Silver Interface, Interaction and User Experience Design · 2025
Viva Cyte Suite Software Platform
- A' Design Award 2025 Silver Winner in Interface, Interaction and User Experience Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: Cellply
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 54,964
- Verification code 57DEA520AC · Verify this award
About Viva Cyte Suite Software Platform
Viva Cyte is an advanced software platform designed to streamline cell therapy development by integrating automation, high throughput analysis, and an intuitive user experience. It consists of Control Software (CSW) for managing biological tests and Analytical Software (ASW) for extracting meaningful insights. AI-driven automation reduces human error, improves accuracy, and enhances usability, enabling researchers to navigate complex workflows efficiently while accelerating therapeutic advancements.
The Viva Cyte Suite Software Platform by Livia Stevenin emerges from the intersection of user experience design and life sciences technology, representing a sophisticated response to the complex data management challenges inherent in contemporary biomedical research workflows. This interface exemplifies the principles of information architecture that have evolved within digital design practice since the proliferation of laboratory information management systems, demonstrating how careful attention to visual hierarchy, chromatic coding, and spatial organization can transform overwhelming datasets into navigable, comprehensible work environments. The designer appears to have embraced a systematic approach to color deployment, employing soft pastel hues as categorical identifiers that enable rapid visual parsing of sample types, processing stages, or experimental conditions without requiring users to read individual cell contents. This chromatic strategy reflects established principles of preattentive visual processing, where color differentiation can be perceived within milliseconds, significantly accelerating the cognitive tasks of locating, comparing, and tracking elements within complex data arrays. The grid-based compositional architecture suggests influences from spreadsheet conventions familiar to scientific professionals while introducing refinements in spacing, typography, and interactive affordances that elevate the interface beyond utilitarian functionality toward considered aesthetic experience. The presentation context, showing the platform in active use within an authentic laboratory setting complete with microscope and specimen vessels, speaks to design documentation practices that emphasize real-world application over abstracted screen captures, inviting viewers to understand the interface as an instrument integrated within larger workflows of scientific inquiry. One might observe how the interface panels employ consistent internal logic while accommodating varied content densities, suggesting flexible systems architecture capable of scaling across diverse research applications. The work invites contemplation of how thoughtful interface design serves not merely as functional infrastructure but as a mediator between human cognition and complex information environments, potentially reducing cognitive load while supporting the rigorous attention to detail that characterizes excellence in scientific practice.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The project focused on UX/UI design for two integrated software solutions: Control Software (CSW) for launching and managing biological tests and Analytical Software (ASW) for extracting key insights from results. The design prioritizes scalability, usability, and automation and enables researchers to navigate complex workflows, configure tests, and analyze data with minimal effort, streamlining the entire process.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Design: Figma
Front-end: React JS
Design System: Bento - Tags
- Cell therapy software, AI-driven automation, biomedical research, UX/UI design, data-driven, workflow optimization, healthcare innovation, regulatory compliance, user-centered design
- Production Technology
- We conducted extensive user research to design VivaCyte's software suite, including shadowing biologists in labs and interviewing end-users to understand their workflows and challenges. We also organized User Journey Mapping workshops, bringing together biologists and development teams to foster collaboration and gather diverse perspectives. The insights from these activities guided the creation of a custom design system, ensuring consistency and usability across the platforms.
- Design Challenge
- Designing VivaCyte posed challenges in balancing usability, automation, and compliance. Internally, we had to align complex biological workflows with intuitive design, ensuring seamless lab adoption. Externally, strict medical regulations require adherence to compliance standards. Limited industry precedents and evolving AI capabilities pushed us to innovate with user research, iterative prototyping, and AI-driven automation, overcoming barriers in technology and regulatory constraints.
- Project Duration
- The project started in January 2022 in Milan and finished in August 2024.
- Operation Flow
- VivaCyte streamlines cell therapy workflows through an intuitive, automated interface. Users launch tests via the Control Software (CSW), which configures experiments that can be followed in real-time, while the Analytical Software (ASW) extracts biological insights and displays them. AI-driven automation minimizes errors, ensuring accuracy and efficiency. Designed for seamless interaction, it simplifies complex tasks, accelerates data analysis, and enhances usability.
- Research
- We conducted user research to enhance VivaCyte’s usability and efficiency. Using shadowing and interviews, we observed lab workflows and identified pain points. Data was collected via on-site studies, journey mapping, and prototype testing with biologists and technicians. Insights led to features like printable maps and a guided setup walkthrough, reducing errors and improving efficiency. The research optimized workflows, accelerating cell therapy development.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by the need to accelerate cancer cell therapies, VivaCyte was designed to streamline workflows, reduce human error, and enhance patient care. Recognizing the challenges of complex, labour-intensive workflows in cell therapy development, we sought to create a solution that integrates advanced automation, high-throughput analysis, and intuitive design. The design prioritizes usability and scalability, enabling researchers and clinicians to focus on innovation rather than constraints.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Mockup: Designed by Freepik, Image: Livia Stevenin (UX/UI designer), Image #2: Livia Stevenin (UX/UI designer), Image #3: Livia Stevenin (UX/UI designer), Image #4: Livia Stevenin (UX/UI designer), Image #5: Livia Stevenin (UX/UI designer),
Colors of Viva Cyte Suite Software Platform
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UX/UI Design for Healthcare and Biotech Interfaces
We specialize in designing intuitive interfaces for complex healthcare and biotech applications. With expertise in AI-driven systems, user research, and workflow optimization, we transform technical requirements into elegant, user-friendly solutions that enhance efficiency and accuracy.
