Aspirations for better pack design

Many Western countries are heading for a crisis, but it is one that great industrial design can help us to overcome. Over the past few decades, life expectancy has increased and so the percentage of elderly people in the general population has grown steadily. By 2037, the number of people over 85 years old in the UK is projected to be two and a half times what it is today. People aged over 65 will account for 24% of the population.

The impact of this shift will affect many aspects of our lives, but one key area is how our healthcare industry provides for the inevitable increase in demand. With hospital facilities already stretched to breaking point, helping people to look after themselves for longer in their own homes is going to be important.

Devices and device packaging will need to be designed to be safe and effective for a population with very wide-ranging capabilities

This means that non-healthcare professionals will be increasingly needed to administer drug delivery regimes and to closely monitor their outcomes. As a result, devices and device packaging will need to be designed to be safe and effective for a population with very wide-ranging capabilities.

Design has always played a pivotal role in meeting the needs of the users of medical devices. Good design guides the user’s interaction, reassures them through the process and feeds back evidence of the successful outcome. With an ageing population this is especially important. This is true of devices designed for medical professionals, but is more important for untrained patients.

The growing trend for self-medication, in the home, creates unique challenges for designers. How should design deal with the wide variation in patient capability and understanding, the different environments and lifestyles and the variety of preconceptions patients bring to their understanding of a medical device? Understanding these parameters is a vital input into the design process.