Medical students learn surgery from textbooks and videos, then meet their first real patient. MediVerse closes that gap: touch the anatomy in 3D, rehearse an emergency as often as you need, and walk into the ward already prepared.
What we designed
AResearch: market, literature, survey, expert and campus interviews
BPersonas, empathy maps, affinity map, HMW
CMoSCoW, site map and user flows
DVR interaction rules: gestures, comfort, layout
EBrand: name, logo, colour
FSketches → mid-fi → hi-fi VR UI and a Figma prototype
Medical+Universe=MediVerse
A boundless universe for medical training
How we worked
01 · Research
Listen
Expectations, pain points and preferences.
02 · Define
Find the real gap
Compile the research; interview experts and learners.
03 · Ideate & prototype
Shape the VR
A wide range of ideas, then interfaces, interactions and flows.
04 · Test
Watch it used
Usability issues in real VR training scenarios.
02
02 · The problem
The theory is there. The practice isn’t.
Survey · 220%
of students had never used VR to learn.
Survey · 220%
learn mostly from textbooks and online lectures.
Survey · 220%
get to practise on simulations or in cadaver labs.
Survey · 220%
would use VR in their training, if they had it.
For students
Hands-on practice only starts in later years
Anatomy, CNS and surgery are hard to picture from books
Too much to memorise, too little to apply
A first OT visit with no rehearsal is overwhelming
For colleges in India
Very few have VR learning tools at all
Most medical VR is built abroad, for other curricula
Headsets and content are expensive
Little awareness of what VR can already do
Problem statementVery few Indian medical colleges can give students a risk-free, immersive place to practise complex procedures, and almost no local tool is built for medical students.
03
03 · Research
From four VR worlds to one we could change.
04VR domains mapped
Medical, education, defence and enterprise training.
12Companies studied
6 Indian VR firms, 6 medical training products.
22Survey answers
14 questions to medical and physio students.
02Expert interviews
A VR founder and a physiotherapy student.
05Campus groups
Face-to-face interviews with students in Pune.
Why medical
We mind-mapped every place VR is used for training. Medicine had the most at stake: patient interaction, anatomy, emergencies, surgery and new equipment, all of them expensive or risky to practise for real.
Mind map · the medical domain
The field is growing fast
$2.4B
$19.7B
37
659
VR health market 20222032 · 24.1% a yearVR-in-education papers 20112022
What students already use
Textbooks86%
Online lectures86%
Study groups23%
Simulations18%
Cadaver labs18%
Plenty of reading, very little doing. The literature says the opposite works: VR learning can double attention and lift test results by about 30%.
Competitive landscape
Complete Anatomy
Detailed 3D models, every device
Not truly immersive VR
GigXR
Holographic, instructor-led
Needs HoloLens-class hardware
SimX
Team-based patient simulations
Costly headsets, steep learning curve
MediSim · MadVR
Indian, CPR and surgical training
Narrow scope, few student modules
The gapA student-first platform that follows the Indian curriculum year by year, runs on headset, desktop and tablet, and mixes anatomy with emergencies.
Two experts, five campus conversations.
Shantanu Padke · founder, MediSim Lab
Their VR CPR course has trained 5,000+ people, certified by India’s Healthcare Sector Skill Council
Built in Unreal and Unity; Meta Quest is the affordable entry point
Blockers: awareness, cost, colleges hesitant to invest
Sagarika Patwardhan · physiotherapy, Sancheti
VR already treats vertigo: gaze and balance games without the fear of falling
Wants modules on anatomy, kinesiology, surgery and biomechanics
Campus interviews with MBBS, nursing and physiotherapy students
04
04 · Users
Three students, three stages of training.
1st yearAK
Ananya Kulkarni
19 · BPT student · Pune
Books alone don’t help me picture a procedure.
Wants
Practise skills before touching a real patient
Fights
Little hands-on time in the early years
2nd yearAS
Ajay Soni
21 · MBBS student · Pune
We face difficulties from the very beginning.
