PULSE
PULSE
IN THE KNOW
If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, a Prototype is Worth a Thousand Developer Hours
SEPTEMBER 2025
In just a few weeks, we can create an interactive prototype that’s polished and feels like a real app. These prototypes are invaluable for gathering early feedback from potential customers–before investing in software development.
Watch Eliana Stein walk through one of our prototypes.
A few examples of prototypes we’ve built for clients:
A monogramming feature for e-commerce (desktop and mobile)
A mobile app to practice job interviews
A tablet app to guide doctors in using ultrasound in the ER
Contact us to see one of these prototypes.
TEAM MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Melanie Balsis, Design
SEPTEMBER 2025
Did you know our senior UI/UX designer and branding expert, Melanie Balsis, is not only passionate about design—but also music? When she's not kayaking, Melanie is behind the 🎹 piano or on percussion. She's performed with jazz bands, dixieland groups, chamber orchestras, concert bands, and city ensembles. Talk about creativity on and off the screen!
IN THE KNOW
AI Scribes for Physicians: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
AUGUST 2025
AI-powered medical scribes like InstaNote, Nabla, Tali, Heidi, Commure, and Freed are changing how clinicians document care. By “listening in” on patient-doctor conversations and then writing the notes, they cut down on doctors’ admin time. But are they usable enough for real-world adoption?
We evaluated several tools that are leading the charge. Here are our key takeaways:
✅ What Works
Contextual Onboarding: Guided walkthroughs with medical examples help users trust the AI output.
Effortless Capture & Retrieval: One-click recording and well-organized notes are essential.
Flexible Editing: Support for voice, manual, and AI-assisted edits gives clinicians control.
Built-in Feedback Tools: Quick, in-context reporting options encourage continuous AI improvement.
❌ What Doesn’t
Poorly explained or overly complex template management.
Laggy speech editing.
Overpromising on EHR integration.
Evaluating AI scribes at your organization? Let’s talk usability, adoption, and implementation strategies.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Apple’s New “Liquid Glass” and Highlights from WWDC25
JUNE 2025
It’s June, which means Apple has announced new features at their annual World Wide Developer Conference (aka WWDC). Our top takeaways:
Liquid Glass: The big news this year is an overhaul of the visual language for their operating systems. They’ve named the new look "Liquid Glass" and we are not fans. Aesthetically, we think it is overly fussy (google "specular highlight") and usability-wise, we worry that the transparencies and layering will require more cognitive load. (FYI: There are accessibility tools to reduce these effects).
Customization: Apple is leaning hard into customizability. Examples include more options for tinted modes for the iPhone, new layout choices for Car Play, and adjustable windows on iPad.
OS Unification: They are making steps to further unify iOS and MacOS. In addition to OS Tahoe adopting Liquid Glass, Mac computers will now support Live Activities, have a Phone app, iPhone mirroring, etc.
Apple’s AI: Apple is opening their on-device LLM Apple Intelligence to developers.
Photos App: You know how everyone hates iOS18 Photos because it is impossible to navigate? Good news, the latest seems to be an improvement.
Icon Composer: For our fellow designers, Apple has released Icon Composer, an app to help create app icons with liquid glass properties.
TEAM MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Tim Gill, SEO
MAY 2025
Tim, our SEO expert, met his wife in a capoeira club on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus - says “our first conversation was halfway between a spin kick and a samba”. He’s passionate about languages and has studied French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian (with a dream of someday mixing them all into a career in marketing). Bonus point: any guesses at where this photo is taken?
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