Human problem · Emergency care

AED Service Design Ecosystem

Rethinking the AED as a connected system of people, services and places, not a box on a wall.

Role: Design direction · strategy · workshop facilitation

The envisioned AED ownership journey, from awareness through replacement.

The human problem

The ideal time to defibrillation is four minutes. After that, survival drops by about 10% each minute. The problem isn’t only the device. It’s getting a ready AED, and someone willing to use it, to the patient in time.

Traditional models treated AEDs as an occasional, transactional purchase. Modern community and enterprise rescue readiness requires an ongoing, high-touch support ecosystem that keeps devices maintained and teams constantly prepared.

Chapter 01

Designing the whole ownership journey (2014–15)

Vision · not shipped

We asked what Philips could offer beyond selling a device. With service design just gaining traction, I helped shape a vision that followed the owner through the whole 10-year journey, from awareness and purchase to maintenance and replacement. It added services at every stage: subscription leasing that keeps devices ready, a fleet view showing which AEDs need attention, and simpler reordering. We even modeled selling systems to counties rather than devices to individuals.

My AEDs fleet sketch — making readiness visible across many devices.
Leasing concept for keeping devices registered, maintained, and ready. Pricing removed.

Emergency Care didn’t take the vision forward at the time, but an external group in Dubai later built a Heart Safe Cities program on the same thinking.

Service concept for building awareness before an emergency.

Chapter 02

From a cheaper AED to more hands

Co-creation workshops with the responder community changed the business question from building a cheaper AED to getting AEDs into more hands. That shift led to the verified responder pilot. The full story is on the How I lead design page.

Co-creation with UW, King County EMS, the Resuscitation Academy, PulsePoint, and Rogers County.

Chapter 03

What’s next for rescue

Vision · not shipped

We also explored concepts for training bystanders and supporting them in the moment, from augmented reality practice to connecting a bystander with a remote 911 expert. These were vision work and are labeled that way.

Outcomes

  • Expanded the design frame from a single device to a connected ownership and emergency-response system.
  • Reframed the strategic question around getting AEDs into more hands.
  • Helped create the foundation for a verified responder pilot and later Heart Safe Cities work.

What I learned

There is so much more to the experience than the product. When we design for the whole journey, the customer, the business and the patient all benefit.