We all feel it the moment we step into a clinic, open an insurer’s portal, or sit in a dental practice’s waiting room: healthcare is still burdened by cumbersome paperwork, confusing instructions, and digital tools that address yesterday’s problems.
But with strategic design has the power to shorten appointment loops, reduce staff stress, and restore the human experience that drew providers to medicine in the first place.
In other words, strategic design is the driving force behind better healthcare design.
Below is my guide to help you transition from treating symptoms (adding a new logo here, a shiny interface there) to healing the root cause.
This will allow you to improve patient journeys, lower operational friction, and grow a practice that scales without losing its humanity.
1. Start by Mapping the Real Patient Journey, Not the One in the Playbook
Almost every healthcare brand has a “patient pathway” slide buried in its marketing decks.
The pathway is often depicted as a neat sequence: awareness → appointment → visit → follow-up.
In reality, though, patient journeys resemble tangled power cords.
Strategic design begins by surfacing these real-world twists and turns.
Interview intake nurses, shadow technicians, and most importantly, spend time with patients before they ever cross the threshold.
Ask them where they get stuck (“I couldn’t tell if you accepted my insurance”), what they fear (“I’m anxious about surgery, not just the bill”), and how they decide on providers (“My friend trusted you after her ACL tear”).
Once you have gathered these voices, visualize them in a journey map.
Tip: Use color to spotlight emotional highs and lows. You’ll quickly see where empathic touchpoints outshine digital ones or where a smart kiosk could calm nerves in the lobby far more effectively than marble flooring ever could.
What Better Healthcare Design Unlocks
Prioritization is based on evidence, not assumptions.
Alignment among clinical, administrative, and brand teams.
A shared vocabulary in which patients become protagonists, not metrics.
2. Diagnose the Root Cause, Not the Loudest Symptom
Healthcare often solves horizontal problems, not vertical ones:
Examples include, “Let’s launch a new portal,” or “Let’s redo the signage.”
Root-cause thinking flips that. It asks “why” three to five times.
Why are there so many no-shows for follow-ups?
Because the timing of the reminders is off and they feel generic.
Why do reminders feel generic?
Because the data isn’t segmented by procedure risk or patient literacy level.
Why isn’t the data segmented?
Because scheduling and EHR systems don’t communicate with each other.
Now you know the real design problem:
interoperability and content personalization, not the color of the reminder text.
How to address it
System Audit: Map data flows, handoffs, and blockers.
Ideation Workshop: Bring together IT, nurses, and billing to co-create solutions.
Prototype: Test a segmented reminder drip campaign (SMS and email) on a small group of people.
Measure: Track attendance, anxiety scores, and staff call-backs.
Strategic design emphasizes small, safe experiments that lead to large-scale, confident rollouts.
3. Combine Brand Clarity With Clinical Trust
Patients don’t distinguish between clinical excellence and brand experience.
They experience them simultaneously.
A provider’s visual language and tone can either reinforce or weaken medical advice.
Effective healthcare brands establish credibility without using sterile jargon and demonstrate empathy without resorting to saccharine clichés.
Key Moves
Voice Guidelines: Shift from “Our practice is committed to…” to “Here’s how we keep you moving pain-free.“
Visual consistency: Use typography and color that signal calm and competence, from appointment cards to in-app buttons.
Microcopy Audits: Rewrite “We apologize for any inconvenience” to “Running late? Tell us—your slot is still safe for ten minutes.“
When design and care are aligned, patients hear reassurance, not risk.
4. Optimize Processes the Way You Would Refine a Digital Product
Healthcare processes are often inherited rather than designed.
Forms are duplicated, steps are added “just in case,” and spreadsheets are pieced together. Strategic design borrows lean product methods – map, test, and iterate –to reclaim hours and sanity.
Process sprint example
Scope: “Reduce the time from referral to the first physical therapy session.“
Stakeholders: referral coordinators, therapists, front desk, and EHR administrators.
Current state: 15 steps across three systems.
Redesign: Merge two verification steps, auto-create session packets, and trigger an introduction video via the patient portal.
Results: Coordinator touches decrease by 40%, and the average wait time decreases from 12 days to 6 days.
Note: Actual numbers will vary. Your goal is to improve, not to increase your vanity stats.
