At Nucleus, our purpose is to help organisations manage innovation and change with confidence. When Novartis set out to reimagine what a truly people-centric enterprise could look like, we partnered with them to create something new: a virtual environment where creativity, collaboration, and curiosity could thrive — Experience Town.
The Challenge
Novartis had a bold vision to transform its culture around three principles — Inspired, Curious and Unbossed. But like many global organisations, it faced the challenge of connecting tens of thousands of employees across geographies, functions, and time zones in ways that felt authentic and empowering.
Traditional top-down programmes were not enough to drive meaningful change. What was needed was a platform that gave everyone a voice, encouraged empathy-driven participation, and turned insight into action.
The Solution: Experience Town
Together with Novartis, we designed and built Experience Town — a virtual ‘frontier town’ within the Novartis ecosystem that serves as both a research platform and a cultural movement. Its deliberately flat structure removes hierarchy, encouraging associates to participate, collaborate and create as equals.
Experience Town acts as the organisation’s own metaverse — a living space where employees, known as “Citizens,” explore ideas, share experiences, and co-create solutions that improve the way they work. Each Citizen’s profile connects to an Enterprise Persona, providing a unique lens into real employee needs and experiences.
This design allows Novartis to surface meaningful insights, validate ideas quickly, and scale new solutions across the organisation — embedding human-centred design into the heart of everyday work.
Built on the Experience Mindset
Experience Town is founded on the Experience Mindset and structured around the Experience 5D Framework, a hybrid model developed to embed people-centricity into business transformation.
The framework combines Design Thinking, Agile UX, Human-Centred Design and Lean UX — helping teams validate early, iterate often, and focus on outcomes that matter. Through the platform’s Project Tower, associates can digitally onboard their initiatives, access design tools, and contribute to Experience Curriculum training to strengthen capability across the organisation.
A Culture of Collaboration and Participation
The ethos of Experience Town mirrors the qualities that drive real innovation:
Collaboration: Breaking down silos and including all perspectives in the problem-solving process.
Participation: Encouraging empathy-led contribution, where every associate has a voice in shaping the organisation’s future.
Engagement: Creating a seamless, rewarding experience for those who participate in research and co-creation.
Sustainability: Focusing on what works well within the organisation and scaling it, rather than constantly reinventing solutions.
This sustainable innovation model encourages internal knowledge-sharing, reduces duplication, and accelerates implementation — strengthening grassroots adoption and building long-term cultural change.
From Insight to Action
Since its launch in 2020, Experience Town has grown rapidly, with thousands of Citizens joining the platform. It has become a dynamic ecosystem for experimentation, co-creation, and organisational learning.
The platform has supported major global initiatives, including the Novartis Covid-19 response and the company’s approach to flexible working through the “Choice with Responsibility” programme. By mobilising internal communities, Novartis has been able to capture insight, iterate on policy, and deliver solutions aligned with employee needs.
What Success Looks Like
Experience Town has helped Novartis build a confident, connected, and purpose-driven workforce. It has redefined what a people-centric enterprise can look like — not as a programme or policy, but as a living, breathing culture of participation.
“I am really excited to be part of an organisation that is embracing a people-centric mindset to improve experience — unleashing the power of our people throughout their journey at Novartis. This is industry leading.” – Dan Rose, Head Customer & Technology Solutions, Operations & Strategy, Novartis
Shaping the Future of Experience
Experience Town shows what can happen when design becomes part of a company’s DNA. It demonstrates that human-centred innovation, when supported by the right mindset and tools, can scale across complex global organisations and deliver measurable impact.
For Nucleus, it represents what we do best — helping clients navigate uncertainty, build creative capability, and unlock the human potential within their organisations.