Feeling the Weight of Chronic Liver Disease
An immersive, multi-sensory congress experience that turns disease burden from a statistic into something a clinician physically feels.
The Goal
Fatigue and symptom burden are the parts of chronic liver disease that patients talk about most and that slides convey least. A bar chart showing reduced energy tells a clinician a number; it does not tell them what a heavy day actually feels like.
A global pharma partner wanted a booth moment at congress that would do what a deck cannot: give healthcare professionals a short, visceral understanding of the daily weight their patients carry, and of what changes when functional support is added on top of disease-directed therapy.
The brief was demanding: under three minutes per visitor, safe and simple enough for booth staff to run all day, and scientifically faithful — an experience, never a claim.
Our Approach
We designed a guided walking experience. The visitor puts on headphones, wears a weighted "liver bag" and begins stepping in place in front of a large cinematic screen. Voice-over, on-screen visuals and physical effort are choreographed to the same timeline, so what they hear, see and feel move together.
The journey runs in six short chapters: the weight of the burden, daily life with fatigue, what disease-directed treatment does and does not change, the moment functional support begins, life with that support, and a closing conclusion. The weight is only lifted at the point in the story where support takes effect — the relief is the message.
Everything on screen was purpose-built: a breathing liver visualisation, an effort meter tied to the walking rhythm, particle and environment layers that thicken as the burden builds and clear as it lifts, ending on a calm, branded close.
How We Built It
Experience & Narrative Design
- Six-chapter script written to a strict 2:35 timeline, with every line timed to a visual and a physical cue
- Scientifically reviewed language that conveys burden and relief without overstating benefit
- A deliberate emotional arc: pressure, recognition, relief, resolution
Visual System
- Cinematic, full-screen visual language built for a bright, noisy congress hall
- Custom liver, effort and breathing visualisations reacting to the walking rhythm
- Before-and-after comparison and closing brand moment to anchor the takeaway
Physical Setup
- Weighted liver bag, low-impact stepper and noise-isolating headphones as the sensory kit
- Compact, low-power booth footprint that travels between congresses
- Guided setup screen so each visitor is fitted and briefed in seconds
Operator Enablement
- Printable operator manual with step-by-step run-through, timings and talking points
- On-screen prompts telling staff exactly when to add and remove the weight
- One-tap reset and pause flow between visitors, plus fullscreen kiosk mode
Outcomes
- Empathy-first engagement: visitors leave with a felt understanding of patient burden rather than a remembered statistic
- A natural conversation starter — field teams pick up the discussion the moment the headphones come off
- Fast throughput at under three minutes per visitor, keeping a busy booth moving
- Runnable by non-technical booth staff after a five-minute briefing
- Reusable across congresses, markets and languages, with the script and visuals adaptable to other therapy areas