CMOVF (Computer Mapping of Visuospatial Fields)
A Digital Approach to the Assessment of Visuospatial Neglect
40%
Increased in Test Efficiency compare to traditional paper test
3 Hospitals
piloted CMOVF product
CMOVF (Computer Mapping of Visuospatial Fields) is a digital tool that helps doctors assess spatial neglect disorder, replacing traditional pen-and-paper tests to improve diagnostic efficiency and accuracy. As the sole interaction designer, I built the platform’s workflow and interface from scratch.
Despite no prior medical background, I quickly learned complex neurocognitive concepts and translated them into intuitive designs, earning positive feedback from doctors.
What is Spatial Neglect
Spatial neglect is a neuropsychological disorder most commonly occurring after stroke, where patients fail to perceive, respond to, or acknowledge stimuli on one side of their visual field. Patients may ignore objects, text, or even people on their affected side, impacting daily activities like eating or reading.
Why CMOVF?
Traditional diagnosis relies on outdated paper-and-pencil tests, which struggle to capture the condition’s dynamic nature. To develop a neuropsychological praxis that is scientifically aligned with contemporary brain science, the discipline needs to take the critical step of reinventing its assessment instruments. That's where CMOVF was designed, which digitizes tests like:
Dynamic Image Tests: Evaluates responses to visual stimuli (e.g., color changes, flickering).
Letter Cancellation Tests: Measures attention and spatial scanning.
Eye-Tracking Tests: Validates patient engagement via gaze data.
My Contribution
Led the design of CMOVF to replace traditional pen-and-paper assessments for visuospatial neglect (VSN). I orchestrated cross-functional collaboration, translated complex medical workflows into intuitive interfaces, and ensured HIPAA compliance while innovating a novel data-driven diagnostic methodology.
MVP Vision
Design a physician-operated platform for diagnosing visuospatial neglect disorder.
Existing VSN assessments relied on manual, time-consuming paper tests with limited quantitative insights. What's more, clinicians lacked tools to visualize patients' spatial neglect gradients or track rehabilitation progress systematically.
Challenge 1
Designing a B2B Medical Tool with 0 Precedents
No similar products existed in the industry previously. I needed to design this platform from scratch by analyzing user needs, which is doctors' requirements.
SOLUTION for Challenge 1
Conducted rapid domain immersion using AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) and neuroscience literature to decode neuropsychological evaluation criteria.
Executed contextual interviews with neurologists to map pain points:
Need for one-handed operation (clinicians standing at 24" touchscreens)
Demand for zero-text-input workflows (optimized for dropdowns, radio buttons, directional pads)
Criticality of real-time test synchronization between clinician and patient devices
Challenge 2
Regulatory Compliance
As a medical product, CMOVF must strictly adhere to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations to ensure patient data privacy and security.
Solution for challenge 2
Innovated Trial ID System: Shifted from patient-centric data collection to anonymized session-based tracking, resolving the conflict between longitudinal tracking and privacy preservation.
Implemented role-based access controls and audit trails in collaboration with developers.
Additionally, I had no prior experience in this domain. My greatest challenge was rapidly mastering complex neuropsychological terminology.
User Flow
Unlike a regular design process, the FestShield project has a lot of back-and-forth communication between our UX team, FestShield team, and the underwriter team. By the end of the design process, the dev team also provided some insights.
Step 1: Input Patient Info
As the test begins, user (clinician) will type and enter the patient's profile. Including patient's current visual conditions and diagnosis.
Streamlined data entry with adaptive form fields (conditional dropdowns, date pickers). And introduced collapsible "Other Information" section for edge-case documentation
Step 2: Info Confirm
After inputting profile, clinician will confirm patient profile is correct.
Step 3: Spatial Neglect Testing
Finally, clinician will start testing patient's visual conditions in that testing page.
I designed context-aware toolbars with clinician-requested defaults:
Unified dropdown menus replacing sliders for parameter adjustments
High-contrast color selectors with live previews
Dual-state toggle switches for timed stimuli control
Optimized touch targets (minimum 48px) for hybrid mouse/finger input
A Compromise on HIPPA
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) laws strictly prohibit storing or using any personally identifiable information, which posed a conflict with one of our platform’s core goals—tracking a patient’s recovery progress through multiple test results.
After quickly deep-diving into both HIPAA requirements and the platform’s underlying needs, I identified a solution: replacing personal identifiers with a UID (unique identifier). Each new patient would be assigned a unique code that links only to their medical data, not their identity. This approach allowed us to maintain patient privacy while still enabling longitudinal tracking of medical progress.
Petient Profile Input Page (Before)
Petient Profile Input Page (After)
This design breakthrough taught me a valuable lesson: product decisions in healthcare must respond swiftly to regulatory frameworks. In medical tools, the focus should be on clinical data—not patient identity. The final solution was highly praised by the doctors, as it successfully balanced compliance with clinical effectiveness.
Testing Page Tool Bar
Based on user observations, doctors typically interact with the system while standing in front of a hospital-standard 24-inch vertical touchscreen display, primarily using their fingers, with occasional mouse support. In response, I optimized the interface by enlarging key UI components and ensuring that interactions were seamlessly compatible with both touch and mouse input—for example, supporting both swipe gestures and scroll wheel actions for navigating content. To accommodate varying user preferences, I also designed a preferences panel where doctors can customize the interface to match their habits—such as adjusting font sizes, repositioning the control panel, or toggling the visibility of patient UIDs.
Simplified timers with text labels (replacing icons) and enlarged touch-friendly components (e.g., dropdowns, directional keys).
Significant Improvement
40% Efficiency Gain vs. paper-based assessments (validated across 3 Boston hospitals)
Looking Forward
Although we've made significant progress, there's still a lot of potential for CMOVF in the future. Due to the limited duration of my internship, the platform's core functionality currently centers around data entry and basic testing. However, I plan to stay in touch with the medical team and continue developing my vision for the platform. This includes features like generating diagnostic reports using natural language processing, visualizing test results over time for individual patients, and establishing a unified design system that could be applied to other diagnostic tools as well.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Fast Learning
More importantly, this internship taught me a valuable lesson: when diving into a completely new and complex field, the key to learning quickly is a combination of structured study and hands-on practice. By proactively reaching out to experts, I was able to grasp the logic behind medical assessments and translate that understanding into thoughtful interaction design. This not only sharpened my learning skills but also strengthened my ability to collaborate across disciplines in challenging projects.