Why We Miss the Early Signs of Illness | Yidan Xu | TEDxNew Channel Qingdao

When Yidan Xu's father was diagnosed with advanced chronic kidney disease in 2023, she came to see that the real issue wasn't the absence of testing tools — it was that people simply weren't getting tested. So as a designer, she created Urify: a kidney disease early-warning system built into toilet cleaning products. With these everyday, low-barrier items, she transforms “treatment after the fact” into “prevention in daily life.” 2023年，徐一丹的父亲确诊慢性肾病中晚期——这让她意识到，问题不在于检测技术的缺失，而在于“检测行为本身没有发生”。作为设计师，她把答案做成了Urify：一款融入马桶清洁产品的肾病预警设计，用低门槛的日常物品，把疾病“事后治疗”，提前变成“日常预防”。 Yidan Xu is a London-based product designer and innovation researcher, graduated from Innovation Design Engineering at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art. Her work operates at the intersection of people, science, and design. Her individual work has received international recognition, including being named a UK James Dyson Award runner-up, a global top 20, and being featured by Dezeen and Reuters. Her current project is being incubated at Imperial College London, reflecting her focus on translating complex scientific challenges into accessible, real-world solutions with meaningful social impact. She is also interested in exploring cross-disciplinary collaborations and opportunities to extend the impact of her work. (She has also contributed to projects at Huawei and Xiaomi Auto, applying a human-centred design approach to complex product systems.) This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx