Stockholm, Sweden
M Dialysis collaborates with industrial designer Carl Öjerstam of Carl Design to create a dialysis device that could see into the future — a machine that could detect clinical symptoms and initiate relevant treatment for patients in neurointensive care units in order to avoid secondary diseases.
Loke by M Dialysis is a pioneering product for microdialysis that revolutionizes and streamlines existing methods for measuring and analyzing the chemical environment locally in tissue or blood.
The design has been recently awarded a 2021 Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The method provides answers to how the metabolism (the chemical state of the cells) works in patients with serious medical conditions, e.g. traumatic brain injuries.
The method also helps to minimize problems with new organs being rejected by the body in conjunction with complicated (and costly) organ transplants.
By monitoring changes in metabolism, it is also possible to anticipate any clinical symptoms in advance.
Aside from introducing a less resource-intensive sampling and analysis procedure as well as having the ability to monitor changes in real-time, the pioneering technology behind Loke also gives treating physicians a better overview of the disease including greater knowledge before deciding on treatment.
Furthermore, Loke makes it possible to both detect clinical symptoms and initiate relevant treatment at an even earlier stage. Minimizing additional secondary illnesses in such scenarios is thus a great benefit for the patient but from a socio-economic perspective as well.
The fact that LOKE is an automated system for microdialysis also means that the hospital itself has the possibility to free up vital resources.
From a design point of view, designing a product like this was an awe-inspiring task. How often does one get the opportunity to design a product that can literally look into the future? The next question was: how do you go about actually designing a device for which there is no norm, template or visual perception?
Unsurprisingly, the challenges that arose in this project were to be found on several levels. First of all, medical equipment adheres to a whole different set of parameters compared to, say, regular consumer products.
Medical equipment has a generally long service life and it, therefore, relies heavily on design as a brand builder. The product’s appearance and function are thus to be positively associated with the company over a long period of time.
Patient safety is another important parameter. Medical equipment is surrounded by rigorous regulations that place high demands on its design and function.
This type of product must, for example, be easy to keep clean, intuitive to handle while minimizing possible sources of error.
The strict functional requirements combined with the fact that a product with completely unique properties would actually be developed meant that the design and construction processes were closely intertwined.
The outcome was a very interesting and stimulating teamwork for its designers who got the opportunity to work cross-border and interdisciplinary with both researchers and engineers.
Similarities between Loke’s distinct, unorthodox shape and that of the silhouette of a laboratory glass are no accident.
Early on in the design process, Loke’s association to the chemical domain was identified as was realized that it required a shape that had a clear connection to chemistry.
Furthermore, when taking the long product life of medical equipment and the large investment it represents into account, it was decided to give Loke an unpretentious shape without making it boring.
After assessing several basic shapes such as spheres, cones and cylinders, it was concluded that basic forms had several advantages: they were easily recognizable and they were by definition decoupled from trends. Eventually the shape of the laboratory glass came up.
From there, a brand strategic decision was made to develop and use basic forms with the chemical associations for future products.
The idea is that in the long run, the observer will associate different variants of the shape of the laboratory glass with products from M Dialysis.
Regarding the choice of material for Loke, the choice was made for aluminum, as it was intended for the device to have a material that withstood the test of time and that could also be used in its raw state.
In addition, the metallic surface had futuristic qualities that fitted the product’s overall profile.
Milled aluminum also gave the advantage to machine a number of complex details and functions that could be built-in in order to minimize the number of parts in the finished product. That not only simplified assembly but also meant that a recyclable material would be chosen.
Project: LOKE
Designers: Carl Öjerstam, Carl Design AB
Manufacturer: M Dialysis AB
