„Medical information to logo language“

Background

Communication is key. We all agree on that. Communication is dependent things such diverse as cultural background, previous experiences, expectations and personal preferences, just to name a few. If it comes to medicine communication is even more crucial. We understand from scientific studies that the overall healing process reflects how patients were communicated with by physicians, pharmacists and other players in the healthcare arena.

Problem

Healthcare confronts us with a lot of information that patients and consumers need to absorb, understand and integrate. Most of us have been thus been exposed to SMPCs (Summary of Product Characteristics) of various medications. These documents are very standardized, in one language and contain condensed information on how to take a medication, what side effects it might bring and a number of other information. SMPCs in the past have been at the core of a lot of discussions as to how to make them more user friendly.

Actual Challenge

This challenge wants to take these discussions a step further. Given the various ethnic backgrounds of patients in a number of European healthcare systems and also taking into account the borderless nature of healthcare per se, we intend to translate the SMPC of the top used product globally (such as Ibuprofen or Aspirin®) in a sign / logo language that is universally intelligible and shall render patients and consumers possible to grasp the content of SMPCs regardless of their extent of their reading and writing abilities or their cultural or ethnic backgrounds.
The result might be a more or less universal SMPC language and grammar to roll out on more products. Furthermore a solution for electronic media is needed. This challenge will be curated by a seasoned design professional who is known to have e. g. transferred the book Genesis into iconograpic language.

Challenge owner: Tobias Gantner (Healthcare Futurists)