The final labels… finally :)

These are the finally worked out labels. Will be updating the design decissions later.

 

So far so good.. still workin :P

Label with the red band_still working on it

Red Band for Schedule-H drugs

I was wondering about the red band which has to be added in all the labels of Schedule-H drugs. I dont know if there is any law for the way the red band that has to be put. My question is on the thickness of the band, the positioning and if there are any other rules. Here are some explorations. If someone knows about it or comes across my blog at some point of time, please let me know if you are aware of the rules for this.

I cracked something new today :)

Something stricken me suddenly and this idea came up. I took a very basic rounded rectangle and tried  making labels. LOCOST have had the same labels for years which goes into the jars as well as the boxes. So keeping in mind not to confuse them much with too many variations, I tried keeping the outline smae for both, but arranged it in a way the the vertical one goes for the box where it communicates as well as seals the box, and even if it is torn, no information is disturbed. the printing is done by photopolymer process where, when the stcker paper is fed in the mechine, it prints, cuts and trims the labels to their finished stage, so I could incorporate a perforation for the vertical lebel too. The horizontal one will go on the jars as the vertical space is less for the same lebel and also at the same time it will also add some variety and an element of interest to it.

Labels: Some Trials

The discussion that took place with Tarun, my guide, recently, helped me clear my mind a bit more regarding the labels. This is true that in case of designs like the medicine labels, the text or the content is usually given to us. Which basically consists of the following:

1. The Generic name of the drug

2. The Brand name, under which its been sold

3. The chemical composition

4. The Dosage and storage instructions

5. Warning (if any)

6. And finally the name of the manufacturer.

Its very clear here that we can not at any cost fiddle with this information. Which in our language is “the Given Content”. So how do we deal with it? Do we look at these texts as chunks of gray patches or what ever color it is, and do a basic composition or typographic exercise? The answer is NO. We as communication designers, will also have to look at the ‘Information Hierarchy’. We here are not just doing th composition of the given words but also looking at the various levels on which these messages are going to effect the user.

Like for example, this above concept, I tried some patterns in them at the background, for an uniform feel of color and also to make it distinctly stand out of the lot. But after printing I saw, its not working. The medicine packaging is something so intense and serious, that the feeling of playfulness factor totally vanishes whenever I think of the intensity or impact of a mislead or misunderstood information can cause.

The idea of putting the generic name of the drug at the bottom somewhat kind of looks like working. May be I spoil it by putting the other fat color  patch at the top.

Orderform designs

The order form and price list of LOCOST has to perform more than what it is expected to do. As there are no other promotional materials involved in the scene. So I am trying to make it more communicating. Feedback will be appreciated.

Color palette, Existing :

The Order form and Price list :

The Orderform and the pricelist is a very important part of the communication that’s happening between LOCOST and the cliets and also to the rest of the world. I have posted earlier the image of the existing pricelist and the order form. Click here for a link. The keywords for the designing of the new order form and the pricelist are :

Economy :: Message :: Information :: Clarity :: Crisp :: Focused :: a Flexible System to add more info and pages

Following are the earlier design approaches :

orderform_earlier

While designing the pricelist and the order form, at the initial stage, the first thing that came to my mind is that the existing pricelist id way too big for its size and matter. all they should do to reflect their economy and concern and the values is to reduce the size to atleast half to two- third. So after deciding on the size I started with the layout and the designing of the information.

As I went on and on with the addition of the information, it became possible to streamline the information, for example the units for the quantities of the medicines which were mentioned in ‘mg’ in all the rows, and also the expiry date or the shelf life as ‘years’, I observed that there were many info in the pricelist which I could club up together to a common header, where the usability of the info became more and more legible and started making more sense.

Another simple idea that came to my mind was the use of symbols for tablets and capsules rather than writing and repeating the same words again and again, which can be seen in these explorations.

The fonts were another issue that had to be resolved. After  using several fonts, at one point of time i realized that I actually dont want to make my client buy fonts to make this project possible. I thought that it was possible to achieve a good and legible design withe available free fonts as well.

Following are the other explorations :

Center stapled, size : A5 .

Thought should work, as it also had the possibility to add pages.

The three folded one : I could accommodate all the existing info in it with all the ease. But it had the limitation of adding anything in future and also had the issue of clipping it up in a file.

3 fold price list

The above design was an exploration of implementing the idea of a ready to post letter type of folding which would include the order form and the pricelist together.

Finally we decided to dismiss this idea as this is the only communication happening in a proper way, as they do not advertise so this is the only that that stays back with client of the organizations, so to avoid the way it might get spoiled on its way while posted, this idea has to be re-considered.

Finally we thought of keeping the size considerably big so that it does not get lost in a pile of papers in a file and also thought of trying out some single colored printing on colored paper too.

Finally refining , and reaching a stage to present :

After the presentation the client said that now he really feels that I have undertstood them and I am able to reflect that understanding in the labels finally. Which was very positive. Now I have to finally work out the final module keeping in mind these reflections.

The Schedule H drugs are the ones which need to be prescribed by a doctor and then they can be sold over the counter to a patient, and this has to be marked with a red band as shown in the above Metformin Hydrocloride Tablets, where as the aspirin and the paracetamol are non schedule H drugs so they dont need any demarkations like that.

So one more thing now that has to be taken care of is the color palate. This issue recently came up when I started designing the labels other than the paracetamol. Here I found that its getting difficult for the red band to identify. So the warm colors should not be kept for the Schedule H drugs.