Factory packs in child-proof ideas

The safety and accessibility of pharmaceutical packaging are being tackled by Factory Design with a series of child-resistant concepts, to be unveiled next month.

THE safety and accessibility of pharmaceutical packaging are being tackled by Factory Design with a series of child-resistant concepts, to be unveiled next month.

According to Factory creative director Adam White, the work addresses the ‘enduring contradiction’ that when pharmaceutical packaging is made difficult for children to access, it also alienates older consumers.

The designs have been commissioned by the Government-funded Faraday Packaging Partnership and six have had patents filed this week.

Factory worked closely with Sheffield Hallam University psychologist Dr Belinda Winder to develop the packaging. They first brainstormed ideas early last year, says White, from which a dozen concepts were conceived and six developed.

The work was driven by statistics that show 80 per cent of recorded accidental poisonings happen to children under four years old, he adds.

‘The thrust of the designs is that both a greater physical size and basic adult knowledge of packaging are needed to open the packs,’ says White.

One of the designs, Poke, requires ‘long, adult fingers’ to be inserted into a tube before the device is turned. Another, Tri (pictured), is opened by pushing three buttons simultaneously.

The products, often carried around by consumers in their bags, have been designed with a contemporary, ‘pretty’ aesthetic in mind, says White.

‘There is little new thinking in this area, and nobody has exploited this [sector] from a creative point of view,’ White believes.

White was approached by Winder two years ago at a working group packaging conference.

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