G0E2 ShopDesign Interview about Viva Cyte Suite Software Platform
We aimed to create a design that was efficient and capable of supporting complex workflows without disrupting the users' existing processes. The design needed to be intuitive, enhancing their work by leveraging opportunities and improving the overall effort required for each task. Visually, it had to be as simple as possible, given the amount of information it needed to convey and its inherent complexity. Above all, the design needed to be user-friendly, ensuring a seamless and intuitive experience for the users.
The main focus was efficiency and users' needs. The users were accustomed to their existing methods and tools, so introducing new software was a challenge and initially met with some skepticism, especially given the sensitive nature of the sector and the materials involved. However, we developed the design in close collaboration with the users, paying careful attention to the details that mattered most to them. By ensuring that their feedback was heard and reflected in the software, we were able to create a sense of partnership, allowing them to feel as though we were building the solution together to enhance their workflow and improve their work.
The design is already being used by the client, and we plan to continue refining it and adding new features as new needs arise.
The first version of the design took 3 to 4 months to complete, while the version presented here is a more evolved iteration, which took approximately one year to design and develop.
The design was commissioned by Cellply, a company focused on advancing immune system research and accelerating the development of cell therapies. Their goal was to provide innovative tools for single-cell analysis that would streamline discovery processes, improve data accuracy, and ultimately enhance therapeutic outcomes.
The design was developed and is currently being used by the client who commissioned it.
At Buildo, we specialize in developing complex medtech software, which is precisely the type of project we are passionate about and highly skilled in delivering. Our deep expertise in this field allows us to navigate the unique challenges of medical technology, ensuring that our solutions are both innovative and compliant with industry standards.
The design was created in collaboration with my fellow designers at the company: Sara Bianchini and Agnese Ragucci.
As part of a software suite, each application targeted a different audience. One was explicitly designed for Cellply’s employed researchers, who work on developing new experimental workflows executable with Vivacyte. The other two applications were intended for Cellply’s customers, who are biologist researchers focused on cell therapy.
The design prioritizes functionality and seamless integration into the users' existing workflows, ensuring that it aligns with their established processes. By incorporating their color-coding system and striving to replicate the mechanisms of their machines, we aimed to make the software feel familiar and intuitive, minimizing disruption and enhancing efficiency. The design's success lies in the attention to detail and our deep understanding of the domain, which allowed us to tailor the solution to the users' unique needs. This thorough comprehension of both the technical and operational aspects sets the design apart, making it not just a tool but a natural extension of the users' day-to-day tasks.
We primarily used Miro for ideation and co-design sessions with the client, Condens for managing user research, UXPin for creating wireframes, and Figma for developing high-fidelity designs.
In addition to the internal design team at Buildo, particularly Sara Bianchini and Agnese Ragucci, we collaborated closely with the client’s research and technical teams. The research team helped us deepen our understanding of the domain, while the technical team provided valuable insights into how their machines operated and how the software would integrate. This collaboration enabled us to identify the limitations, opportunities, and key priorities for the software.
The software needed to be seamlessly integrated into their machines, which performed a specific set of tasks and functions. As a result, the design was tailored to align closely with these tasks and the machine processes, ensuring that the software complemented and enhanced the existing workflow
We conducted a comprehensive and in-depth research phase, beginning with the discovery phase, to thoroughly understand the AS-IS situation. This involved defining the target users, conducting user interviews, performing shadowing sessions, and co-designing the User Journey Mapping. In the TO-BE phase, we focused on defining user stories based on the functionalities identified during the research, considering the user’s perspective. These user stories were then prioritized in collaboration with the client, allowing us to refine the scope by selecting the most valuable user stories and grouping them into high-level features. This process was crucial in ensuring that we created a product that truly addresses user pain points while also meeting CellPly’s strategic priorities.
The complexity of the domain was undoubtedly one of the key challenges we faced. This sector involved intricate processes, specialized knowledge, and technical constraints that required us not only to understand the users’ needs but also to adapt our design to align with the specific workflows and systems they already had in place. Navigating these complexities demanded meticulous attention to detail and close collaboration with subject matter experts to ensure the design was both functional and user-friendly despite the sophisticated nature of the tasks involved.
Additionally, the user journey extended beyond just the use of the software—it also involved physical interactions with instruments and other devices within the laboratory. Therefore, we had to carefully consider these multi-step interactions in our design to create a seamless experience that integrates both digital and physical workflows. Overcoming this challenge required a delicate balance between simplifying the user experience and respecting the intricate requirements of the domain.
Additionally, the user journey extended beyond just the use of the software—it also involved physical interactions with instruments and other devices within the laboratory. Therefore, we had to carefully consider these multi-step interactions in our design to create a seamless experience that integrates both digital and physical workflows. Overcoming this challenge required a delicate balance between simplifying the user experience and respecting the intricate requirements of the domain.
After completing the design, we were incredibly proud of the outcome and excited to share it with others. We wanted to gather feedback from fellow professionals to see if our design was recognized and appreciated for its quality and impact.
We gained a deep understanding of the domain and the client's intricate workflows, which were essential to the design process. We learned how to simplify complex concepts and leverage all available tools to make them more accessible. Additionally, we grew our skills through close collaboration with both the client and domain experts, ensuring that every aspect of the project was aligned with their needs and expertise