Design language

Principles

The eight principles of the design language and the ten that come from the evidence.

Design language

  1. Answer first

    Every patient screen answers four questions in order: where am I in my visit, who is looking after me, what is happening now, and what can I do. Everything else sits below.

  2. One glow per screen

    Signal Amber marks the single most relevant thing for this person right now: the current step, or a task waiting for them. If two things glow, one of them is wrong.

  3. Honest time

    Estimates are a usual range plus the "most people" line, and they say what they are based on. Never "up to", never a countdown, never a comparison with anyone else.

  4. Calm density

    Patient views are generous: 16 to 17 px text, 56 px rows, one column. Staff views are dense but quiet: 13 to 14 px, 36 to 44 px rows, hairline structure that is felt, not seen.

  5. Native everywhere

    SwiftUI and Liquid Glass on iOS 26, Material 3 Expressive on Android, accessible semantic HTML on the web. The same tokens and the same words, each platform's own controls.

  6. Private by design

    Show the minimum necessary. Family never sees tests. Notifications, text messages and URLs never contain health information. The wall board shows initials and location only.

  7. Never colour alone

    Every state is tone, icon and words, plus its position in the timeline. Nothing depends on colour alone.

  8. Not an emergency channel

    Any path that signals deterioration also says: tell a nurse in person now. The app never stands between a patient and a person.

From the evidence (DP1 to DP10)

From the patient-experience research behind the product.

  1. DP1

    Explain every wait

    Every waiting state carries a reason and the next step.

  2. DP2

    Show progress, never results

    Tests appear as a process (ordered, collected, in the lab, back), never as a value or a meaning.

  3. DP3

    Honest ranges, rounded up

    A usual range and the "most people" line, rounded up, with the basis stated. Never a countdown to zero.

  4. DP4

    A human is always the answer

    Every screen leads back to "tell a nurse". The product never replaces talking to someone in person.

  5. DP5

    Minimum necessary, controlled by the patient

    Family sees the stage, the estimate and the care team's first names and roles. The patient can stop sharing at any time, and so can staff.

  6. DP6

    Zero-install first

    The QR web experience is complete on its own. The native app adds to it; the web never depends on it.

  7. DP7

    Design for the worst moment

    The reader may be in pain, frightened, using one hand, on low battery or weak Wi-Fi, reading a second language, or without glasses.

  8. DP8

    Protect staff attention

    Requests are structured, grouped, acknowledged and measured. There is no free-text chat.

  9. DP9

    Calm by default

    The patient interface never uses red or alarm language, except for "tell staff now".

  10. DP10

    Measure what the province measures

    Use Ontario's emergency department survey and Quality Improvement Plan definitions, so a pilot's results mean something to hospital leaders.