About Us
Incognito Design is a Chicago-based marketing and digital advertising agency focused on delivering strategies, frameworks, and tactics to provide exceptional experiences for the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and trade association industries.
We specialize in helping pharmaceutical companies communicate in complex, highly regulated spaces. We create patient-centered branding and campaigns that improve clinical trial enrollment and patient / HCP connections — while also transforming compliance and ethics tools and communications so employees actually engage with them.
Our clients — from GSK to Alexion — trust us because we combine big-agency quality with boutique-level agility.
Our Services
We offer several services and innovative approaches to help inform and guide our work.
Accumulated and honed from our diverse work experience, our time-tested processes, principles, and tools help our clients achieve results that inspire people and companies to greatness.
Let’s Talk if You Need:
- Faster IRB or MLR approval cycles
- Trial recruitment that actually converts
- Unbranded disease education campaigns
- Compliance-forward branding systems
- Insights that go beyond surveys
- UX that patients, clinicians, and regulators can all use
- Global systems that feel personal
Strategy
• Audience Insights
• Brand Audit
• Communications Audit
• Content Strategy
• Channel Strategy
• IT Requirements
• Design Planning
• Systems Planning
Branding
• Brand Architecture
• Strategy
• Naming
• Identity Design
• Lexicon & Tonality
• Standards & Guidelines
• Activation
Customer Experience
• UX Design
• UI Design
• Advertising
• Photography
• Videography
• Exhibit Design
• Campaigns
• Advisory Board Meetings
• Clinical Trial Communications
• Patient Advocacy
• Practitioner Outreach
• Patient | Caregiver Engagement
Digital
• Information Architecture
• Web Design
• Development
• Application Architecture
• CMS Design
• Website and Microsite
• Landing Page
• Social Media Marketing
• Social Media Banding
Content Creation
• Medical Writing
• Scientific Writing
• Corporate Communications
• Patient Advocacy Support
• Infographics
• Social Media
• Live Action Video
• Motion Graphics
• Screen Writing
• Newsletters
• PowerPoint Presentations
Therapeutic Areas
• Neurology
• Neuromuscular
• Oncology
• Diabetes
• Genetic Disorders
• Rare Disease
• Clinical Trials
Our
Foundational
Strengths
Thoughtful and intentional, we bring clarity, creativity, and compliance to healthcare and pharmaceutical communications – especially where and when the stakes are highest.
– Ed Schweitzer, Executive Director of Design
Simplifying the complex
We translate dense, technical, or scientific data into clear, accessible content that resonates with patients, HCPs, and stakeholders — without losing nuance or precision.
Designing for the end-user – not just the reviewer
We root every experience, brand, and message in a deep understanding of its audience — patients, caregivers, clinicians, trial coordinators, regulators — to drive action and trust.
From insight to activation
We conduct and synthesize qualitative and quantitative research, stakeholder interviews, and behavioral analytics to uncover the truths that drive strategy, channel choice, content, and design.
Strategic program & brand planning
From global systems to single-campaign activations, we build integrated communications strategies that connect internal teams, brands, patients, and healthcare professionals—across platforms and geographies.
Branding that builds trust
Whether we’re naming a pipeline asset, creating lexicon messaging systems, designing logos, or developing full brand architectures, we build compliant, compelling identities that speak to people, not just professionals.
- Trademark-ready design that lives up to clinical rigor
- Unbranded campaigns that educate and activate
- Branded systems built for regulatory navigation and emotional resonance
Crafting the patient, HCP, and trial experience
From UX wireframes to full UI design, from IRB-approved brochures to trial engagement kits, we create experiences that are human-first— improving enrollment, education, and retention across the study lifecycle.
End-to-end content creation
Our in-house teams craft content that works across audiences and platforms—always aligned to your tone, regulatory guardrails, and outcomes.
- Motion graphics & branded animations
- Digital & social advertising
- Microsites, portals & apps
- Infographics & explainer videos
- Medical writing & corporate comms
- Patient advocacy content
- Presentations, toolkits, pitch decks
- Motion graphics & branded animations
Compliance-conscious communication design
Everything we create aligns with regulatory, medical, and legal standards from day one. We build for approval—and for people—simultaneously.
Rare, genetic and specialized expertise
We are therapy-agnostic—but mission-specific. Our sweet spot is rare, genetic, and complex diseases where traditional approaches fail. We make invisible conditions visible, and rare stories relatable.
Curiosity-driven behavioral science
We bring relentless curiosity to uncover the “why” behind patient and HCP behaviors. By applying principles of behavioral science, we transform observations into actionable strategies— designing communications, tools, and resources that align with real human motivations. This ensures every solution isn’t just informative, but deeply resonant, fostering more productive and meaningful healthcare experiences.
Our Vision
At Incognito Design, our vision is to be the trusted partner for organizations navigating the most challenging corners of healthcare—bringing clarity to complexity and humanity to every touchpoint.
We envision a world where no patient, caregiver, or clinician is left in the dark—where complex science is accessible, brands are built on empathy and ethics, and communication is a catalyst for better outcomes.
Our Mission
At Incognito Design, we exist to make the complex understandable, the invisible visible, and the disconnected human again.
We partner with healthcare, pharmaceutical, life sciences, and patient advocacy organizations to craft strategic, compliant, and emotionally intelligent communications that inform, inspire, and empower — especially in the rare, the genetic, and the misunderstood.
Our mission is to translate science into stories, data into design, and insights into action — so that the people who need to understand the most are never left behind.
What Sets Us Apart
Specialization in Highly Regulated Environments
Most branding/marketing agencies shy away from pharma because of the regulatory complexity. We’ve built a track record inside the gray space of clinical trials and compliance – where messaging has to be both compelling and compliant. That means our clients don’t have to waste time “teaching” people how pharma/legal/medical reviews work.
