Reflection – Visualization

Challenge and Selection  I was tasked with conducting user research among migraine sufferers for one of the pharmaceutical  / healthcare company. The company was intending to reach out to consumers with a remedy for  migraine episodes. The company approached us with a key question – With a wide array of over-the- counter (OTC) and prescribed pain medications available in the market, how do we cut through the  noise and become the preferred and effective choice of remedy for migraine sufferers? Among the  initial stakeholder discussions with the client, it became evident that the client team had very little  idea of what a migraine sufferer goes through during an episode. During these discussions, we  realized that two reasons contributed largely to this problem – (1) With the ailment being relatively  undiscovered and unknown (in terms of exact triggers/causes, conclusive list of symptoms and  targeted remedies) most of the diagnoses and treatments available in the market are based on  healthcare professionals’ understanding of the sufferer condition; (2) Secondly, because of the  sufferer’s inability to accurately distinguish between a usual headache and a migraine episode, their  fears of others trivializing a migraine condition (e.g. You’re over-reacting, it’s just a headache!),  sufferers usually find it difficult to express and describe their ailment, which in turn causes  healthcare professionals to rely on the sufferer’s narrative subjectivity in determining a migraine  diagnosis.    We proposed having one-on-one discussions with chronic migraine sufferers to understand their  experiences of living with a migraine condition. This approach was proposed to ensure that they are  completely immersed in the discussion and have a comfortable level of privacy without the fear of  judgement.    The need for visualization arose during this exercise in two places for us, namely (i) to understand  how consumers describe their pain experiences (each individual pain journey is different), whether  through obvious cues or metaphorical elicitations (ii) to enable healthcare professionals to identify  and flag out physiologically manifested symptoms to conduct a more accurate diagnoses of and  prescription for migraine. The next section elaborates on the visualization techniques used by us in  this exercise.    Application  The first instance of visualization was needed during the sufferer interviews. Prior to inviting them  for one-on-one interactions, we asked them to maintain a journal for a few days where they needed  to describe their most recent migraine episode. We asked them to create a pain journey (i.e. from  first signs/symptoms to the remedy). In this creation, we asked them to express their pain through  visual and verbal metaphors, i.e. use images, videos and words to describe how they felt during a  migraine attack. Once the sufferer came in for a one-on-one discussion, we had their journal handy  for the interaction. We then asked the sufferer to explain to us what he/she meant when they used  certain imagery or words to describe their pain. The sufferer was able to describe their experience in  much more depth than just a mere basic description (e.g. It’s a headache/It’s a severe headache).  Through this exercise, we unearthed varied daily life metaphors (e.g. like a hammer to the head, like  a barbed wire around your head, like a bunch of pins piercing through the eyes) that people used to  describe their experience with pain (i.e. the consumer ‘speak’).    The second instance of visualization in this project was needed when we needed to communicate  the physiologically manifested symptoms of the condition to the client, who will in turn use these to  create education among the channel partners, i.e. healthcare community. Once we gained enough  knowledge from the user interviews, we created various “pain experiences” for the client to  understand what a sufferer goes through during a migraine episode. We found out from the

sufferers that a vast variety of symptoms are manifested through the body – excruciating pain in the  neck/shoulder area, cold sweats, blurred vision, extreme sensitivity to lights/sounds, pinching pains  on the scalp region, drudged feet movement etc. Leveraging on this knowledge from the sufferer,  we created specific “pain apparatus” to educate the client on the intensities of these experiences in  a migraine pain journey. Some of the apparatus that we created were neck/shoulder pads with small  weights in them, eye glasses with fish-eye lens or blurry lens, hats with blunt pins and small pebbles  stuck on the inside for contact with scalp, eye glasses with LED bulbs facing the eyes, ankle  resistance weights. During the workshop with the client, we made the client’s team experience these  “apparatus” for them to understand these highly localized and excruciating pain experiences of the  sufferer.    Insights & Value-addition  Through these visualization tools, the client was ultimately much closer in understanding migraine as  an ailment.  With the metaphor elicitations of pain experiences from the sufferers, the client was able to advise  their communication partners to develop the content of consumer communications using these and  similar other metaphors. In a category with straightforward pain-to-relief communications, the client  was able to understand how to bring themselves closer to consumers through communications that  that show empathy towards migraine sufferers’ predicaments in fighting this battle alone. For  example, an image showing hammer to the head or a punch to the temple helps the consumer to  relate more to the product and the brand (from a consumer point of view, this brand exactly knows  what I am going through during migraine), as compared to a straight, bland and a transactional tone  of communication. Furthermore, such metaphors were not only used to communicate product- based communication but also for the client brand to champion the cause against migraine, raise  awareness and create education for migraine conditions and take efforts to eliminate any biases and  judgements against sufferers and their general efficacy at life.    With the “pain apparatus”, we helped the client get a closer understanding the sufferer by being in  their shoes during a migraine attack. With these experiences in mind, the client, internally within  their R&D and product teams, can effectively understand sufferers as people (as opposed to just  sales targets or subjects for the remedies). We also proposed the client to develop migraine  detection kits for general physicians and pharmacists using these apparatuses, so that they can  educate themselves, their staff and their consumers on the disorder and make the process of  migraine condition detection timely and accurate. The pain medication category largely works on a  professional prescription and/or influence and this would help to create a top-of-mind recall for the  brand in their prescriptions, thus effectively engaging the channel and thereby the consumers with  the brand.    Thus, I realized that visualization is a very powerful tool in terms of design thinking. Had it not been  for visualization in this exercise, the pain medication would have been “just another product” that  follows the usual, run-off-the-mill value- and supply-chains in the category and may or may not end  up with the consumer depending on the usual transactional impetuses (e.g. channel incentives, price  margins) provided in this chain.


