In the diverse world of packaging design, professionals understand that packaging is far more than just a container. It serves to communicate, captivate, facilitate, motivate, and safeguard the product inside. In the realm of medical product design, however, packaging assumes an even more vital role, becoming an integral component of the product itself.

In the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, packaging must adhere to stringent safety requirements, including features for tamper evidence and sterilisation, and comply with precise regulations for information presentation. For consumers and patients, the packaging often represents the initial interaction with a medical device or product, making it a crucial factor in forming first impressions.

Beyond reinforcing the brand, medical device design must meticulously consider every aspect of interaction between the packaging and the user. This is essential to ensure correct usage of medical devices or medications, especially in settings without medical supervision, like home care. Despite the stringent regulations, the potential for packaging to enhance patient experience is significant but often underutilised.

The initial engagement with the packaging — those crucial first moments when it is handled by the consumer or patient — must be thoughtfully crafted. In essence, the packaging designer guides the user through each step. With the growing importance of home healthcare, exemplified by the widespread use of at-home COVID-19 tests, packaging must make this experience reassuring and straightforward.

Guiding the User Experience

To achieve this, methodologies like Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) are invaluable. They map out the desired journey for the user from the moment they receive the package. Through perception, cognition, and action analysis, designers can detail what users will perceive through their senses, understand (either via explanation or intuitively), and do next. This process is essential for identifying where design can enhance the experience or reduce risks.

These methodologies also inform creative decisions, such as the selection of images, colour schemes, information structure, and typography. The fundamental question at each stage is whether the patient will comprehend their next steps.

For digital products like wearable devices or apps, where onboarding is digital, packaging may focus on conveying a sense of quality and swiftly engaging the user with the digital aspect. However, for other products, particularly medical devices or drugs, packaging may need to communicate critical safety information, assist in self-assembly, or guide through complex usage steps.

Empowering Patients through Design

The packaging for Proteus, the pioneering FDA-approved ingestible sensor and wearable device, exemplifies this approach. Designed to simplify at-home setup, it features a carefully planned unboxing experience with clear instructions, transforming the onboarding process to a patient-friendly model.

Healthy.io represents another leap in home health innovation. Addressing the lack of regular kidney disease testing among diabetics and other risk groups, their packaging-plus-app approach simplifies the testing process. The packaging guides users through an AI-assisted colorimetric analysis, making the procedure less intimidating and more user-friendly.

Increasingly, the definition of a medical product is expanding to include its accessories, apps, packaging, instructions, and broader ecosystem, all contributing to the user experience and minimising potential errors.

As home healthcare and patient monitoring become increasingly vital in healthcare, the significance of medical device product development in packaging design grows. Understanding and leveraging the full potential of packaging is key to enhancing patient experiences and improving overall healthcare outcomes.