Wants
3D anatomy and step-by-step surgical guidance
Fights
Theory-heavy subjects, no engaging tools
GraduateWS
Wena Shah
23 · MBBS graduate · PG prep
There’s a wide gap between theory and practice.
Wants
Pre-op walkthroughs before her first OT
Fights
A heavy syllabus and complex systems like CNS
Who it’s for · students who learn by seeing and doing
Empathy maps: what they say vs. what they feel.
Says
Thinks
Does
Feels
05
05 · Synthesis
Every theme became a design decision.
Gap between theory and practiceReal-life simulations and scenario-based learning
Visual, interactive learners3D anatomy and VR interfaces, not text
No access to advanced toolsScalable, low-cost formats: headset, desktop, tablet
Need for structureGuided tutorials and procedural flows
Cognitive overloadStep-by-step modules, one thing at a time
Open to VRHigh adoption, if the UX is right
Affinity map · five clusters
01Surgical practice
Guide every step of a procedure
Instant feedback on errors
02Mobile & web VR
3D in the browser, no headset
Offline modules for low-infra regions
03AI in training
Adaptive difficulty
Suggestions on weak topics
04Gamification
Diagnose a virtual patient
Quiz levels, badges
05Certification
Skill modules with assessments
A practice log per procedure
The problem, redefined
Medical students struggle to retain and apply complex concepts because they lack practical exposure. They need an accessible, immersive tool that replays real medical scenarios, step by step.
How might we… → what we did
make training immersive?Realistic 3D models and guided walkthroughs
let students repeat safely?A free-practice mode with retries
give real-time feedback?Prompts, cues and a live performance view
reach colleges with little money?Desktop and tablet versions, shared plans
earn the trust of institutions?Pilots, expert-checked content, real cases
keep long sessions comfortable?Gestures, voice guides, minimal UI, break alerts
06
06 · Ideation
Must-haves first, robot surgery later.
Must MVP
3D interactive anatomy
Step-by-step procedure guides
Practice: injections, CPR, suturing
Headset + desktop versions
Should Next
Group sessions
Voice-guided instructions
Simulated patient cases
Offline modules
Could Nice
Badges and leaderboards
Haptic feedback
OT and hospital environments
Won’t For now
Robotic surgery
Remote-surgery devices
Cardiac & neuro specialities
Built on how people actually learn.
ACTIVE LEARNING
Hold the organ, don’t just watch it
Turning a heart in 3D builds understanding; procedures practised in VR build muscle memory.
CONTIGUITY · MAYER
Labels sit next to the part
Words beside the picture, never in a legend: the heart screen names each chamber in place.
SEGMENTING · MAYER
One step at a time
A procedure is split into steps with pause points, so nobody is overloaded.
Contiguity in practice · labels beside each part
07
07 · Information architecture
Organised the way students study.
By year, by body system, or by topic type: three doors into the same modules.
MediVerse home
Learning modulesYear · system · topic
1st yearAnatomy, physiology, biochemistry
2nd yearPathology, pharmacology
Final yearMedicine, surgery
Body systemsCNS, cardiovascular, respiratory
VR simulationsPractise
Basic anatomy explorer
CPR · IV cannulation · suturing
Emergency scenarios
Operation theatre practice
Progress & quizzesTrack
Completed modules
Quiz scores · learning streak
Scenario assessments
Revision flashcards
Profile & helpSupport
Learning preferences
Achievements & badges
Language · VR calibration
FAQ · report a bug
Onboarding flow
Welcome
Log in
Sign up
OTP
Choose profession
Select year
Choose subject
Home
Student flow · from home to the heart, or to an emergency
Home
Student portal
Simulations
Basic anatomy explorer
Region / organ system
Internal structure of the heart
Emergency scenarios
Cardiac arrest · anaphylaxis · choking
Respiratory distress
08
08 · Designing for VR
No mouse, no keyboard. Just hands and eyes.
