Most municipalities had no tool for infection tracking when the corona pandemic hit, and many used pen and paper in the beginning. If no one created a tool that made this work more efficient, there would be no way to keep up with the number of people who got infected.

From idea to company in 3 weeks

The chief medical officer in Hadsel, Ingebjørn Bleidvin, discovered this problem in his own municipality and contacted old friends in the IT industry. How difficult would it be to create something that solved the problem? They agreed that it had to be possible, and established Remin as a private company, without ties to municipal or state enterprises, and financed the development and operation themselves in the start-up phase. What started as a frustration turned into an idea that ended up becoming the most widespread infection tracking tool in Norway.

Across the country, health secretaries, physiotherapists and other health workers were ordered to carry out infection tracing and close contact notification. There was little time for training, and it could not be taken for granted that everyone who was to use the system had enough specialist knowledge of infection tracking to understand the technical language within that discipline. It was therefore crucial that the tool was as simple and intuitive as possible, and plain language was a strong guide right from the start.

One person at support

Up until and including the major infection peak in November 2020, medically responsible for the solution alone was responsible for all support of approximately 200 municipalities - without many having to wait a long time to get help. This was possible because the solution was so easy to use. The vast majority of customers used the tool completely without the need for external training or detailed user manuals.

We at Behalf were given responsibility for the design and layout of the service, and the development and operation of the front-end layer in the solution. The goal was to create effective and user-friendly solutions, and get them out to users as quickly as possible.

Straight into production

The team worked closely and interdisciplinary with rapid iterations. New functions and solutions were some times tested directly in production. This is not usually done, especially not in the health sector, but here the need for quick solutions was great, and the consequences of making mistakes less dramatic.

Brand without visual identity

It was never a priority to work with identity and brand for the service, since the market situation was so unique and time was so short. The most important thing we could do for the brand was to create a tool that solved the problem for the municipalities. It hurt the designers in the team then, but today we think that this was probably the right choice.

Landing pages and logo are still to this day made by a chief municipal doctor from Hadsel.

Remin was the only non-public company, apart from the vaccine manufacturers, named in the Norwegian Corona Commission's report. Remin has built infrastructure that Norway did not have to a sufficient extent before 2020.

Remin gained a more central position in the work on handling the pandemic than we had dared to hope for. Doors have now opened to other parts of the health sector where the need for a new generation of digital solutions is sorely needed.

In 2023, Remin was awarded the DOGA Award. The DOGA Award for Design and Architecture is Norway's most important recognition for businesses and practitioners who distinguish themselves through outstanding use of design and/or architecture.