Tempus ONE
Tempus ONE is a portable, voice controlled device that allows physicians to access their patients’ results and data-driven insights from anywhere, in real time. It has a companion app to aid in device setup and management, and a voice assistant interface which is integrated into other Tempus products.
My Role:
I joined this team a few months into the project while it was still confidential within Tempus. I lead the app design and partnered with two other designers who handled the hardware and lighting design of the device itself. This was a truly agile development process, focused on getting a product into the hands of a few early users to test the concept before scaling. We had a few rounds of Beta testing, eventually leading to a pilot release to VIP clients.
Early visual concept mock
Oct 2019
B E T A 2 0 2 0
Pilot User Profiles:
Forward-thinking treating oncologists open to new technologies
Internal medical advisors and scientific leaders at Tempus
A few carefully selected influential doctors already familiar with Tempus
App Functionality:
Get users connected to their device and WiFi
Allow users to control device volume and power
Show response content that isn’t suitable for a vocal read out
Provide a method for sending feedback directly to Tempus
Customer support and user education
In-app voice control (v2)
U I S P O T L I G H T
Feedback | simple app architecture including a method for collecting direct feedback from pilot users
Home | strict MVP limited to basic power and volume controls for the device
Resources | panel used for communicating firmware updates, user education, and support
Illustrations | custom illustrations to walk users through the device setup process in the app and print materials
Branding | iconography used for app store branding and modals/error states throughout the app
Guides | detailed user onboarding flow with guides and tips for how to use Tempus ONE
Technical setup | complex system for connecting the app to a device, and the device to a wifi network
Security | biometrics and fallback passcode options to ensure quick but secure authentication
S T R A T E G Y
This project was pretty solution-focused in that the form and function of the device were already well defined when the project began. Rather than starting with user research to define the product, we started with the device, and designed a journey to help get our customers to use that product.
*not my designs, inspiration found on various online sources
I N S P I R A T I O N
We drew inspiration for the device and app design from multiple sources. I focused on examples that spanned both a physical and digital interface, as well as creative AI visualizations and voice assistants.
Personified AI
Digital remotes
Drive-assist technology
Voice controls
Bluetooth devices
M V P S C O P E
With such a heavy lift on the engineering and content side, we kept the design architecture minimal in terms of functionality while still prioritizing in-app feedback collection. Instead of a fully custom flow for collecting various types of feedback, we scaled back to simple open text fields, knowing we’d also be conducting in-person interviews with our pilot users.
Device setup
Basic device controls
Network settings
Open text feedback collection
Contact and support information
O N B O A R D I N G
To enable reliable device setup, the onboarding process for this app was especially technical and cumbersome. We focused on simplifying this experience as much as possible by allowing users to bypass manual login with biometrics.
Biometric authentication
Connect app to device
Connect device to WiFi network
Fallback to passcode or manual login
O U T C O M E
Tempus ONE was piloted to a handful of external users and announced publicly in early 2021. We finished the bulk of development on the app itself in early 2020 (I switched teams shortly thereafter when COVID hit), and the team spent the next two years testing and iterating the hardware and content. Recently, Tempus ONE was launched publicly with clinicians and oncologists as the first conversational AI platform designed for and with clinicians that leverages advancements in generative AI.