5. Use Service Blueprints to Prevent Digital/Physical Disconnects
The post-pandemic boom in telehealth demonstrated how quickly digital front doors can open and how easily they can lead to impenetrable backrooms. A service blueprint maps all backstage actions, such as lab order routing and authorization checks, against patient-facing touchpoints, such as video consultations and payments.
By exposing backstage frictions, such as lab orders that are still faxed, you create a backlog that IT, operations, and design can address in sprints. Over time, digital and physical care converge into one clear narrative: request, consult, result, recover.
6. Treat Staff Experience as Patient Experience
Nurses, hygienists, and front-office staff influence clinical and emotional outcomes. If their tools are frustrating, their ability to empathize is compromised. Add staff-centric lenses to every design project.
Job Shadowing: Record click paths and physical movements.
Create Quick-Win Prototypes: A single clipboard UX change can free up 30 minutes daily.
Cross-Training Dashboards: Show how design decisions reduce handoffs and foster pride in fewer errors.
Designers often visualize user flows, but executives need to see ROI.
Create simple dashboards that link new touchpoints, such as self-check-in, to metrics that leadership already tracks, such as readmission rates, average revenue per visit, and staff overtime.
Avoid making up numbers or proclaiming “industry benchmarks.”
Instead, highlight trend lines:
For example, “Since launching our new triage board, our EPIC report shows that triage-to-bed time has fallen from red to yellow.”
Let the data tell its own story of success.
8. Anchor Every Initiative in Ethical, Inclusive Design
Bias in AI diagnostics, inaccessible color schemes, and gender-binary intake forms all erode trust.
Strategic design demands proactive inclusion.
Accessibility Checkpoints: WCAG audits, large-print forms, and voice-friendly navigation.
Cultural Competence: Requiring imagery and phrasing that respect diverse backgrounds.
Clarity of Consent: Break down how data moves and who sees it, and invite questions.
A brand that embeds inclusion signals excellence long before a patient signs in.
9. Choose the Right Depth of Engagement
Not every project requires a multi-day design sprint.
Sometimes, a 60-minute clarity workshop reveals the request.
Choose from the following options:
Snapshot Audit: Quick heuristics and prioritized fixes.
Focused Sprint: One service gap, two prototypes, and three user tests.
Full Partnership: Quarterly roadmaps, brand governance, and continuous discovery.
Match effort to problem weight and scale as trust grows.
10. Sustain Momentum With Evergreen Design Systems
As healthcare organizations grow, inconsistent patterns emerge.
A design system that extends beyond UI to include tone, iconography, and motion ensures that every new portal, sign, or pamphlet feels familiar.
Keep it lean.
Foundations: Core colors, typography, and spacing.
Components: buttons, form fields, and card layouts.
Governance: A lightweight request process and quarterly reviews.
Guidelines: When and how to use them, as well as accessibility specifications.
Your system serves as a compass for every micro-decision, allowing teams to innovate without causing chaos.
Designing Toward Health, Not Just Healthcare
Strategic design is not just an overlay.
It’s also a diagnostic tool, a treatment plan, and a long-term rehabilitation strategy.
When you apply its principles like
patient-centered mapping
root-cause analysis
process optimization
inclusive storytelling
You transform the concept of better healthcare design into an everyday reality.
So ask yourself:
Where does your organization still treat symptoms?
Which backstage hurdles frustrate staff?
How might one small design experiment this quarter unlock compounding value next quarter?
Begin there.
Measure honestly.
Share your findings widely.
Better healthcare design isn’t a finish line; it’s a habit.
As a business consultant, you face a crucial challenge.
How do you distinguish yourself in a crowded market and showcase your unique value?
The answer is in both your professional expertise and how you communicate and present it strategically.
In this case study, I’ll show you how I’ve helped various consulting firms grow by using holistic strategic design services for consultants, from root-cause analysis to strategic repositioning. The results were measurable increases in customer inquiries, improved brand perception, and sustainable business growth.
The Starting Point: When Expertise Doesn’t Show
Many experienced business consultants face a paradox.
They have decades of expertise and proven successes, yet their market position doesn’t reflect their actual value. The consulting firms I worked with faced this exact challenge.
Scherer HR Consulting, for example, had been successfully active in HR consulting and executive searches for years, yet they had built no digital presence.
Floris Capital, a specialized investment consultancy for venture capital and buyouts, needed a positioning strategy that reflected their strategic competence and philosophy of long-term partnerships.
