CONCEPT 2026cobas® Infinity
SKILLSTOOLSPrototyping
User Research
TIMELINEROLEApril - June 2026
UX Designer
Visual Design
Usability Testing
How do you improve efficiency in a fast-paced clinical environment in one of NSW’s busiest hospitals?
OVERVIEWAs part of a usability research project, I investigated the rollout of Roche’s Infinity (now Navify) middleware at one of NSW’s busiest hospital laboratories. The new system was introduced alongside new semi-automated biochemistry instruments to improve laboratory efficiency and turnaround times, replacing the legacy middleware platform IT3000. I focused on the validation workflow, using user research and usability testing to understand how scientists interacted with the new system and where it supported, or hindered, everyday decision-making.
PROBLEMA system designed to support quick decision-making was slowing scientists down.
Infinity was introduced to replace IT3000 and improve laboratory efficiency, yet scientists preferred the legacy system for its more intuitive validation workflow. Extra steps, unclear alarms, and poor prioritisation of critical results made the new system harder to navigate and slowed decision-making.
SOLUTIONStreamlining the journey from result review to validation.
The research revealed that scientists needed more than access to results; they needed guidance, efficiency, and confidence when validating them. I redesigned the Infinity interface around three key priorities: simplifying the validation workflow, communicating what’s most important, and giving scientists greater control over how they access and review information.
CORE FLOWSFind the right service
Compare treatment options through a clear, easy-to-scan service overview.
Clear service discovery
Restructured service information with stronger visual grouping, helping users scan treatment options more easily.
Guided decision-making
Introduced the five-phase process and educational content to help users understand the treatment journey before committing.
Reduced booking friction
Added contextual CTAs throughout the page to guide users towards booking at relevant decision points.
Meet your practitioner
Learn about each practitioner’s expertise before booking with confidence.
Build trust through expertise
Restructured practitioner profiles to prioritise qualifications, specialties, and experience.
Supported confident choices
Added clearer practitioner information and a direct booking pathway once users had evaluated their options.
Explore educational content
Access injury-specific articles and recovery advice to support informed decision-making.
Create consistency across the experience
Applied the wider design system to the blog to create a more cohesive journey.
Improve content discovery
Simplified categories and strengthened labels to help users find relevant articles.
RESEARCHInvestigating the gap between intended and actual workflow.
In 2024, NSW Health Pathology rolled out new Roche cobas® instruments across biochemistry laboratories throughout New South Wales, alongside Infinity as the new middleware platform replacing the legacy IT3000 system. During the rollout, Infinity was positioned as a more efficient and reliable solution for managing high-volume laboratory workflows.
At Prince of Wales Hospital, the biochemistry laboratory processes approximately 1,000 samples each day. As a scientist and system user, I experienced firsthand the gap between these intended efficiencies and the realities of the new validation workflow. To determine whether these challenges extended beyond my own experience, I conducted seven surveys and three interviews with scientists and senior scientists, the primary users authorised to operate Infinity at full capacity, to understand their experience further. The research explored their experiences with the system, pain points within the validation workflow, and how Infinity compared to IT3000.
RESEARCH SYNTHESISUncovering patterns through user behaviours and frustrations.
While interviews and surveys helped me identify specific usability issues, I wanted to explore broader patterns in scientists’ experiences while validating results. I synthesised the findings into an affinity diagram, clustering similar ideas and feedback to identify common themes. This helped me move beyond individual pain points to uncover the underlying needs and challenges that shape scientists’ interactions with Infinity.
INSIGHTSAfter organising the data into categories, I translated the recurring themes into four key insights:
“Upgrade” did not feel like an upgrade
Users expected Infinity to modernise and simplify the validation workflow, but many experienced slower performance, and lower intuitiveness. One user described the program was “not user-friendly to the current workflow”.
Repetitive actions increased mental workload
Repetitive steps, multiple save actions, and fragmented navigation added unnecessary effort to the workflow. These interactions increased cognitive load and created more opportunities for user error.
Demand for customisation as missing context reduced confidence
Users repeatedly mentioned lacking access to contextual information in order to validate confidently, often forcing reliance on external systems or workarounds. Users valued greater screen customisation offered by IT3000 for them to tailor the validation screen to their individual workflow.
Redundant alarms became a distraction to users
The validation screen already contained a high volume of information, making clear prioritisation essential. Repetitive alarms and crowded layouts competed for attention, making users feel that these additional alerts distracted from results requiring genuine action.
Seeing the validation screen from the scientist’s perspective.
The affinity diagram revealed recurring challenges in Infinity, from jumping between multiple screens to cognitive fatigue from excessive alarms. To better understand how these issues affected scientists during validation, I mapped their thoughts, behaviours, and frustrations in an empathy map. This helped me look beyond individual usability issues to understand what scientists needed to work efficiently and confidently in a high-pressure clinical environment.
These findings highlighted that users did not simply need more information; they needed a clearer path to what needed their attention most and to take action with confidence.
Putting the user at the centre of design decisions.
Building on the empathy map, I developed a persona to represent the shared needs and behaviours identified throughout the research. The persona captured the importance of efficiency, clarity, and trust when validating results, giving me a consistent user perspective to refer to as I explored opportunities to improve the workflow.
*This persona is a research-informed representation of shared user needs.
Meet Sierra, a mid-career scientist who's been using Infinity since its launch in 2024.
Sierra values efficiency, clear guidance, and confidence in the digital systems she uses to support patient care. Her frustrations with unclear information, difficult navigation, and excessive alerts reflected broader patterns identified throughout the research.
