Dentists are on a tight timeline to get lab products to their clients after a scan
Dandy hired me to revamp their dental practice management software. Dentists need quick turnarounds for lab products, but while manufacturing takes only two days, the design process takes five. This delay can lead to ill-fitting pieces and delayed payments for Dandy.
Key issues identified through discovery research:
Vague feedback during quality control reviews and dentist feedback delay orders.
Designers lose context when switching between multiple orders.
Every design starts from scratch.
The order flow from scan to design to fabrication
What would be the most seamless way to leave feedback?
After visiting dentists, labs, and dental designers to understand how their feedback is given today, I landed on a few potential solutions:
3D model editor: A full 3d model editor (nixed because it would be too complex and also would require too much of a learning curve)
Feedback wizard: A wizard for leaving feedback (got feedback from dentists that this would take too long and they would not leave feedback at all, but this worked well for the quality control team)
3D Annotation: A 3d model viewer with a screenshot tool to take static images with text notes (the solution I landed on, and validated with both dentists, designers, and labs)
Solutions tested with users
For dentists the 3D Annotation Tool won out!
Designers wanted to view feedback on a 3D model without confusion. Dentists found this too complex, so I created an intermediate solution: dentists manipulate the model, and when they want to comment, the tool captures a screenshot for annotations. Clicking on the screenshot takes designers to the 3D model for more context. This was designed for both web and mobile.
Annotation tool desktop experience
Native IOS experience with push notifications
For the quality control team the feedback wizard won out!
Quality control reviewers follow a standard operating procedure where the feedback wizard made a lot of sense for them. I was able to extend the 3d annotation feature for dentists into the wizard as well as adding in automated QC suggestions. I further improved this experience by iterating on the 3d viewer within the portal.
Design variations tested with the QC team with engineering feedback
We launched the product, but there were usability issues
Designers loved the feedback and significantly reduced their design time for orders that did require feedback.
However, dentists' usage was lower than expected. After researching with dentists I discovered there were issues with adding 3D annotations. To address this I:
It was unclear to dentists that they could draw on the models.
Created guides for our training and doctor onboarding teams
As a result, usage of the feedback tool increased to the expected levels.
Design iterations to solve the usability issues
How do we help dental designers create designs faster and with more accuracy?
Concurrently, I worked on how we could speed up the design creation time. I tested two concepts:
Design review step by the designer, and their team leads before and after submitting the design
Contextual display of information within the separate design tool
The contextual display performed better in user testing due to not requiring a separate tool / step for the user.
Solutions prototype tested with Designers
What context would be most helpful for a dental designer?
Dental designers are provided a lot of information about the dentist, the client, 3d scans etc. In designing, I determined the right information architecture to show for the designer:
During the early stages of the design process, designers needed more general information about the client to get started
During the finishing stages, designer need more information about the dentist preferences to ensure the designs matched
I collaborated with engineering to obtain the api’s to enable this functionality.
Flow for the Designer Copilot
Early variations and content explorations
Reduced order time in total leading to happy dentists
Our initial tests were promising, and our end users (dentists) loved the speed and quality of the products they received.
Testimonials from dentists