Inspiring scientists to be more patient-sensitive

Lilly is in the midst of an organization-wide transformation to become more patient-centered.
As part of this effort, the pharmaceutical company wanted to encourage its R&D scientists,who develop molecules and formulate therapies, to consider patient needs earlier in the drug development process. Lilly asked IDEO to design a series of inspirational posters for display in laboratories and hallways.

Together, Lilly and IDEO set out to create a series of posters for display in the labs and public areas of the formulation group that would address three needs:

• Visually Arresting: The team wanted something attention-getting enough to catch the eye of heads-down scientists, compelling enough to remain on display for an extended period of time, and coherent as a system.
• Provocative: Once a scientist moved in for a closer look, the team wanted the posters to be able to quickly educate them and inspire them, challenging their assumptions about the patients and how they experience the condition and therapy.
• Informative: Beyond use in the hallways, the team wanted the posters to be useful in brainstorming exercises, with enough substance and explicit challenges to help the researchers connect the empathy to the reality of formulating new therapies.

Rather than use marketing messages or scientific language, they used the words of patients and their caregivers…to help scientists relate better to patients…great example of interdisciplinary effort…learning to talk like someone else in order to solve a problem.
Privacy restraints prevented them from using straight up patient shots, but they rather addressed challenges (and staged the photography, I assume)

Reaction from scientists withing the PR&D group: positive…used as inspiration throughout the company…bringing human-centered value to product development.

Project date: 2009