Building on the success of the Venture Design Playbook Bayer returned to ADG for help communicating the value of its new healthcare venture design process. ADG led product and visual design sprints create an eye-catching solution.

Opportunity: A Smarter Approach to Sharing at Bayer

How do you build widespread understanding and enthusiasm for a process that’s new, complex—and, importantly—confidential? You have to get creative.

ADG had previously partnered with Bayer Integrated Care Ventures, a new innovation arm of healthcare industry leader Bayer, to develop their foundational Venture Design Playbook (read the full case here). The Ventures team were already successfully implementing this comprehensive guide to develop innovative health products and services, and were poised to open new revenue streams in the hundreds of millions. However, to stand out at Bayer—with over 392 consolidated companies in 87 countries—the Ventures team needed to communicate their approach, their work, and their worth. The challenge: all the details had to be kept under wraps.

Working at the forefront of healthcare innovation, the Ventures team’s systems and incubated products could not always be shared publicly. Bayer tapped ADG to design a creative solution to highlight the Venture team’s approach while keeping sensitive information safe.

Strategy: Meeting Confidentiality with Creativity

AGD jumped right in with the Ventures team to establish needs, constraints, and potential solutions. After interviewing team leaders, ADG determined high-level goals for the project:

• Clearly and realistically communicate what Bayer Ventures does—highlighting the essentials and importance of its venture design process—without sharing confidential details
• Create an engaging and aesthetically pleasing resource the Ventures team could share publicly to build awareness of its work
• Concisely demonstrate the value that Ventures brings to Bayer, and beyond

With these goals confirmed, ADG developed a solution that spanned design and strategy. If the Ventures team couldn’t speak about products in the works, ADG would apply expertise in healthcare product design to create realistic alternatives. Pairing this with a powerful visual identity, ADG could help the team convey the value of the Ventures Playbook process.

            ADG developed three alternative product designs for the next generation of healthcare innovation, following the Bayer Venture Design Playbook process.

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Design: From Speculative Products to Impactful Presentations

Designing the next generation of health innovation (almost)

In close coordination with the Ventures team, ADG kicked off the design phase with a series of product design sprints. The mission: build concepts that felt like real health products or services Ventures might create—grounded in science, limited by constraints, developed for actual users—to accurately portray the venture design process.

ADG facilitated interviews with team leaders to identify key product considerations, incorporating contextual research into business strategy, scientific data, and user needs. Applying best practices from speculative design, ADG then led the design process through brainstorming, ideation, and prototyping, following many of the same methods built into the Venture Design Playbook.

Importantly, ADG documented this design process, demonstrating realistically how a product concept might evolve at each stage of the actual Ventures Playbook process. This would help the Ventures team communicate the challenges they faced in product development—from materials constraints to shifting consumer preferences and market realities. Ultimately, ADG created a diverse suite of alternative product designs, including:

• A wearable device using biomarkers to monitor kidney health
• A customizable line of nutritional supplements
• A smart at-home blood testing device

Crafting the Ventures visual identity

The Ventures team were enthusiastic about these new product concepts. But a concept is only valuable insofar as it can be shared. It was time to develop a unique way to share the Ventures Playbook with the world.

ADG collaborated with the team to uncover important elements of Bayer Ventures’ identity and translate them visually. The Ventures team resonated with a contemporary, clean, but distinctly human design—while maintaining alignment with the broader Bayer brand. ADG built a style guide, including a fresh palette, typeface and visual styles to fit this vision. Building on this, the Ventures team were interested in a specific illustration style. Employing ADG’s broad talent network, they were able to bring in exactly the right illustrator to create the designs they were looking for.

Creative direction for a powerful presentation

Coordinating the full team, ADG transitioned to creative direction, weaving together process, products, and visuals into an actionable, sharable resource. ADG developed an engaging presentation deck that provided an essential overview of the Playbook, beautifully illustrated each stage of the alternative product development, and highlighted the benefits of Bayer Ventures’ approach to venture design.

ADG developed a strong visual language, including custom illustrations, to capture and communicate the essence of Bayer Ventures.

Impact: Highlighting Ventures at Bayer and Beyond

As ADG and the Ventures team had worked closely throughout, the final visual identity and presentation deck were a strong fit for the team’s needs, and were met with equally strong enthusiasm. The team rapidly put the new Playbook presentation into action, and have since shared it widely within Bayer and with the public.

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ADG’s work turned a tricky situation into a creative solution, helping establish Bayer Integrated Care Ventures as a new leader in healthcare innovation.

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