liVeR
Revolutionizing liver surgical planning and education at TGH.
I led the design and development of a brand new suite of medical apps for liver surgeons and trainees at the world's #1 public hospital — TGH. The project thrived thanks to a total of 6 cross-functional stakeholders and 10 end users. In the end, through design thinking advocacy, product demos, and strong user testing results, I earned strong stakeholder endorsement. This in turn incentivized $75K in grant funding to support liVeR's R&D — a significant and exciting step for this nascent product.
Role
Product Designer, Unity Developer, UX Researcher
Duration
16 months (part-time)
Tools
Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Blender, Unity, Meta VR SDKs, Normcore, GitHub, Visual Studio
Output
2 VR, 1 desktop apps (functional)
UX Research
Tasked with an early project vision by clients new to design thinking methodologies, I first earned their support for UX research initiatives I planned to lead (including 4 interviews).
Enterprise User Research
Product Strategy
PINPOINTING THE PROBLEM
My research showed that patient anatomy interpretation is a time-consuming and challenging process for liver surgeons, and it is ripe for innovation.
As an analogy, liver surgeons often rely on the left to mentally construct the right.
DEFINING THE USER
Liver surgeons and trainees at the Toronto General Hospital — our end users — are busy professionals with complex profiles who are juggling many impactful and high-stakes responsibilities.
Legend
interviews
usability testing
content expert
lit. review / media audit
observations
personal experience
assumptions
PROPOSING THE VISION
Instead of these sparse cross-sections, what if surgeons could halve their interpretation time with 3D models for every single patient?
SHAPING STRATEGY
Though stakeholders were ready to explore VR, I suggested we also consider desktop — as it is a more accessible modality for surgeons that may be as effective for anatomy learning.
My research-backed proposal shaped a scientific study led by my stakeholders — assisting their goal of conducting rigorous research that fills key gaps in the existing scientific literature.
USER-DRIVEN ITERATION
Insights from design reviews and qualitative user testing that I led drove key feature iterations.
I led cross-functional design reviews and usability testing with 10 users and 5 stakeholders, which guided 1-3 major iterations for each app.
Competitive Analysis
Accessible Design
Usability Test
Interactive Prototyping
INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPING
To effectively present designs to cross-functional stakeholders and users, I frequently built functional prototypes for testing and reviews.
Increasing Task Speed
Though my competitive analysis showed a trend of indirect interactions in popular VR lobbies, my testing observations led us to prioritize direct interactions instead; our new flow increased engagement and task efficiency.
While the initial design served its function, it failed to make an impression. The final iteration, maximizing direct interactions, generated significant user enthusiasm and sped up the task.
Before
Indirect interactions: users interact with UI from a distance using "rays" or "lasers".
After
Direct interactions: users interact with virtual objects directly, like grabbing or poking.
Enhancing Accessibility
To enhance accessibility, I not only refined contrast, size to accommodate visual impairments, I also iterated the VR UI to reduce physical effort.
Before
“i” button is hard to reach
Follows Windows convention (end users’ preferred os) of top-right session controls
After
All buttons within easy reach
Maintains essence of top-right convention
Matches twin app’s UI patterns
Lowers FOV, reducing neck strain
Balancing with Feasibility
Not every design vision was feasible; I compromised deliberately, balancing usability with technical limits.
Before
Object Momentum: Adding physics increased immersion and quickened object rotation.
After
No Object Momentum: Removes conflict with development of more critical feature.
USER-VALIDATED FEATURES
Various design considerations for intuitiveness, immersion, inclusivity, comfort were validated by users in testing.
Onboarding Design
Inclusive Principles
Contextual Inquiry
Enterprise Co-Creation
Branding
Enterprise-Specificity
I engaged with clinicians directly to build this dashboard for patient case selection. Our collaboration ensured that the interface matched user's mental models.
Inclusivity
Since VR adoption is limited, I created highly-visual onboarding that welcomes all, helping users feel more capable and comfortable.
I created and integrated 18 GIFs and 1 video — onboarding users seamlessly across the 3 apps.
Simplicity
We simplified the gold standard 2D cross-sections by featuring a 3D model and adding two innovative features connecting 2D and 3D views — namely, indicator planes and color coding.
Comfort
To reduce VR motion sickness, I optimized FPS and centralized objects to limit unnecessary head motion.
Top: in-game FPS test; Middle, Bottom: centralized objects, minimal UI transparency; Background: lightweight 3D mesh.
Multi-Modality
Testing revealed that the audio cues I integrated, like this one, enhanced immersion and improved task efficiency.
Familiarity
Contextual inquiry revealed highly technical, surgeon-specific interactions — we mirrored those that also mapped intuitively for non-experts and re-invented those that didn't.
Users called out and praised these interactions for the lack of friction.
BRANDING
I designed the early branding and environment — praised by users for memorability and aesthetics — to transport surgeons into a more conducive learning space and to better support product viability.
FINAL PRODUCT
Enterprise Solutions
Cross-Platform Parity
ENTERPRISE TOOL
1. Multi-User VR for Internal Use.
A VR app for surgeons (from medical students to staff surgeons) to easily find, review, and discuss patients' liver anatomy.
COMPARATIVE TOOLS
VR and desktop twin apps that onboard users to the respective technology and then allow the user to review 3D liver anatomy.
IMPACT
"You did such a great job, and you really brought a long-awaited vision to life." "I can truly see myself using this regularly."
liVeR, a brand new product and one of the first of its kind, was tested by stakeholders, staff surgeons, surgical fellows, residents, and medical students. Recognized for its success and potential, stakeholders secured $75,000 in continued grant funding — a significant feat in a nonprofit context. Demonstrating a seamless, time-saving UX, liVeR is now driving the formation of a new team for formal launch preparations.
A warm thank you to the liVeR team, clients, and everyone who made this project possible. A special thanks to Albert for kindly sharing his Unity expertise to support liVeR's development.
METRICS
Metrics like session length, error rates, qualitative user feedback, scene exit rates could measure success and pinpoint areas for improvement.
REFLECTIONS
Proactive Big-Picture Thinking
Thanks to this project, I learned the value of proactively thinking about organizational strategy. For example, my platform strategy shaped a long-term research plan.
Value of Scripting Fundamentals in the Age of GenAI
While using ChatGPT to collaboratively code for Unity, I found my understanding of development fundamentals crucial. It enabled me to craft clear prompts and manually troubleshoot when AI-generated scripts didn't perform to expectations.
Storytelling and Communication
I learned to see effective communication as one of the most critical skills in design, whether for aligning stakeholders on roadmaps, co-creating with domain experts, or getting team buy-in for research initiatives.