While in the car today, I heard an ad on the radio for Target Pharmacy describing their new prescription system called ClearRx now in use in all their stores. I found the new features intriguing and looked for more information about it. Turns out, the ideas for the new bottle and label were designed by a School of Visual Arts student as her thesis project after her grandmother accidentally swallowed pills meant for her grandfather. According to a recent poll conducted for Target, 60 percent of prescription-drug users have taken medication incorrectly.
I think this is a great example of how the physical design of a product can be used to bring about specific desired behaviors. In this case, the design is meant to prevent potentially life-threatening medication errors by the patient. Consider the product here to be “taking prescribed medication correctly.” The actual type of medicine inside the bottle is irrelevant.
Here is how Deborah Adler’s (and now Target’s) design is different from a standard amber-colored round prescription bottle used by nearly every other pharmacy:
(1) Easy I.D.
The name of the drug is printed on the top of the bottle, so it’s visible if kept in a drawer.
(2) Code red.
The red color of the bottle is Target’s signature— and a universal symbol for caution.
(3) Information hierarchy.
Adler divided the label into primary and secondary positions, separated by a horizontal line. The most important information (drug name, dosage, intake instructions) is placed above the line, and less important data (quantity, expiration date, doctor’s name) is positioned below.
(4) Upside down to save paper.
Klaus Rosburg, a Brooklyn-based industrial designer hired by Target, came up with an upside-down version that stands on its cap, so that the label can be wrapped around the top. Every piece of paper in the package adds up to one eight-and-a-half-by-fourteen-inch perforated sheet, which eliminates waste and makes life easier for pharmacists.
(5) Green is for Grandma.
Adler and Rosburg developed a system of six colored rubber rings that attach to the neck of the bottle. Family members choose their own identifying shade, so medications in a shared bathroom will never get mixed up.
(6) An info card that’s hard to lose.
A card with more detailed information on a drug (common uses, side effects) is now tucked behind the label. A separate, expanded patient-education sheet, designed by Adler, comes with three holes so it can be saved in a binder for reference.
(7) Take “daily.”
Adler avoided using the word once on the label, since it means eleven in Spanish.
(8) Clear warnings.
Adler decided that many of the existing warning symbols stuck on pill bottles don’t make much sense—the sign for “take on an empty stomach,” for instance, looked like a gas tank to her—so together with graphic designer Milton Glaser, for whom she now works, she revamped the 25 most important.
Read the full article from the link above to see how Adler gave the industry standard a makeover. We often focus on what the patient should be doing to ensure compliance with their medications, but sometimes with a few changes to the product we can remove some of the main barriers that get in the way.
Bravo to Target for being willing to look at things in a new way!
Nedra helps nonprofits and public agencies create positive change on health and social issues through social marketing and transmedia storytelling strategies at Weinreich Communications since founding the company in 1995. She helps organizations make a difference for the populations they serve by strategically designing programs that draw on state-of-the-art behavior change techniques, digital media approaches and the power of stories. 