Keeping Sierra at the centre of the design process helped me evaluate whether potential improvements supported her journey from reviewing results in Infinity to validating and releasing them to the electronic medical record (eMR).
Defining the challenge.
With a clearer understanding of Sierra’s needs and frustrations, I moved into brainstorming to explore opportunities to improve the validation workflow. Using key insights from my research, I developed How Might We statements that reframed usability challenges as open-ended design opportunities. This allowed me to explore potential improvements while keeping scientists’ needs at the centre of the process.
DESIGN OPPORTUNITIESTranslating insights into actionable improvements.
Combining insights from the affinity diagram, empathy map, and persona, I identified three key opportunities to improve the Infinity experience.
Make critical results easier to discover
Scientists review large volumes of data on a single screen and need to quickly identify those requiring attention.
Design response: Strengthen visual cues for critical results and prioritise actionable alerts.
Streamline the validation process
Navigating between multiple screens and completing repetitive actions adds time and effort to an already time-sensitive environment.
Design response: Reduce unnecessary page navigation by introducing contextual pop-ups and multi-select actions.
Support for individual workflow
Scientists require flexibility that allows them to tailor the interface to their needs and access relevant information more efficiently.
Design response: Introduce interface customisation so scientists can adjust screen layouts and choose what information is displayed.
DESIGN SYSTEMWith the design opportunities established, I shifted my focus to the visual direction. Without direct client consultation with Roche, I grounded my decisions in Roche’s existing branding and the needs identified through user research. I also drew on familiar visual elements from OmniClient, the host LIMS, to maintain visual consistency and minimise confusion for users.
Creating a visual language.
USABILITY TESTINGWith the low-fidelity wireframes in place, I ran usability testing to see how real users interacted with the designs. I asked participants to complete key tasks, such as booking a service, selecting a physiotherapist, and exploring educational content, while observing where they hesitated, missed CTAs, or struggled with navigation. These sessions highlighted friction points early and provided me with the insights I needed to refine the flows, improve clarity, and ensure the site worked for both users and the business.
Testing assumptions early.
KEY USER INSIGHTSNavigation needed clearer signposting
Users expected more predictable navigation patterns and overlooked elements such as filters and secondary icons.
Iteration: Improved visibility of interactive elements and refined navigation patterns to better match user expectations.
Booking actions needed stronger visibility
All participants expected a clear Book Now CTA within service pages rather than replying only on the navigation bar.
Iteration: Added contextual CTAs throughout key pages to reduce friction and guide users towards bookings.
Visual consistency should be strengthened
Users described the design as modern and professional, but some pages felt visually disconnected.
Iteration: Refined typography, colour usage, and image treatment to creat
Content needed stronger hierarchy
Users valued the amount of information available but often skimmed dense sections to find relevant details.
Iteration: Restructured content using clearer headings, spacing, cards, and visual cues to improve scanability.
Authentic imagery strengthened trust
Participants responded positively to real clinic imagery, describing it as more personal and trustworthy.
Iteration: Prioritised authentic photography and improved consistency across practitioner imagery.
IMPACTFollowing the redesign, I analysed website performance data from 2 February 2025 to 2 June 2025 to understand how users interact with the updated experience. The results showed improvements across engagement, content exploration, and returning visitors.
Improving engagement and user confidence
↓15% decrease in bounce rate
Users were more likely to engage with the website rather than leaving after viewing a single page, suggesting the improved structure and clearer pathways helped users find relevant information.
↑17% increase in returning visitors
More users returned to the site, reflecting increased engagement and ongoing value from the website content.
↑19% increase in paged per session
Users explored more content across the site, indicating stronger navigation and improved discoverability of services and educational resources.
↑9% increase in average session duration
Users spent more time engaging with content, suggesting the redesigned experience better supported information discovery and decision-making.
REFLECTIONThis was my first end-to-end client project, where I worked within the constraints of a website builder and operated in a hybrid designer–front-end role. While the project was a redesign and I wasn’t starting from scratch, I found that working within Wix introduced notable limitations in navigation control, responsiveness, and scalability.
Certain interaction functions, such as enabling a “back to previous selection” button, were restricted by the platform, and translating layouts from desktop to mobile required adjustments in developer mode. These constraints highlighted that Wix may not be suitable for long-term scalability and user experience goals for growing businesses like SportsFit.
A key lesson from this project was recognising how unpredictable user needs can be. During the research phase, I believed I had a strong understanding of physiotherapy booking behaviours based on personal experience as a patient. However, usability testing revealed nuanced differences in expectations – even among users with the same injury. For example, during the usability testing stage, when discussing the potential introduction of an AI chatbox, one user who had previously sustained an ACL injury viewed it as unnecessary. At the same time, another saw value in it as a preliminary guidance tool before booking. This reinforced that assumptions, even informed ones, must always be validated through research.
Ultimately, this project strengthened my belief that effective design is about balance: guiding users clearly toward action while preserving autonomy and trust. Strategic prompting improves conversion; over-direction does the opposite.
NEXT STEPSEstablish stronger visual consistency
Standardising practitioners' profile pictures (same uniform, background, composition, and framing) would reinforce brand cohesion and strengthen the clinic’s professionalism.
Platform scalability improvements
Migrating to a more flexible website builder or collaborating with a developer would address current platform constraints (e.g. limited navigation control and responsiveness limitations within Wix), enabling more refined interaction patterns and scalablility.
Explore AI-assisted support (strategically)
The client expressed interest in introducing an AI chat feature. Before implementation, user needs should be validated to ensure the implementation meaningfully supports booking behaviour or patient education, rather than adding unnecessary complexity and costs.