All projects Laptop on a desk showing the Laerdal Scenario Cloud interface with content listings.

Launching a Subscription Platform on a Hard Deadline

Client

Laerdal Medical AS

Industry

Healthcare & Medical Technology

Role

Product & UX Design Lead

Duration

6 months (plus ongoing support)

Services

Product Design, Content Strategy, Stakeholder Coordination, UX Writing

The Challenge

My client's contract with their legacy content platform was ending. If we missed the deadline, hundreds of customer organisations worldwide—universities, hospitals, and training institutions—would lose access to medical simulation scenarios they'd purchased. These scenarios train EMTs and healthcare professionals using state-of-the-art manikins, making them critical educational infrastructure.

We had six months to build and launch a new platform that would migrate all existing customers, transition from one-time purchases to subscription access, and dramatically improve content discovery.

I led the design from concept through launch, coordinating external development agencies and content partners while building a comprehensive development backlog, setting design standards, and ensuring quality throughout.

Old content store interface with unclear categorization — Previously, customers struggled to find relevant content, sometimes only discovering this after purchasing an expensive license.

New content store interface with improved filtering and categorization — Moving to a subscription model provides free choice of content and the option to create collections based on their curriculum and sync content directly to their training equipment.

Building Under Pressure

I started by developing a series of wireframes and interactive prototypes covering the product's core features. These were used at trade conferences to validate the approach with existing and potential customers.

With the deadline approaching, I wrote dozens of key development tasks to cover everything required for a successful launch with customers. My responsibilities spanned the full product experience:

Designing interfaces and interaction patterns before a design system existed
Planning and prioritising development tasks
Writing specifications for external development teams
Creating email templates for subscription management, renewals, and content expiry notifications
Verifying implementation quality through ongoing QA
Designing the first "share collection" feature that allowed colleagues to coordinate training content as a team

This sharing capability ultimately led to organisation accounts where institutions could see who was using products and who managed purchasing decisions.

Transforming Content Discovery

The biggest design challenge wasn't the interface—it was how customers discovered and evaluated content.

Previously, customers saw only brief summaries before purchasing. They'd download 40-page PDFs, manually upload them via USB to their equipment, and only then discover if the content matched their curriculum needs. This led to purchasing errors, refund requests, and wasted coordination with university or hospital procurement departments.

The most valuable scenarios came from around 10 partner organisations like the American Heart Association and National League of Nursing. Each partner presented information differently, making comparison difficult.

After reviewing examples, I realised partners mostly offered the same content types in different orders. Working with content specialists, I established a framework based on how simulation training actually works:

Overview — Summary of the scenario and why to use it
Prepare — Requirements for running the scenario
Simulate — The training itself, with programming and narrative
Debrief — Reviewing performance with learners

This framework enabled digital presentation of scenario content instead of requiring PDF downloads. Customers could now browse hundreds of scenarios, read full Overview sections, and understand content thoroughly before subscribing. This transformed content discovery from guesswork into informed decision-making.

Old scenario format as lengthy PDF pages — Previously, customers had to download lengthy PDFs to evaluate content, leading to uncertainty and dissatisfaction.

New structured scenario format with sections for Overview, Prepare, Simulate, and Debrief — The new structured format allows customers to explore content in detail before subscribing, reducing uncertainty and improving satisfaction.

Managing the Transition

All legacy customers needed migration to the new platform. I designed the experience so previously purchased content remained accessible regardless of subscription status. Customers could continue using purchased versions freely, but needed to subscribe for content updates aligned with the latest medical standards.

This approach respected past investments while creating clear value for subscriptions—access to updated content and the full scenario library.

The subscription model was novel for the medical training industry, which typically operated on capital purchases. By providing visibility before requiring payment, we made the transition feel less risky for institutions working within rigid budget cycles.

Coordinating Across Teams

Development involved external agencies working with complex existing data structures. I became the central coordination point, ensuring design quality was maintained across all touchpoints.

Without established design infrastructure, I set the standards for consistency, wrote detailed specifications, and reviewed every implementation to ensure the experience met the required quality bar.

Launch and Evolution

The platform launched on time, successfully migrating hundreds of customer organisations. Initial challenges around translations and product awareness provided valuable learnings that informed subsequent digital product launches.

After launch, I continued triaging critical issues and providing UX solutions while onboarding in-house designers who would take over ongoing development. The product established the foundation for my client's shift towards subscription-based digital offerings.

Laerdal Scenario Cloud interface shown across laptop, tablet, and phone.

What This Required

End-to-end ownership. Leading design from concept through launch while coordinating multiple external teams and establishing quality standards without existing infrastructure.

Design thinking beyond interfaces. The content framework solved the real problem—helping customers make informed decisions about training materials.

Delivery under pressure. Six months to replace critical infrastructure serving hundreds of institutions, with no room for missing the deadline.

Business model transition. Moving an industry from capital purchases to subscriptions required careful design of migration paths, pricing visibility, and value communication.