Dual Expertise:
Patients + Compliance
ID serves two sides of pharma that rarely overlap:
- Commercialization & Patient Engagement:
Branding trials, advocacy campaigns, patient finding. - Compliance, Ethics & Legal Communications:
Codes of Conduct, executive education, internal engagement).
Most agencies pick one or the other. Incognito uniquely bridges both giving us credibility with — both Marketing and Legal, which pharma leaders appreciate because it reduces risk.
Proven Results Across the Development Lifecycle
We’re not just building awareness campaigns — we’re involved from Phase 1 trials through launch.
That’s rare.
This means we understand the full arc: patient journey → recruitment → trial branding → advocacy support → internal compliance training.
We help pharma teams get aligned at every stage.
Trusted by Global Leaders, Re-Hired Again and Again
Our repeat business with companies like GSK, Alexion, Emergent, American Express, Altria, shows that once a client works with us, they bring us with them wherever they go.
That “follow-the-client” loyalty is proof that we’re not a vendor, we’re a long-term strategic partner.
Boutique Agility, Enterprise-Grade Work
Unlike massive agencies that get bogged down in process, ID offers:
- Direct senior-level involvement (no bait-and-switch).
- Faster turnaround and flexibility.
- Design thinking with a pharma-native lens.
Our clients get big-agency quality with small-agency responsiveness.
Human-Centered Design in a Space That All Too Often Feels Corporate
Pharma compliance training and clinical trial branding are often dry, complex, and intimidating. ID transforms them into human-centered experiences that resonate with patients, caregivers, HCPs, and employees.
In other words, we make the complex simple – without losing accuracy.
Our Team
Leaders should lead the way, but the best leaders lead by example and inspire everyone around them to work towards a bigger vision.
ID leaders are knowledgeable, experienced and passionate – and bring these characteristics to every engagement with our customers, and their customers. Our leaders provide focus, direction and inspiration – and then they get out of the way and let their colleagues do what they do best.
Edward Schweitzer
Founder, Executive Director of Design & Strategy
Edward is a cross-media design director, brand specialist and data insights evangelist. With over 35 years in the design communications industry, he has served in leadership roles for numerous internationally recognized agencies. Edward founded Incognito Design in 1994 and continues to guide ID’s research, strategic development, and creative vision.
Edward has created legal and compliance-based enterprise training programs and internal communications campaigns for highly regulated companies such as Alexion/AstraZeneca Rare Disease, GlaxoSmithKline, Emergent BioSolutions, Altria, and American Express. He has developed global brands, campaigns and business communications for pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Ionis, Albireo, Synlogic, as well as clients in finance, food and hard goods, such as Royal Alliance, SunAmerica, AIG, FLOR, the Land of Nod, The Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium, and Charlie Trotter’s Foods.
Edward’s work has been recognized by industry award shows from the American Institute of Design, AIGA and Webby’s, as well as trade publications including I.D., Print, How, and Communication Arts.
Patrick Kelly
Strategic Planning & Account Management
For 10 years, Patrick served as a Partner at Method Engine, a Chicago-based boutique digital agency. There, Patrick worked with start-ups to Fortune 500 companies on numerous digital marketing initiatives ranging from website design and development, mobile apps, search marketing, online advertising and social media. Patrick’s clients included Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Thermos, Ingalls Memorial Hospital, Swedish Covenant Hospital and Ford Motor Company.
Previously, Patrick held progressively senior leadership positions at Chicago-based healthcare advertising agencies and marketing firms. With his broad healthcare marketing background and specific experience with digital marketing, Patrick helped clients meet marketing and business objectives and ultimately grow their buisness. Patrick has specific experience in cardiology, oncology, nephrology, home care, information technology, anesthesiology, ambulatory surgery, and orthopedics.
Ken Scholz, PhD
Scientific & Medical Writer
A scientific writer with more than 20 years of experience, Ken has developed and written manuscripts, monographs, slide kits, video scripts, website scripts, and other forms of scientific communication.
Ken has worked with researchers, physicians, textbook publishers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, non-profit organizations, medical education providers, and government agencies.
Ken’s strength is writing about complex therapeutic areas including aspects related to clinical trial design, interpretation of results, and implications for clinical practice. Ken has deep experience working with top-tier facilities on large-scale projects related to cutting-edge advances in medicine. Many of these projects have required the ability to understand numerous scientific and clinical studies, and to translate those studies into clinical recommendations for specialists.
Peter Burgi, PhD
Anthropologist & Lead Researcher
Peter provides targeted, actionable research findings that fuel creativity and collaboration. During more than 20 years of managing research efforts and showing their practical application, Peter has innovated and implemented strategic solutions on four continents. He has depth of experience in creative learning, market research, strategy, team-building, and intercultural business skills development.
As a qualitative researcher, leader, and anthropologist with a wide repertoire of methodological expertise – ethnography, focus group, in-depth interview methodologies, etc. – he has designed and facilitated high-impact, high-energy interventions that have resulted in robust organizational ROI.
James McDonough
Copy Writer & Brand Strategist
James develops content for strategic communications, branded programs, and marketing campaigns. He has worked with GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Kohler, Novo Nordisk, Sallie Mae, Akcea Therapeutics, Albireo Pharma, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, The American Association of Diabetes Educators, Astellas Pharma, Centocor Biopharmaceutical, Eisai, Galter Life Center, The International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Medline Industries, Northshore Medical Group, and the Swedish Medical Group.
With a background that includes two decades in sales and sales management, James combines real-world business experience with creative problem solving.
Let’s talk!
We’d like to learn more about your needs and the needs of your audience — be they patients, healthcare professionals, regulatory, or internal stakeholders. Then we’ll put together a Statement of Work and get started.