Inclusive Design in Packaging: Insights from the Arthritis Foundation

Deb Gokie discusses the Arthritis Foundation's inclusive design program, emphasizing its impact on medical device and pharmaceutical packaging design for enhanced usability.

As populations age and the prevalence of conditions like arthritis increases, the demand for products that accommodate these needs will likely rise.
As populations age and the prevalence of conditions like arthritis increases, the demand for products that accommodate these needs will likely rise.
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Key takeaways:

·      The Ease of Use Design guides offer pharmaceutical and medical device companies guidelines to create inclusive products to meet the needs of all users. 

·      Companies are moving beyond sustainability to consider accessibility, often making small design changes to enhance inclusivity.

·      As populations age and the prevalence of conditions like arthritis increases, the demand for products that accommodate these needs will likely rise.

 

HCP: Hi Deb, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your position, and what your focus is at the Arthritis Foundation?

I'm Deb Gokie, Vice President of Consumer Health Ease of Use at the Arthritis Foundation. I oversee the inclusive design program, certifying products and packages that are easier to use for people with arthritis and chronic pain. This initiative benefits all consumers by making products more accessible. It’s an exciting opportunity to be able to work with not only medical & pharmaceutical companies, but consumer brands too, that are thinking about how to bring inclusive design into their products and packaging.

How long has this initiative been going on?

The Arthritis Foundation has been involved in this since the seventies. But about four years ago, I was tasked with evaluating the program to enhance engagement with companies. A year ago, I began focusing solely on this program, transitioning from a background in non-profit corporate development to working closely with companies on inclusive design.

Can you talk about your partnership with Target as well as other brands?

So, we test a lot of products and packages and, if a company has a product that is already in market and they go through testing and they don't pass, we'll offer some design updates. But, if they're in market already, it can cost six figures to go back in and redesign a specific item so that it is eligible for certification. And so, what we were looking at and working on was ‘how do we get in the front of that and how do we really fill a gap and help engineers and industrial designers as they start to think about package design in the beginning and how can we provide resources to them?’ So, we had been working with Target on some particular projects around that, and my collaborator there and I both felt like it was really important to bring that education into the early stages of design. So, we created the Ease of Use Design guides.

How do these guidelines translate into the medical device or pharmaceutical industry?

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