The IMSW Institute by Prof. Dr. Peter J. Brenner faced the challenge of repositioning itself in a changing educational landscape while building an international reputation.
These companies’ problems were symptomatic of many consulting firms, including a discrepancy between their professionality and external perception, unclear brand positioning, and inefficient customer acquisition processes.
IMSW – Websiten Vergleich
The Holistic Approach – Beyond Symptom Treatment
Rather than offering superficial solutions, I opted for a systemic approach that addresses the root causes.
My philosophy:
A company is a living system in which all elements – from strategic positioning to processes to customer communication –are interconnected.
Strategy Sessions – Discovering the Core Challenge
The first step was always an intensive strategy session. It wasn’t about quick fixes, but rather, about understanding the real challenges. Together with the entrepreneurs, I developed the following core questions:
What unique value do you deliver to your customers?
Who are your ideal customers, and what are their biggest pain points?
What business goals are you pursuing, and what obstacles stand in your way?
These sessions often revealed surprising insights.
Many consultants focused on their methods rather than the transformation they create for their clients.
Through design thinking workshops, I helped entrepreneurs view their services from the customer’s perspective, improving their understanding of customer needs. The focus was on understanding the customer journey and identifying touchpoints where trust could be established and value communicated.
Developing customer avatars was particularly valuable: Instead of speaking generally about “companies,” specific profiles emerged – from innovation-oriented mid-market companies to high-growth scale-ups.
Brand Clarity – Developing Authentic Positioning
The brand clarity workshops aimed to develop an authentic and distinctive brand positioning. The focus was not on marketing phrases, but on the essence of what the company stands for and its vision.
Root-Cause Analysis – Uncovering the Real Problems
A central component of my work was root-cause analysis. Many consulting firms only treat the symptoms of their problems, such as too few inquiries, unclear positioning, and inefficient sales processes. However, the actual causes often lie deeper.
At Scherer HR Consulting, the obvious problem was the lack of an online presence. However, root-cause analysis revealed that the company was not effectively communicating its unique expertise in connecting HR consulting with investor support. At Floris Capital, the challenge lay in both their digital presentation and communicating their long-term partnership philosophy, which distinguishes them from short-term-oriented investors.
Process Optimization – Increasing Efficiency and Quality
In parallel with strategic work, I optimized internal processes. Many consulting firms waste valuable time with inefficient workflows, from customer acquisition to proposal creation and project execution.
Process optimization included:
Standardization of recurring processes to improve efficiency
Automation of routine tasks to allow for a greater focus on value-creating activities
Quality assurance through documented processes and checklists
Continuous improvement is achieved through regular process reviews.
Strategic Design Services for Consultants – The Implementation
Brand Development – Authenticity Meets Professionalism
Based on insights from the workshops, I developed a consistent brand identity for each company. This encompassed more than just visual elements and extended to the entire communication strategy.
For the IMSW Institute, this meant establishing a bilingual presence to communicate the scientific expertise and practical relevance of Prof. Brenner’s work. This new positioning enabled Prof. Brenner to distinguish himself from large educational corporations and gain international attention.
User-Centered Communication – Making Complexity Understandable
One challenge for consulting firms is explaining complex services. Potential customers must be able to quickly understand the concrete benefits they can expect.
I developed a communication strategy that combines technical depth with understandability. Rather than communicating abstract consulting concepts, companies now share concrete transformations and measurable results.
Digital Transformation – More Than Just a Website
Digital transformation involves much more than creating a website. It was about establishing digital touchpoints that build trust and support the sales process.
For Scherer HR Consulting, I developed a website that guides potential customers through a structured decision-making process. Prospects can inform themselves in advance about the various services offered and are directed to the most appropriate contact option based on their needs.
Measurable Results – Transformation in Numbers
The results of the holistic strategic design for consultants were measurable:
Quantitative Improvements
The number of qualified customer inquiries increases by an average of 40-60%.
There is an improvement in the conversion rate from prospects to customers.
Reduce acquisition time through better prequalification.
Average project size increases through stronger positioning.
Qualitative Transformations
Higher perception as an expert and thought leader.
Better customer quality through clearer positioning.
More efficient sales processes through informed prospects.
Stronger brand identity and recognition value.
The founder of Floris Capital was so enthusiastic about the results that he asked me to support him in transforming his second company. This recommendation demonstrates the sustainable impact of our holistic approach.
