CHALLENGE  I work as a Visual Designer in a large corporate firm’s in-house design team. Recently, a client from the  pharmaceutical industry, approached me with a request to depict the journey of patients suffering from a certain  chronic disease. This journey was eventually going to be presented to the client’s marketing team. In the interest  of confidentiality, I cannot name the client or the disease. This request posed a few major challenges-

1.  How exactly should the journey be depicted and what would be the right medium.

2.  A patient’s journey through an illness is very complex, with varied outcomes and roadblocks along the  way.

3.  The chronic illness in question here was a very serious illness, so the depiction had to keep its  seriousness and sobriety intact.

4.  Most corporate personnel in my firm are engaging with designers for the very first time; so, explaining  any part of the process to them requires a lot of convincing.

5.  The client’s project was highly time-bound with a turnaround time of just about 1 week.

TOOL SELECTION  The clients I was working with are a logical lot. They are business consultants, analysts and data scientists. They  talk the language of numbers and statistics. So, while explaining a concept to them, you cannot leave anything to  their imagination. More often than not, they are incapable of imagining things. Hence, I decided to use the tool of  Data Visualization. Putting down on paper each and every thought in your mind in the form of small diagrams and  icons helps a designer to much better explain any design process to a layman.    APPLICATION  The application process was completed in 3 phases-

1.  In the first phase, I converted the journey itself into a flowchart and presented it to the clients.  Flowcharts is a language they understand and using this technique we were able to very clearly  determine the chief components of the journey and the overall path. This phase also helped the client  make the decision that they would like an illustrated version of this flowchart itself, which would be  printed and displayed so that the entire journey is visible in a single glance. Half my job was done here!

2.  In the second phase, I thought of metaphorically depicting the patient journey using an actual journey,  i.e. a roadmap. I used metaphors of smooth roads, bumpy roads, diversions, bridges, etc. to explain  various stages of the journey and presented several sketches to the client. The client could then easily  visualize what I was trying to explain. They took print outs of my sketches and even left notes on it with  post-its. There was a high level of interaction and involvement.

3.  Once the approach was finalized, I digitized the illustration, which again went through a few rounds of  iterations, before the final draft was approved and sent for printing.

INSIGHT  The whole project was a great learning experience and highly enjoyable as well. A few key insights derived from  it are as follows-

1.  When it comes to clients it’s always better to show and tell rather than just tell.

2.  When I show data in the form of visuals, the clients’ thinking wheels start churning and they themselves  start coming up with new ideas and insights. This leads to a collaborative development of the project.

3.  Visualization helped in quickening the process manifold. The client was able to make much faster  decisions and I could finish the project within the deadline.

4.  The audience consumes tons of complex data easily and within a few minutes.

APPROACH  With the success of this project, I intend to use Visualization as a Design Thinking tool a lot more in my future  projects. Also, in this case I only used sketches for visualization, but in future projects I intend to use maybe  video or tangible objects to help the client visualize concepts. Also, visualization should be used from the very  beginning in order to help save tons of time.


CHALLENGE I work as a Visual Designer in a large corporate firm ’s in - house design team . Recently , a client from the pharmaceutical industry , approached me with a request to depict the journey of patients suffering from a certain chronic disease . This journey was eventually going to be presented to the client ’s marketing team . In the interest of confidentiality , I can not name the client or the disease . This request posed a few major challenges- 1 . How exactly should the journey be depicted and what would be the right medium . 2 . A patient ’s journey through an illness is very complex , with varied outcomes and roadblocks along the way . 3 . The chronic illness in question here was a very serious illness , so the depiction had to keep its seriousness and sobriety intact . 4 . Most corporate personnel in my firm are engaging with designers for the very first time ; so , explaining any part of the process to them requires a lot of convincing . 5 . The client ’s project was highly time - bound with a turnaround time of just about 1 week . TOOL SELECTION The clients I was working with are a logical lot . They are business consultants , analysts and data scientists . They talk the language of numbers and statistics . So , while explaining a concept to them , you can not leave anything to their imagination . More often than not , they are incapable of imagining things . Hence , I decided to use the tool of Data Visualization . Putting down on paper each and every thought in your mind in the form of small diagrams and icons helps a designer to much better explain any design process to a layman . APPLICATION The application process was completed in 3 phases- 1 . In the first phase , I converted the journey itself into a flowchart and presented it to the clients . Flowcharts is a language they understand and using this technique we were able to very clearly determine the chief components of the journey and the overall path . This phase also helped the client make the decision that they would like an illustrated version of this flowchart itself , which would be printed and displayed so that the entire journey is visible in a single glance . Half my job was done here ! 2 . In the second phase , I thought of metaphorically depicting the patient journey using an actual journey , i.e. a roadmap . I used metaphors of smooth roads , bumpy roads , diversions , bridges , etc . to explain various stages of the journey and presented several sketches to the client . The client could then easily visualize what I was trying to explain . They took print outs of my sketches and even left notes on it with post - its . There was a high level of interaction and involvement . 3 . Once the approach was finalized , I digitized the illustration , which again went through a few rounds of iterations , before the final draft was approved and sent for printing . INSIGHT The whole project was a great learning experience and highly enjoyable as well . A few key insights derived from it are as follows- 1 . When it comes to clients it ’s always better to show and tell rather than just tell . 2 . When I show data in the form of visuals , the clients ’ thinking wheels start churning and they themselves start coming up with new ideas and insights . This leads to a collaborative development of the project . 3 . Visualization helped in quickening the process manifold . The client was able to make much faster decisions and I could finish the project within the deadline . 4 . The audience consumes tons of complex data easily and within a few minutes . APPROACH With the success of this project , I intend to use Visualization as a Design Thinking tool a lot more in my future projects . Also , in this case I only used sketches for visualization , but in future projects I intend to use maybe video or tangible objects to help the client visualize concepts . Also , visualization should be used from the very beginning in order to help save tons of time .