Reflection – Visualization Challenge and Selection I was tasked with conducting user research among migraine sufferers for one of the pharmaceutical / healthcare company . The company was intending to reach out to consumers with a remedy for migraine episodes . The company approached us with a key question – With a wide array of over - the- counter ( OTC ) and prescribed pain medications available in the market , how do we cut through the noise and become the preferred and effective choice of remedy for migraine sufferers ? Among the initial stakeholder discussions with the client , it became evident that the client team had very little idea of what a migraine sufferer goes through during an episode . During these discussions , we realized that two reasons contributed largely to this problem – ( 1 ) With the ailment being relatively undiscovered and unknown ( in terms of exact triggers / causes , conclusive list of symptoms and targeted remedies ) most of the diagnoses and treatments available in the market are based on healthcare professionals ’ understanding of the sufferer condition ; ( 2 ) Secondly , because of the sufferer ’s inability to accurately distinguish between a usual headache and a migraine episode , their fears of others trivializing a migraine condition ( e.g. You ’re over - reacting , it ’s just a headache ! ) , sufferers usually find it difficult to express and describe their ailment , which in turn causes healthcare professionals to rely on the sufferer ’s narrative subjectivity in determining a migraine diagnosis . We proposed having one - on - one discussions with chronic migraine sufferers to understand their experiences of living with a migraine condition . This approach was proposed to ensure that they are completely immersed in the discussion and have a comfortable level of privacy without the fear of judgement . The need for visualization arose during this exercise in two places for us , namely ( i ) to understand how consumers describe their pain experiences ( each individual pain journey is different ) , whether through obvious cues or metaphorical elicitations ( ii ) to enable healthcare professionals to identify and flag out physiologically manifested symptoms to conduct a more accurate diagnoses of and prescription for migraine . The next section elaborates on the visualization techniques used by us in this exercise . Application The first instance of visualization was needed during the sufferer interviews . Prior to inviting them for one - on - one interactions , we asked them to maintain a journal for a few days where they needed to describe their most recent migraine episode . We asked them to create a pain journey ( i.e. from first signs / symptoms to the remedy ) . In this creation , we asked them to express their pain through visual and verbal metaphors , i.e. use images , videos and words to describe how they felt during a migraine attack . Once the sufferer came in for a one - on - one discussion , we had their journal handy for the interaction . We then asked the sufferer to explain to us what he / she meant when they used certain imagery or words to describe their pain . The sufferer was able to describe their experience in much more depth than just a mere basic description ( e.g. It ’s a headache / It ’s a severe headache ) . Through this exercise , we unearthed varied daily life metaphors ( e.g. like a hammer to the head , like a barbed wire around your head , like a bunch of pins piercing through the eyes ) that people used to describe their experience with pain ( i.e. the consumer ‘ speak ’ ) . The second instance of visualization in this project was needed when we needed to communicate the physiologically manifested symptoms of the condition to the client , who will in turn use these to create education among the channel partners , i.e. healthcare community . Once we gained enough knowledge from the user interviews , we created various “ pain experiences ” for the client to understand what a sufferer goes through during a migraine episode . We found out from the sufferers that a vast variety of symptoms are manifested through the body – excruciating pain in the neck / shoulder area , cold sweats , blurred vision , extreme sensitivity to lights / sounds , pinching pains on the scalp region , drudged feet movement etc . Leveraging on this knowledge from the sufferer , we created specific “ pain apparatus ” to educate the client on the intensities of these experiences in a migraine pain journey . Some of the apparatus that we created were neck / shoulder pads with small weights in them , eye glasses with fish - eye lens or blurry lens , hats with blunt pins and small pebbles stuck on the inside for contact with scalp , eye glasses with LED bulbs facing the eyes , ankle resistance weights . During the workshop with the client , we made the client ’s team experience these “ apparatus ” for them to understand these highly localized and excruciating pain experiences of the sufferer . Insights & Value - addition Through these visualization tools , the client was ultimately much closer in understanding migraine as an ailment . With the metaphor elicitations of pain experiences from the sufferers , the client was able to advise their communication partners to develop the content of consumer communications using these and similar other metaphors . In a category with straightforward pain - to - relief communications , the client was able to understand how to bring themselves closer to consumers through communications that that show empathy towards migraine sufferers ’ predicaments in fighting this battle alone . For example , an image showing hammer to the head or a punch to the temple helps the consumer to relate more to the product and the brand ( from a consumer point of view , this brand exactly knows what I am going through during migraine ) , as compared to a straight , bland and a transactional tone of communication . Furthermore , such metaphors were not only used to communicate product- based communication but also for the client brand to champion the cause against migraine , raise awareness and create education for migraine conditions and take efforts to eliminate any biases and judgements against sufferers and their general efficacy at life . With the “ pain apparatus ” , we helped the client get a closer understanding the sufferer by being in their shoes during a migraine attack . With these experiences in mind , the client , internally within their R&D and product teams , can effectively understand sufferers as people ( as opposed to just sales targets or subjects for the remedies ) . We also proposed the client to develop migraine detection kits for general physicians and pharmacists using these apparatuses , so that they can educate themselves , their staff and their consumers on the disorder and make the process of migraine condition detection timely and accurate . The pain medication category largely works on a professional prescription and/or influence and this would help to create a top - of - mind recall for the brand in their prescriptions , thus effectively engaging the channel and thereby the consumers with the brand . Thus , I realized that visualization is a very powerful tool in terms of design thinking . Had it not been for visualization in this exercise , the pain medication would have been “ just another product ” that follows the usual , run - off - the - mill value- and supply - chains in the category and may or may not end up with the consumer depending on the usual transactional impetuses ( e.g. channel incentives , price margins ) provided in this chain .