What Makes Successful Transformation
Working with various consulting firms has provided valuable insights.
Holistic Approach Beats Individual Measures
Isolated optimizations rarely lead to sustainable improvements. A successful transformation requires a systemic approach that considers all of a company’s touchpoints.
Authenticity is the Key to Differentiation
In an overcrowded consulting market, companies that can clearly communicate their unique perspective and specific value win. Authenticity fosters trust and allows for premium positioning.
Process Excellence Enables Scaling
Optimized processes are the foundation of sustainable growth. They allow consultants to concentrate on activities that create value while improving the quality of their services.
Continuous Development is Crucial
Successful companies understand that transformation is an ongoing process. They establish mechanisms for regularly reviewing and adjusting their strategy.
Future Perspectives – The Path to Sustainable Market Leadership
Working with these consulting firms demonstrates that a holistic strategic design services for consultants encompasses more than just visual design. It’s a strategic approach to business transformation that delivers measurable results.
The future belongs to consulting firms that possess expertise and can strategically communicate and systematically develop it. This means conducting root-cause analyses instead of merely treating symptoms, optimizing processes instead of merely reacting, and thinking holistically instead of acting in isolation.
Conclusion – From Consultant to Strategic Partner
The transformation of consulting firms impressively demonstrates that successful positioning does not happen by chance, but rather through a strategic approach. A sustainable competitive advantage is created through the combination of authentic brand development, process-oriented optimization, and user-centered communication.
As a holistic design partner, I support companies in solving current challenges and building a foundation for long-term success. The results speak for themselves: measurable business growth, a stronger market position, and sustainable transformation.
Are you a business consultant ready to take your business to the next level and establish yourself as a strategic partner? Let’s shape your transformation together.
Want to learn how holistic strategic design services for consultants can transform your consulting firm?
Let’s analyze your challenges and potential in a strategy session! Contact me to schedule an appointment for your individual consultation.
As a medical company, you face a unique challenge.
How can you explain complex medical technology in a way that’s both understandable and trustworthy in a strictly regulated market?
The answer are holistic healthcare design strategies – one that goes far beyond pure web design.
I will show how I have helped transform various medical companies, ranging from innovative MedTech start-ups to well-established practices, through strategic design.
The result is clearer brand positioning, more efficient processes, and sustainable growth in a highly competitive environment.
The Special Challenge of the Medical Market
The medical sector is uniquely complex, involving strict regulations, highly specialized target groups, and the necessity of inspiring trust in life-saving technologies. Medical companies must develop innovative solutions for experts and communicate them in an understandable, accessible way.
LARALAB, an AI-powered MedTech start-up for structural heart therapy, encountered this exact challenge in 2017. As part of the industrial design student team at the Technical University of Munich, I helped the company establish itself in a highly regulated market. Anna Röder’s dental practice in Hohenberg needed a complete brand identity for its opening, and Dr. Kavelara Lodge in Munich needed to communicate its holistic medicine approach in an understandable way.
The common challenges were:
Presenting complex medical facts in an understandable way
Building trust among expert professionals
Simultaneously meeting regulatory requirements
The Holistic Approach – Systemic Design for Complex Markets
My philosophy is based on the idea that medical companies function like networked systems. Rather than just treating symptoms, I address the root cause of challenges, which is a fundamental approach in medicine.
Strategy Sessions – Understanding the Real Challenges
The first step was always an in-depth strategy session. With medical companies in particular, it’s important to understand the complex stakeholder relationships – from doctors and patients to regulatory authorities.
At LARALAB, we found that the problem wasn’t the technical presentation of the cardiologists’ planning software; rather, the planning software in the beginning was difficult for cardiologists to operate and lacked usability.
For the Röder dental practice, the goal was to create a trustworthy atmosphere for anxious patients while communicating professional competence.
Design Thinking Workshops – Decoding Target Group Pain Points
Through design thinking workshops, we identified the specific pain points of various stakeholders. To understand workflows and decision-making processes, we conducted intensive interviews with cardiologists at LARALAB and researched existing software products.
We found that doctors need precise data and intuitive operation that integrates into their daily clinical routine. Our customer avatars ranged from time-critical interventional cardiologists to research-oriented cardiac surgeons.
Brand Clarity – Authentic Positioning in the Trust Market
Brand clarity workshops are particularly important in the medical field, where trust is the most valuable currency. For the Röder dental practice, we developed a positioning strategy that conveys professionalism and empathy, which are crucial for dealing with anxious patients.
