Storytelling, Clarity, and Confidence
Biopharma companies have complicated stories to tell.
The science is complex, the data is evolving, and different audiences need different information. Also, the same organization may be communicating with partners, investors, regulators, physicians, employees, and other stakeholders — sometimes all within the same week.
So where does design fit?
For Regan Weldy, a strategic designer, and Melinda Fayette, a longtime life sciences marketer, the answer is increasingly clear: design isn’t simply what happens after the story has been written. Done well, it helps shape how that story is understood.
Melinda and Regan sat down to discuss what happens when marketing strategy and design work together, and why biopharma companies should think about both earlier.
Design Isn’t Decoration
Melinda: In life sciences marketing, we spend enormous amounts of time getting the story right. What are we trying to communicate? What evidence supports it? But design sometimes enters the conversation only after those decisions are made.
Regan: Designers are frequently brought in at the end and asked to “make it look good.” But the most valuable design work happens earlier, when you’re determining how information should be structured, what deserves emphasis, and how complex ideas connect.
That’s design thinking, not decoration.
Melinda: In biopharma, that’s particularly important because we rarely have a simple story. We’re communicating science, clinical data, market dynamics, commercialization strategy, and sometimes an entirely new therapeutic approach. The challenge isn’t just having the information. It’s helping people understand what matters.
Regan: That’s where design can make a meaningful difference. If a presentation is filled with competing information, inconsistent visuals, or data without a clear hierarchy, the audience has to work harder to find the story.
Good design reduces that friction. The focus should be on the presenter and the story, not the dense 9-point font.
One Company, Many Audiences
Melinda: This is also why I think consistency matters beyond traditional branding. A biotech company may have a corporate presentation, scientific congress materials, a website, partnering materials, internal communications, and a regulatory presentation. Those pieces have different jobs, but they’re all telling parts of the same company story.
Regan: They shouldn’t look identical, but they should feel connected.
Consistency creates a sense that there’s an underlying system, that people are aligned around how the company describes itself, presents information, and communicates its priorities.
When every presentation looks and sounds completely different, the audience may not consciously think, This organization is operating in silos. But inconsistency creates subtle friction. The company simply feels less coordinated.
Melinda: From the marketing side, I’d call that “narrative consistency.” Your message has to flex for the audience without becoming a completely different story every time.
Regan: And the visual system needs to do the same thing.
A Visual Strategy Is More Than a Template
Melinda: So when we say “visual strategy,” we’re talking about something broader than brand guidelines?
Regan: Much broader. It’s about creating a visual system that works across different communications while still feeling like the same organization.
Even something as basic as a PowerPoint template matters. A properly built template should have the right colors, fonts, and flexible master slides built in. We often receive templates missing these fundamentals, and once dozens of presentations have been created from them, fixing the problem becomes much more complicated.
A strong visual system gets those fundamentals right from the start.
The Conversation About AI
Melinda: We also can’t talk about today’s creative process without talking about AI. It’s already changing how marketers and designers work.
Regan: AI-generated presentations have a similar problem. They tend to default to familiar layouts and visual conventions, which can make very different companies look surprisingly similar.
AI can be very useful for creative conceptualization. It can generate visual directions, rough concepts, or starting points that help teams explore ideas faster. An AI-generated logo, for example, may look interesting on screen, but it’s just a starting point, not a finished design.
Melinda: That’s an important distinction. In marketing, I see AI as a collaborator that can accelerate thinking and execution, but you still need human judgment, context, and expertise. Otherwise, efficiency can come at the expense of differentiation.
Regan: Use AI to expand the creative process, not replace it.
Bring Design in While the Story Is Taking Shape
Melinda: Why do you think companies still wait so long to involve designers?
Regan: The instinct is understandable, especially in emerging biotech. Teams are focused on science, financing, regulatory strategy, hiring, partnerships, and dozens of other priorities. Design can feel cosmetic by comparison.
The problem is that companies don’t actually postpone design decisions. They make them constantly, just without a system.
One person creates a corporate deck. Someone else creates a scientific presentation. A consultant develops another template. Different teams choose different chart styles. Six months later, you’ve accumulated dozens of disconnected decisions.
Then someone says, “We need to clean all of this up.”
Melinda: And that’s usually much harder than establishing some basic principles early.
Regan: Earlier doesn’t have to mean elaborate. It means creating enough structure that the story and visual language can evolve intentionally.
It can also expose problems in the story itself. If an idea is extremely difficult to communicate visually, that can be a sign the underlying thinking hasn’t been fully resolved.
A Few Practical Do’s and Don’ts
Melinda: So if a biopharma team wanted to improve the way it communicates tomorrow, where would you start?
Regan: I’d keep it simple.
DO:
- Create a visual system, not just a template.
- Use visual hierarchy, including size, spacing, and contrast, to show audiences what matters.
- Bring design into the process while the story is still taking shape.
- Make data legible before making it beautiful.
DON’T:
- Let every deck appear to come from a different company.
- Rely on generic AI-generated graphics as your visual identity.
- Treat design as a final coat of paint.
- Assume consistency means every communication must look identical.
The Story Should Be as Strong Visually as It Is Strategically
Melinda: For me, that’s the connection between marketing and design. Neither discipline is there simply to make something more attractive. We’re both trying to make an important story clearer and more meaningful to the people who need to understand it.
Regan: The goal isn’t to make a company look like something it isn’t. It’s to make sure the quality of the brand reflects the quality of the thinking behind it.
In biopharma, where the stories are complicated and the stakes are high, clarity matters. Strategic design helps make that clarity visible.
At The NemetzGroup, we believe strategic design is most valuable when it’s integrated into the thinking early, not added as a finishing layer at the end. That’s why we’re expanding our capabilities through the Creative Lab, bringing strategic design and scientific storytelling together with deep biopharma expertise.
