Cancer Treatment Experience
Envisioning opportunities to improve a new bladder cancer treatment experience
J&J Design x Janssen
Overview.
Bladder removal shouldn’t be the only option.
Each year, nearly 80,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with bladder cancer, often facing late diagnoses and limited treatment choices. For many, invasive bladder removal becomes the only path forward.
Janssen developed a novel therapy that has the potential to change this, offering patients an alternative to life-altering surgery. J&J Design partnered with Janssen to reimagine the treatment experience—ensuring it is understandable, accessible, and effortless for both patients and clinicians.
Context.
Design Team.
Design Strategy in collaboraion with two other designers
Extended Team.
Market research, Cognitive psychology, US and Global bladder cancer teams
Skills.
Co-creation, Facilitation, Social media listening, Synthesis, Visualization, Workshop design
Context.
Enterprise, Healthcare, Pharma, Innovation/Strategy
Challenge.
Bladder cancer treatment is highly invasive and life-altering—but the experience around it shouldn’t be.
Many patients undergo unnecessary bladder removals due to late diagnoses, limited treatment options, and a lack of clear guidance. The complexity of treatment also makes it difficult for clinicians to adopt new therapies, creating barriers to effective care.
Janssen’s therapy offered a new treatment path, but success depended on designing an experience that improved accessibility, understanding, and adoption for both patients and clinicians.
Process.
Understanding the treatment landscape to uncover key barriers.
We conducted social media listening, expert interviews, and reviewed patient ethnographic research to deeply understand the challenges patients and clinicians face. Through this research, we mapped out:
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Pain points and logistical barriers affecting patients, caregivers, and clinicians.
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Gaps in communication and emotional support between patients and healthcare providers.
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Obstacles to treatment adoption, from clinician training to accessibility constraints.
This research gave us the foundation to envision a treatment experience that better serves all involved.
Impact.
Future State Blueprint
Map of the full treatment experience and relationships between internal and external stakeholders.
Solutions Map
A comprehensive solutions map, outlining strategies for patient and clinician support.
Implementation Plan
Actionable framework for implementation, aligned with business objectives and clinical priorities.
This work is foundational to helping us achieve the best experience for customers and patients.
Product Director, Localized Bladder Cancer
Defining the ideal a patient-centered treatment journey.
We created a future-state journey map for Janssen’s novel therapy, outlining the critical factors needed for a successful treatment experience:
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Pain points and behavioral shifts required to improve patient and clinician engagement.
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Stakeholder roles across patients, caregivers, clinicians, and logistical support teams.
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Enablers and barriers that could impact treatment adoption and accessibility.
This future-state journey allowed us to anticipate challenges and align the treatment experience with real-world needs.
Co-creating solutions to improve patient and clinician experiences.
Through collaborative workshops with global clinical, marketing, and strategy teams, we worked to design actionable solutions that would enhance the treatment experience. Together, we:
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Defined nine opportunity areas to address the most pressing patient and clinician needs.
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Generated concepts for tools, systems, and interventions to improve treatment access and usability.
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Developed an interactive solutions map, aligning key innovations with the patient journey.
These workshops ensured that every solution was grounded in stakeholder insights, business feasibility, and real-world implementation.
