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/ Enabling free essential medication - Packaging of a delivery service for vulnerable populations across Canada
Visit www.cleanmeds.ca |
/ Collaborators: Dr. Kate Sellen, Stuart Werle, Nick Goso, Dr. Nav Persaud, Norm Umali
/ Sponsor: St. Michael's Hospital |
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/ Overview
Key Words: Participatory design, packaging design, essential medication, universal pharmacare, medication packaging, equitable design
The purpose of the Essential Medications project was to design the packaging and branding for CLEAN Meds (Carefully Selected and Easily Accessible at No Charge Medicines), together with a team of doctors, pharmacists, and patients. To design for free essential medications we used a public health design lens, a combination of evidence-based research and lived-experience. We worked with all stakeholders to design a look, package, and tone that appealed aesthetically, and also paid close attention to issues of accessibility, stigma, and trust. The Essential Medication project is a collaboration between the Community Guidance Panel of the CLEAN Meds project and team, MAP Centre for Urban Solutions, at Unity Health and the Health Design Studio at OCAD University. Background: Nearly 2.4 million people in Canada cannot afford their prescribed medications. This includes life-saving medication and those essential for managing chronic illness. While Canada has publicly funded healthcare services, it is the only high-income country without universal access to essential medicines. This affects a wide range of people from those with lower incomes, to seniors on multiple medications, to even affluent individuals who struggle to afford expensive medicines and even those with insurance plans. Struggling to afford prescriptions impacts far more than just health, including patients’ social life, ability to work, and causes significant emotional stress. Need: Delivering free medication to patients has significant benefits to health, medications adherence, and quality of life. However, even when providing the service for free there is still a layer of stigma. When experiencing stigma that stems from patients’ interactions with a provider or the healthcare system, patients can feel singled out for not being able to afford care, as if they didn't belong in the healthcare setting. Free of charge medications can imply that this is only available to a certain group of people, or patients have to act in a certain way or meet specific criteria to access free service. For our team, the need was to design within the context of a free medication service while alleviating or at least not contributing to the potential additional stigma of receiving CLEAN Meds. To design a brand identity and packaging that is professional, inspires confidence, addresses stigma, protects privacy, and is highly accessible. |
/ Process
Delivering free medication to patients has significant benefits to health, medications adherence, and quality of life. However, even when providing the service for free there is still a layer of stigma. When experiencing stigma that stems from patients’ interactions with a provider or the healthcare system, patients can feel singled out for not being able to afford care, as if they didn't belong in the healthcare setting. Free of charge medications can imply that this is only available to a certain group of people, or patients have to act in a certain way or meet specific criteria to access free service.
For our team, the need was to design within the context of a free medication service while alleviating or at least not contributing to the potential additional stigma of receiving CLEAN Meds. To design a brand identity and packaging that is professional, inspires confidence, addresses stigma, protects privacy, and is highly accessible. / Results
The final result is the brand Kanoe. The brand is driven by its five values: equity, accessibility, community, humanity and quality. Every design choice was tailored with clarity in mind, hoping to make every aspect of the brand as effortless and intuitive as possible. This clarity when paired with minimalist visual style, added to the professionalism and quality of the brand and medication within it. This was well received by the CGP who found the brand visually appealing, easy to understand, and professional. Furthermore, the CGP valued simplicity in the brand, regarding it as more genuine and helpful than a brand using design trends that they remarked having “seen around”.
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