Four gestures run the whole app, so a first-time user never has to hunt for a controller button.
Pinch
Select an item
Swipe
Rotate a 3D model
Gaze
Look to trigger
Open palm
Back to home
Floating panels, one reach away
Comfort rules we kept
01Floating UI at arm’s length, never stuck to the face
02Big targets, minimal text, clear hierarchy
03Teleport, don’t glide: less motion sickness
04Glass panels so the room stays visible
05Break alerts in long sessions
09
09 · Sketch → wireframe → final
Pencil first, pixels last.
Pick a screen and watch it grow up. Paper sketches tested the navigation; grey glass wireframes tested the layout; then came the anatomy.
Sketches · landing
Sketches · learning screens
Wireframe · login
Wireframe · scenario in the ward
10
10 · Branding
A capsule you can wear.
01Capsule · medicine and healing, and the shape of a VR visor
02Swirls · motion and immersion, virtual meeting physical
03Stethoscope · you know it’s healthcare at a glance
Colour
Clinical teal#1A85A9 · trust, health, technology
Lavender#CCAFE9 · imagination
Sterile white#FFFFFF · clarity
UniverseGradient · the digital world
Deep space#030A1C · the VR room
Mood board
From buried in books to ready for the ward.
Before VR
After VR
11
11 · Final UI
Glass panels that wrap around you.
Keep scrolling: you are standing inside the app. Every screen below is from our Figma prototype, which you can open at the end of this page.
Look around · the VR app
01 / 10
Choose your type
Log in
Home
What’s inside
Regions & organ systems
Cardiovascular topics
Inside the heart
Labelled anatomy
Emergency scenarios
Talk to the patient
Choose your type
Beyond the headset
The same anatomy on a tablet, and over the real room.
Not every college owns headsets, so the heart module also runs on a tablet, with a live video call to classmates beside it, and as AR over a real clinic.
AR · panels over a real clinic
12
12 · Gameplay
Rehearse the emergency like a game.
Every scenario is a mission: walk into the ward, read the patient, pick the right tool. Each step is one clear task with a hint, so students learn by doing. Here is respiratory distress, from first click to the fix.
Respiratory distress · objectiveStep 01 / 08
Choose a scenario
After the taskReal-time feedback was a must-have in our MoSCoW: every scenario ends with what went right and what to practise again.
13
13 · Usability testing
Six tasks, two students, every task done.
A 2nd-year MBBS student and a postgraduate ran the prototype and rated each task on the Single Ease Question (1 = very difficult, 7 = very easy).
0%Task completion
6.58Average ease · out of 7
7/7Overall experience
6.5Navigation ease
Sign up / log in7.0
Find the heart’s internal anatomy6.0
Open the respiratory-distress scenario6.0
Walk through the scenario7.0
Navigation easy to understand?6.5
Overall experience7.0
Next fixThe lowest single score (5/7) was finding a scenario inside the student portal, so the next version puts Scenarios straight on the student home.
14
14 · Toolkit
The tools behind each step.
Figma
UI + prototype
Why: one file for wireframes, glass components and the clickable VR prototype.
Here: mid-fi and hi-fi screens, flows, the research deck.
Adobe Illustrator
Brand craft
Why: the capsule and its swirls had to stay crisp from an app icon to a poster.
Here: the logo, the wordmark and the icons.
Canva
Research & story
Why: fast, clean layouts for the parts people read rather than tap.
Here: persona sheets, survey charts and the presentation.
ChatGPT
Key visuals
Why: to show the product in a real ward or room before it exists.
Here: the nurse in the headset, the spatial tabs and the tablet mockups.
15
15 · Outcome & impact
Practice without the risk.
0Students surveyed
0Personas
0Emergency scenarios
0%Tasks completed in testing
IMPACT 01
Risk-free repetition
Students can fail, retry and master a procedure before a real patient.
IMPACT 02
Anatomy you can turn
Organs in 3D, labelled in place, by region or by system.
MediVerse home
