Dentists and orthodontists need a way to view, edit, and approve their patient’s proposed treatment plan. That’s why we created ClearPilot, a robust 3D treatment planning and editing platform that lets clinicians communicate with the technicians staging treatment, and even edit their final treatment goals directly on the model using advanced 3D tools.
As a part of the core team for this software from its inception, ClearPilot is one of my proudest accomplishments in my time at ClearCorrect.
More about my career at ClearCorrectIf you're a fan of context, I recommend exploring the link above.
Dentists and orthodontists need a way to view, edit, and approve their patient’s proposed treatment plan. That’s why we created ClearPilot, a robust 3D treatment planning and editing platform that lets clinicians communicate with the technicians staging treatment, and even edit their final treatment goals directly on the model using advanced 3D tools.
As a part of the core team for this software from its inception, ClearPilot is one of my proudest accomplishments in my time at ClearCorrect.
The first version of ClearPilot was created with a very small team of software engineers (I believe it was less than 20 at the time), a Product Manager, and me proposing the look of the interface. We released huge updates twice per year, and the team grew as those updates became more advanced and challenging to implement.
1x Senior Designer (Ariel Elliott)
1x Video Editor (Richard Hirsch)
1x Product Manager
Software development team
Primary UI design proposals · Contributed User Experience improvements · Critique and editing of related marketing materials
In the early days of ClearCorrect, clinicians could only view the starting position of their patients’ teeth and compare it to our 3D projection of where the teeth would eventually move. They couldn’t see the order in which the teeth would move, what types of movements and techniques would be required, or even a good estimate of the length of treatment.
All of that changed with ClearPilot.
By Version 7.0, ClearPilot was an incredibly powerful bit of software, brimming with tools for viewing and manipulating models in 3D space. Creating software that projected the image of power and competence while providing a great user experience was a challenge. We had to think of many ways for our software to remain useful across different screen sizes, and we kept compromise to a minimum: the full version of ClearPilot, with all of its many tools and panels, was still as viable on an 11" iPad as it was on a 4K 27" desktop screen.
Also, I have to say, particularly compared to other software in the dental space, ClearPilot is a rather slick-looking web-based platform.
Unlike many software projects, the ClearPilot journey didn't begin with a clear roadmap. Instead we began with a short list of features we knew we could incorporate, and proceeded from there. Scheduling was difficult, and appropriately sizing the teams to the task while holding the release timelines in place was also a challenge.
ClearPilot allows users to view all sorts of vital statistics about the treatment of a given case:
The (projected) six-axis movement of up to 16 teeth at one time, both per treatment step and for the entire duration of treatment. Users could also view the relations of the teeth to each other. They could even see any auxiliary processes they'd be required to perform, and at which step in treatment.
Editing the final position of teeth is important for clinicians—particularly for advanced users treating more complex cases. Teeth needed to fit together in certain ways and move in certain ways to reach that final position, and we provided the tools to do just that: managing spaces between teeth, managing the angulation of teeth to ensure proper dentition, etc.
I designed most of the buttons and icons myself, as the majority of them expressed concepts that were specific to our business and the software. Those that were more familiar or commonplace still had to be altered slightly to fit our design language: stroke width, terminal shape, amount of negative space and overall mass, etc.
After identifying new features and updates for each new version of ClearPilot, I would work in Adobe XD to incorporate the changes, and then develop a briefing document to identify and explain the changes.
Example of a briefing document discussing changes, demonstrating proper proportions, and defining colors and fonts.
After initial presentations to stakeholders and software leads, I would incorporate feedback typically by creating multiple options for solving a given problem. It was a lot of work, but the thoroughness was appreciated.
Bringing ClearPilot to market was primarily about putting useful materials in the hands of our sales force. These included flyers announcing new features and a featured section in our brochure to help lead in-person conversations; we also created a landing page each time the software was updated (which was in the spring and fall each year) as well as a series of educational videos and demos to help onboard customers in their own time.
Since its introduction in late 2020, ClearPilot has grown from a basic treatment review app into a full-featured platform that competes on a totally level playing field with the best software in the industry. In three years, the ClearCorrect software team caught up with more than ten years of features, and the advanced users across the industry noticed. ClearPilot's rapid progression was actually a big reason why our 2023 Rebrand became necessary when it did—our software, along with our product itself, had advanced so drastically and changed our relationship to our customers and competitors so dramatically, the whole brand had to change to reflect it.
