Pharmaceutical packaging is closely regulated and the specific do’s and don’ts are different in every region. The brief was to create a new guideline for the Actavis contraception range that is both robust and flexible yet retains the spirit and energy of the new Actavis Woman brand.
The packaging look and feel was created to bridge the design of familiar women’s consumer products with the more strict and clean tone of pharmaceutical packaging. We wanted to become the type of product that any woman would be happy to carry around with them.
Contraception packaging comes in many shapes and sizes. To create an unstated harmony the brand name is a consistent point size across all pack sizes. All margins and safe areas are proportional to the pack size to ensure they looked well balanced not only as a group but independently.
To allow this to succeed we had to develop a design guideline that not only brought consistency to the entire range but actually anticipated the concerns of regulatory authorities globally. However it was also essential that it encouraged adoption through minimising cost and technical difficulties.
Some of the design features were inspired by discusions with regulatory authorities and pharmacists: the point size throughout was raised to 6pt—well above the minimum threshold in each country—to ensure compliance; a sans serif version of Museo was used as serif fonts can be rejected in some regions; detailed medical text on the reverse of the pack is always black on white for maximum legibility.
To ensure printing consistancy globally we simplified the specifications as much as possible.
The palette was picked to allow the greatest differentiation within a CMYK spectrum. The front of the pack was made from a two colour process vignette ensuring vibrancy and consistency.
Initially launched across the contraception range the design will be used across all Actavis Woman ranges in coming years.
