Apothia Los Angeles must be feeling pretty great about their candle products. Not only did they win an AIGA design award for their packaging, but their candles won an Interior Scent Collection of the Year award from The Fragrance Foundation (Yes, it exists. You learn something new everyday). They don’t need my adulation, but I’m going to add it anyway, because I really do love their packaging design. Their candles could smell like a hobo’s buttcrack and I would probably still buy them–unless I could tell before opening them that they smelled that way. I’m not that easily influenced by good design.

Target rolled out their Clear Rx packaging recently, and hopefully it will inspire everyone else who dispenses medications to follow suit. The new system is well thought out, and takes into consideration the fact that consumers often have families. So what’s the big deal? Well, look for yourself.

In case you’re still confused, here’s a laundry list:

1. Flat sided bottles so all the info is readable at once.
2. Color coded rings on the neck of the container. Each household member is assigned their own color so you know at a glance which meds are yours.
3. Cautions on the back, again readable without turning the bottle, and obvious.
4. An envelope on the back (behind the cautions) containing the patient info sheet for the drug. You know how most pharmacies just staple the info to the bag, then you go home and either read through the info and toss it or never even bother to read it? Then when you go to take it you think “Crap, I threw that out!” Well, no more…
5. Behind the patient info is a little magnifier for those who find the small print difficult to see.
6. Med name on the end so you can see what it is at a glance if it is stored in a drawer.

It always warms my heart to see someone putting some thought into something most of us take for granted. Will it catch on? I hope so, but the oldest institutions are the hardest to change.