Student Spotlight: Independent Remedies

Alex Lee, a student at University of Leeds in the UK explore the problem and solution for OTC (over the counter) pharmaceuticals. See his exploration of the industry as well as the design after the jump! 

"Project Intro: The Over-The-Counter (OTC) pharmaceuticals market is growing, in 2009 the market was estimated to be worth £2.4 billion and growth doesn’t show signs of slowing. This is due to a number of factors, most poignantly an increasingly aging population and governmental support for patient ‘self-care’ to reduce strain on the NHS. Both of these factors coupled with a general trend towards personal self-sufficiency equate to a larger role of OTC medication in our day to day lives, especially as more prescription only medications are reclassified to pharmacy and over the-counter availability. The medicine cabinet of the future will be bigger, fuller and involve higher risks, so how can good design protect the user from harming themselves?

Why OTC Packaging? Through my own personal research, and interviews with a range of professionals across the health care service, I was able to piece together a better idea of what the most important elements of pharmaceutical packaging were, and how I could best expose users to these elements through a structured user  experience, communicated in a clear, concise, and understandable manor, accessible to all.

About Independent: Independent Remedies was created to shift focus away from the brand as is common with current OTC products, and on to the benefit and wellbeing of the user along with essential features that consumers will soon come to expect, such as a better standard of child-resistance, product recyclability, structural  rigidity and portability, and senior-friendly access."

Designed by Alex Lee, University of Leeds, UK

Comments

[Jason Lim]

It looks good, but that's a lot of packaging for one pill. Also, I'm not sure I understand how you plan to "shift focus away from the brand", as you are branded yourself. Being branded is not a bad thing in itself, too: at least your customers can expect a consistent experience.

[jordan]

I agree it is a lot packaging for one pill. Add 6 more and your gold.

The graphic elements are great!

[Alex]

Jason, yes this something a lot of people have pointed out and I agree that there is a lot of packaging per dosage compared with conventional packs, but I felt that segmenting the dosages in to 'packlets' instead of small compartments within one pack would provide users with any level of understanding, eyesight or dexterous ability with a manageable experience of taking medicine. As for size, this was a difficult toss up between portability and legibility of instructions. A slightly larger size was chosen with the aim of offsetting higher material usage with the use of high percentage post consumer waste carton board and minimal use of colour/graphics enabling screen printing with water soluble inks.

As for branding, yes there is discrete branding but its the smallest graphic element on the pack, the largest graphic elements are the crucial information the user needs when selecting a medicine contrary to most current branded OTC's. I felt this was the best way for the brand to communicate that the users well-being is paramount over brand identity!

Thanks for your interest and comments!

Alex

[Ullyses Müller]

it looks like the adobe logo