RSA: Without the waste
How might we use circular economy principles to rethink the storage, delivery and dispensing of tablet medication?
This project was centred around finding a more sustainable blister pack alternative that also promotes circular economy. I decided to centre this around not only the project design but also the convenience of tracking and dispensing medication. This created three points of interest for Attain:
Product/medication: Sustainably and environmentally friendly product to store and protect medication.
Dispensing: A minimalistic smart device to connect with your phone for medication management and tracking.
Information: An app to have information on medicine and being able to see what medication you have and scheduling
medication.
Sustainable + Sanitary
Product Design
Inform, benefit + receive
App concept
Medication dispensed
Product Design
Sustainable inspirations
BIO PLASTIC
Bio Plastic is a great alternative for consideration for the blister packs due to the properties needed for the protection and value
Product
One of the issues that was a flaw in the design was how the final seal would occur.
It was suggested from some feedback to look into environmentally friendly seals, and so I considered having a thin layer of gelatin film between the lid and the packaging so that the lid is able to be peeled away. However, I had to drop this idea due to realising this would have mobility and dexterity issues, I realised the traditional blister pack design would not work for the bioplastic due to the seal and flat surface, thus I decided to re-evaluate the design, using the connection as a point of evidence to prevent tampering for the medication.
While this final design does not feature any writing on the packaging, in the final product it would be required to have print of the medication type and strength, this would just be on the packaging itself, similar to how it is presented on the aluminium sheet on blister packs
Dispensing
I had original considered a dispenser in which you can recieve1-2 tablets at a time, this was with the idea of paracetamol and ibuprofen in mind, as typically they are only taken if you are are in pain and are not medication you would include inside of a daily medication organiser.
From the feedback I received for the heptagon design, there was a suggestion that was agreed by my peers which was to turn the dispensing product into a smart device itself, so that it can instantly update the app, or notify on the phone that the box had opened and you can register to confirm that you had taken your medication.
Logo process
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I wanted to keep the outside ring green for the environmental and sustainable packing, however, the previously turquoise ring I changed to blue to match with the future app styling, as it has a blue centred design for the medical focus of the app. The brown is to promote that idea of grounding to balance between the medical and sustainable, with the grey designs above. I like the idea that for motion graphics of the branding, the circles spin into the 'S' (bottom right of text) before returning to the normal logo again.
App road map
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The image on the left shows the concept notes of the app priorities for the map designing:
Medication scanning, see how much you have
Scan daily medication
Notification settings - Missed medication time
Information hub of registered medication
Warnings if there is a conflict of medication that you own (ingredient for example)
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On the right is the original sketch of the app, for example, having a pop up of scheduled medication when clicking on a day of the week. While this is very rough it had enough understanding so I could create the basic framework on the image below.
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(left) A concept of creating a specific 'Health zone' in the app that contains GP & Pharmacy contacts and to order a repeat prescription, however, that is not effective as limiting this to just a 'health zone' may be confusing to the user, as opposed to being on the home page.
Warning page for medication
In the above image, I sketched out the current placement of the apps. However I decided to define how the flow would work for applying widget.
With most apps that I use, if I were to try and add a widget I would have to open the general widget tab on my phone and scroll to try and find the relevant app and see what kind of widgets are available.
With this pathway, on the app if you open the widgets tab, you would be able to see what is available, such as a clock that shows when your last tablets were recorded. If you see a widget that would be personally useful to you, either click and hold to add to your home screen, or tap to preview how it would look.
It is also noted that I realised there is no sustainability mention within that design of the app so continuing forward (image on the right) I not only tried to add in a sustainable area, but tried to also add a bit of an overlap with the widget button to make it more distinct.
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I presented this design to a couple of people and they pointed out that the design may be for the wrong demographic. While I had been considering it more illustrative to balance the technical medical in a more friendly manner. My feedback indicated that it seemed more for child demographics, and so I was concerned as it would be adults and elderly people, and others who may need more organisation and routine for their medication, that may be primarily using this app.
As a result I took on their feedback and tried to adjust the visuals of the app to be more monochromatic and uniform. During the critique as well they suggested to change the daily medication at the top, as the two sets of week says were confusing, and it seemed 'messy' due to the Sunday being of a different rotation to the other days of the week. Lastly, there was some confusion on why there was a sustainability area so obvious in the app for they would only use the app theoretically for managing their medication, not for sustainability awareness.
To combat this issue I decided to focus primarily on the inventory and routine for medication with in information area on the medication. The sustainability could be a focus in an ad campaign, but in the app itself it would be far too data heavy to include more in the app and not the priority of the users. I did still want an option for people to find out more so I included a sustainable page just as a directory to either active campaigns/organisations and specific online resources that are more highly specialised in the that field. This means that if users are curious they can find out more, but it is not an integral or major part of the experience with this particular app.
Comparing old design with the new version, I believe there is definitely an improvement, while the new one seems a bit more professional and medical, it still looks friendly because of the blue tones and curved corners.
Newest version, progressing forward it would still need new icons to keep to the same style and I would like to add a summary description for buttons, so that even if they do not know what a 'widget' is, there is still some understand of what that area is about.
Self Evaluation
While the the research regard bioplastic potato starch was researched well, I do believe this project is much more larger scale than what was manageable. In hindsight it would have been more beneficial to focus on the product itself as a product design, as opposed to additional dispensing and an app on top. Because of the split between attention of the three areas I failed to notice areas that were weaker, or how all 3 combined together. This is because very late into the project I realised I failed to consider if the dispenser is really needed, as people already had daily medication organisers that are very cheap to get. When I considered this market audience perspective and was questioning if it should even be in a final product, that caused doubt on the app. One of the main points of the app is that not only is it a medicine information and inventory of the household medicine. It also is a smart app centric, and thus if the smart device dispenser is removed then a major factor of the app, to improve upon medicine tracking because it would just become a normal tracking app that relies on the user remembering to input that they have took their medication, and it isn't sent through the device itself.
Overall, the largest flaw is on project scale and time management of cutting to only show the most necessary progression of the project. I overly complicated this already complex subject matter and while I should have only kept to the product design of the medication if I wanted to make sure that everything is covered, as since this is 3 large areas of development, it would not be able be expanded on and display on the RSA boards.
Going forward from this project, time management needs to be firmer for making sure updates are properly annotated, and that when selecting a new subject matter, to understand the aims and scope fully first, and consider realistically what areas should you focus on now and what could be expanded further. Taking this project as an example, while I have managed some conceptualisation of the products that would be proposed to for the RSA, between the deadline of this module and the deadline for the Early bird submissions, there is still time to be able to refine the detail and improve the presentation. I plan to continue forward to test some prototypes of the bioplastic itself and be able to rework my portfolio to be more concise and clear for the progression of the project. Lastly, after this module is over I will also continue to refine my RSA boards as I believe it should be more centred around the product itself, rather than washed down by the 3 separate areas. I will include the prospect of the digital incorporating with the smart device and app. However, that will be kept to the last board alone, and as a prospect that the brand could develop further in addition to the product design itself.