Root Cause Analysis – Identifying Deeper Problems
Root cause analysis revealed that many medical companies suffer from more than just superficial presentation errors; they also have systematic communication problems. At Dr. Kavelara Lodge, the focus was not only on website design, but also on communicating a holistic therapy approach that differs from conventional medicine.
Process Optimization – Efficiency in Regulated Environments
Since regulatory requirements create additional complexity, medical companies must develop highly efficient processes. Process optimization includes:
Standardization of compliance processes to minimize risk
Automation of recurring documentation tasks
Quality assurance through structured workflows
Continuous improvement in light of regulatory changes.
Strategic Implementation – From Insight to Transformation
Design Research – Scientifically Founded Design
At LARALAB, design research was key to success. We analyzed the technical requirements of the planning software and the cognitive load on doctors during complex procedures. These insights were incorporated directly into the user interface.
Brand Development – Trust Through Consistency
I develop brand identities for medical companies that radiate trust and competence. For the Röder dental practice, for example, I created a consistent corporate identity that is implemented both digitally and in the practice – from the website to the equipment.
User-Centered Communication – Making Complexity Understandable
The biggest challenge was to communicate highly complex medical facts in a way that was understandable without losing professional depth. For Dr. Kavelara Lodge, I developed a communication strategy that clarifies the scientific foundation of holistic medicine for patients.
Digital Transformation – More Than Just Online Presence
Digital transformation extends far beyond websites. For the Röder dental practice, I developed a barrier-free, SEO-optimized website tailored to the needs of anxious patients. I collaborated with an IT company to ensure that the practice opening went smoothly.
Measurable Results – Transformation in Numbers
The results of the holistic design strategy were sustainable.
Quantitative Improvements
Since 2017, LARALAB has grown from a startup into an internationally recognized company. In 2024, the company received FDA 510(k) approval and CE certification, which is direct proof of the quality of its strategic foundations. The number of employees has grown from a few to over 50.
Qualitative Transformations
A stronger market position is achieved through clear differentiation from competitors.
Improve customer acquisition by clearly communicating complex technologies.
More efficient development processes through a user-centered approach.
Expand internationally with a scalable brand identity.
The Röder dental practice successfully opened as a patient-oriented practice. Dr. Kavelara Lodge now conveys holistic medicine in a professional and understandable way.
What Makes Successful Transformations in Healthcare
Understandable Communication Is Crucial
In the medical field, clear communication isn’t just important – it can be lifesaving.
The ability to explain complex facts in an understandable way is crucial for the success of medical companies.
Using Regulatory Requirements as Opportunities
Rather than viewing regulatory requirements as obstacles, they can be leveraged as quality features and differentiation factors. LARALAB’s FDA approval became an important selling point.
Systemic Thinking Enables Sustainable Success
Medical companies are complex systems with many stakeholders. A holistic approach that considers all touchpoints is necessary for sustainable success.
Building Trust Takes Time and Consistency
In the medical field, trust is the most valuable currency. This trust is built through consistent and authentic communication across all touchpoints with healthcare design strategies.
Future Perspectives – The Path to Sustainable Market Leadership
The medical industry is facing major changes, from AI integration to personalized therapies. Those companies with strong brand identities and efficient processes will successfully navigate this transformation.
LARALAB is a perfect example.
The solid foundation that was established from 2017 to 2018 has enabled the company to develop into a leading provider of AI-powered cardiac imaging. Strategic investments in design and positioning have paid off in the form of international recognition and regulatory approval.
Conclusion – Healthcare Design Strategies for You
Success doesn’t arise solely from technical excellence, but also from the ability to communicate it in a way that is understandable and trustworthy. A sustainable competitive advantage can be created through the combination of strategic design, process-oriented optimization, and user-centered communication – even in strictly regulated markets.
As a holistic design partner, I help medical companies make complex technologies understandable, build trust, and achieve sustainable growth. The results speak for themselves, ranging from successful practice openings to international expansion to regulatory successes.
If you are a medical company ready to transform your communication and establish yourself as a trustworthy partner, let’s shape your strategic transformation together.
Want to learn how holistic healthcare design strategies can help your medical company too?
Then let’s analyze your specific challenges in the regulated environment in a non-binding strategy conversation1! Contact me to schedule an appointment for your individual consultation.
