CONCEPT - A CONNECTED MEDICAL SERVICE FOR CHILDREN WITH DIABETES TYPE 1

What if you had to plan every single one of your meals, based on carbs?

Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong autoimmune condition where the pancreas produces little to no insulin, requiring constant monitoring and insulin therapy. Managing the disease is especially challenging for children, who must track blood sugar, calculate carbohydrates, and administer insulin daily.

“SNASK” is a connected monitoring system that simplifies diabetes management by enabling real-time communication between children, parents, and healthcare providers.

Using infrared molecular scanning, SNASK analyzes food composition and provides accurate insulin dosage recommendations, reducing the risk of miscalculations and complications. By integrating healthcare professionals, it enhances clinical care, supports proactive interventions, and empowers children with greater autonomy.

SNASK was recognized as a Notable Student Project in Interaction and Service Design at the Core77 Awards 2017 and was shortlisted for the IXDA Awards 2017.

TEAM

This project was conducted in close cooperation with Umeå University Hospitals Diabetes Unit staff, clinicians, and several children with Diabetes Type 1 were interviewed

Sebastian Miura (Advanced Product Design) Klio Rapakoulia (Interaction Design)

SKILLS / TOOLS

Arduino, Prototyping, Sound Design, UX design and UI design , Strategy & Feedback loops with the hospital personell, school, parent and child

Concept Video >

Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System

CGM + FOOD SCANNER

The SNASK scanner uses infrared molecule scanning technology to provide nutrition data about carbohydrates. The child wears a patch that combines a glucose monitoring device (cgm) and insulin pump.

CLOUD

The data from the patch and the food scanner are processed through the cloud service.

APPLICATION

Data is sent to the app, enabling tracking of health. It gives blood sugar level records, and gives personalised nutrition coaching.

Illustrated journey infographic

SNASK Process video

A two week collaboration in our small team - between MFA Interaction Design and MFA Advanced Product Design

The most important factor is the child's own learning curve.

- MARGARETA BERGGREN, SPECIALIST NURSE AT UMEÅ UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

EXPERT INTERVIEWS

We held several one-on-one interviews with nurses and specialists at Umeå University Hospital. The most valuable feedback we got, was that the product/system should encourage the child to be more autonomous. It also gave us insights about the pain of the parents, who constantly monitor their children.

EMPATHIZE

We started the first week by with extensive contextual interviews with nurses, parents and with searching for facts and how people commented on on Facebook and social media parenting groups.

75% of of children with type-1 diabetes usually fail to achieve the recommended blood sugar level

When they are not supervised. Deciding what to eat is based on the carbs contained in each meal. For every 10 carbs, 1 unit of insulin is needed. The problem is that young children are too inexperienced to understand what and how much they should eat. Therefore, an adult always needs to be present in order to calculate carbs.

We discovered that the connection between parent child is put at a major stress.

Parents are constantly supervising their children, making them feel disempowered.

IDEATION

Using sketches, user journeys and embodied interaction such as impro-theatre to put ourself in to the place of the child. I was structuring and building the storytelling.

PROTOTYPING

Explored sound design techniques to enhance user experience.

Conducted Wizard of Oz testing to evaluate interaction and usability.
3D-printed a functional scanner model for hands-on testing.
Programmed light and audio interactions using Arduino for real-time feedback.
Developed an interactive mockup of the parent’s application for monitoring and control.

TESTING WITH HOSPITAL STAFF AND FAMILIES

CHALLENGES AND RESOLUTION

Time pressure and direction uncertainty made it challenging to navigate such a sensitive topic as children's healthcare.
Feedback from doctors and nurses provided valuable insights, guiding our decision-making.
Imagination and strategic research on existing technologies helped shape our approach.
Initially considered a broad notification system covering all aspects of a child's life.
Realized the need for focus, as the broad approach risked becoming ineffective.
Refined our solution to a targeted diabetes monitoring system, ensuring clarity and impact.

I took the lead on making the strategic choice to focus on the relation to food and food scanning technology.

This was from insights and market gap there is to empower the child, and improve the parent - to - child relation.

MY ROLE

In this project I took the lead on connecting people together and prototyping aspects of the mock-up such as textiles and UI on a graphical level when conducting the system mapping. I took the lead on the Storytelling, structuring the user journey and what interactions the device would have towards the user (child).

In the end I believe the mock-up (model) is a bit too big in its scale, but this was perfect to show to the nurses that the technology could be used in their field and not only the fitness/health field. I would have liked for us to test with more children, but due to the short span of two weeks we chose to focus on the experts from the hospital .

PROJECT REFLECTION: SNASK – Empowering Families in Diabetes Care

Parents of children with diabetes often struggle with the fear of losing control and the challenge of trusting others to manage their child's condition. This lack of confidence creates a significant gap in the diabetes monitoring market—one that SNASK is designed to fill.

SNASK offers an innovative, child-friendly solution that enhances both safety and independence.

The wearable scanner stays with the child, seamlessly updating parents throughout the day, while an integrated patch automatically regulates blood sugar levels and administers insulin as needed. To further support self-management, children can actively engage in their treatment by choosing when to administer an injection via a simple button press.

By addressing both parental concerns and a child's need for autonomy, SNASK not only improves quality of life but also sets a new standard for smart diabetes care—reducing stress, fostering responsibility, and ultimately driving better health outcomes.

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