting it into the hands of the person standing closest to the emergency.
The company needed to package that technology into an Automated External Defibrillator simple enough for an untrained bystander to pick up and use correctly, under pressure, with no training and no time to think.
The Solution
Delivering a shock to someone’s chest is an intimidating thing to do, even when you know it’s the right call. We used design to build confidence and remove hesitation at exactly the moment hesitation costs the most. A simple interface, with deliberate visuals, color, and form, makes the PowerHeart AED close to foolproof, even in a high-pressure scenario where the person operating it has never touched one before.
Thoughtful functional details carry the rest of the weight: spring-loaded hinges that open the case with one motion, an oversized handle that’s obvious to grab even under stress. Every touch point was designed to remove a decision a panicking bystander would otherwise have to make.
What We Did
Five disciplines, one second chance
Design Research
Industrial Design
Digital Design
Mechanical Engineering
Brand Identity
In our industry we have a saying: time is life. Karten Design latched onto this mindset and, with their keen understanding of human factors in stressful situations, delivered a product with measurable time savings over previous models.
Michael Gioffredi — former Chief Marketing Officer, Cardiac Science
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