Savić Rašović Design leadership
Vecna Technologies · 2011–2016 · Healthcare + robotics

Building a humanist design practice across the whole hospital.

I created Humanist Design Studios, led and developed an 8–10 person team, and built the shared standards behind patient, staff, software, hardware, physical-space, and robotics experiences.

MandateBuild the practice and raise design maturity
Team8–10 designers; mentoring and career paths
SystemHDS + BREC across products and environments
ReachVA, DoD, commercial health systems, robotics
154VA medical centers
72 + 7Patients and staff in one study
40 → ~2 minAverage patient check-in time
508 · WCAG · Meaningful UseStandards built into delivery
Leadership · Humanist Design Studios

Created the practice. Developed the people. Stayed in the work.

HDS connected UX, UI, research, accessibility, human factors, front-end guidance, and design innovation across Vecna.

Vecna design team conducting user testing with a participant in a clinical environment.
HDS in practice: designers observing, recording, testing, and learning together.
Humanist Design Studios process and library covering documentation, resources, BREC standards, accessibility, CSS checklists, patterns, prototypes, and demos.
The practice became an operating system: shared documentation, standards, resources, checklists, patterns, and prototypes.
People

Mentored every designer

Direct critique, increasing ownership, and explicit career paths—not only project assignments.

Culture

Built shared judgment

A common bar for research, accessibility, interaction, systems, and visual quality.

Organization

Made design cross-functional

Product, engineering, clinical operations, deployment, sales, and robotics HMI.

Craft

Led as a player-coach

Prototypes, workflows, usability studies, interaction decisions, and standards remained part of my job.

System · BREC

Made quality portable across products, clients, devices, and spaces.

Beautiful, Responsive, Ergonomic, Configurable: practical design and implementation rules rather than a decorative style guide.

B

Beautiful

Functional clarity and consistency.

R

Responsive

Understandable feedback across device, content, and time.

E

Ergonomic

Accessible and efficient across physical and cognitive needs.

C

Configurable

Adaptable without fragmenting the experience.

Multiple Vecna VetLink kiosks installed in a hospital corridor.
BREC had to survive deployment: multiple devices, privacy, sight lines, signage, hardware, and local operations.
Humanist Design Studios digital-display standards covering typography, color, legibility, viewing distance, and resolution.
Standards translated principles into implementation rules for typography, contrast, viewing distance, scale, and resolution.
One experience system
Patient portal Provider tools Clerk queues Admin workflows Check-in kiosks Signage Large displays Wayfinding A/V Payments Forms + scanning Robotics HMI
Research · Evidence into decisions

Used field behavior to settle consequential product questions.

Contextual inquiry, observation, prototypes, A/B comparisons, and staff testing connected patient behavior to operational reality.

72Patients
3VA sites
7Staff participants
A/BWorkflow tests
Research notes, observations, and highlighted findings organized across a wall.
Field observations became shared synthesis, then explicit product decisions—not private design intuition.
100%used “Skip Payment” when visible

Give people an honest escape route.

Without it, half exited the kiosk and others backed out or sought help.

90%struggled with manual insurance entry

Do not transfer administrative burden blindly.

Staff opposed the workflow because it increased time and reduced data reliability.

100%did not understand predictive updates

Automation must explain itself.

Staff needed visible changes, explicit review, and clear confirmation before data moved downstream.

A/B test result when Skip Payment was visible.
Skip Payment visible: every participant found the honest escape route.
Research report showing patient difficulty with manual insurance entry at the kiosk.
Manual insurance entry: administrative burden produced errors, delays, and staff concern.
Research report showing staff confusion about predictive demographic updates.
Predictive updates: staff needed visible changes, review, and explicit confirmation.
Scale · Programs, people, and place

The system had to work in real hospitals—not just in product files.

VA, DoD, Tenet, Northwestern Memorial, Trinity, Halton, and robotics: durable principles with configurable institutional rules.

Programs VA · DoD · Commercial health systems · Robotics
People Patients · Veterans · Clerks · Providers · Admins · Deployment teams
Context Arrival · Waiting · Check-in · Review · Payment · Wayfinding · Handoff
Constraints Accessibility · Privacy · Hardware · Language · Local operations · Trust
Hospital waiting room showing patients, staff, kiosks, seating, signage, and information displays.
People + placeThe experience crossed software, physical space, queueing, staff behavior, attention, privacy, and trust.
Hospital room study mapping kiosk placement, entry points, seating, and sight lines.
Space as systemPlacement, entry points, sight lines, furniture, and movement shaped whether self-service could work.
VetLink kiosk screen with a visually impaired mode control. Legacy VetLink home screen with multiple service options.
Interaction realityAccessibility, hierarchy, language, and task density were product architecture—not finishing details.
Outcomes · Product and organizational

The visible product improved. The design capability lasted.

The result was not one polished kiosk. It was a team, a method, a system, and a repeatable way to connect evidence to delivery.

Product + service

Faster check-in at national scale.

Average patient check-in fell from roughly 40 minutes to about two across a program deployed to 154 VA medical centers.

Organization + team

A design capability that outlasted any one release.

HDS connected an 8–10 person team, research discipline, accessibility, shared judgment, and BREC implementation standards.

What lasted HDS BREC Research discipline Implementation standards Trust with hospital staff
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Read the CipherBio case study ↗