Thursday, 21 April 2011

More Help

simple and to the point. clear and uncluttered packaging that leaves you in no doubt about what to buy for your particular ailment.
http://www.helpineedhelp.com/
Help Remedies Package DesignHelp Remedies Package DesignHelp Remedies Package DesignHelp Remedies Package Design

'health products'

its an interesting concept, designing new products around established and recognisable shapes and forms. Witty, clever, and just a bit nice, but equally suited to its intended purpose.
this is Goji and pomegranate juice, in what looks light a light bulb. 

breaking social taboos through thoughtful and quirky packaging.
"Usually people prefer conventional medical packaging for drugs like the morning after pill. The packaging is fun and pink and has a playful appeal to it by Sergii Llin. It comes in a little pink, lady-form cut out with the drug located around the cut-out’s mid-section. Besides this, the pill also has a fun-loving, death-face imprint (two X’s for eyes and a smile). Anti abortion groups are going to be anything but amused with Lli'ns message that “Think before you do.”"
Although I'm not sure this is really the best way of getting stigma away form such products, its a bit odd really. 
Controversial_Drug_Packaging.jpg

Help Remedies clever packaging

http://www.joeydevilla.com/2008/04/24/help-remedies-clever-packaging/

nice simple, witty, clever packaging for more mundane everyday medical items. It shows how simple but interesting packaging can be used to make things more appealing and interesting.

"he aspirin package is labelled “Help / I have a headache” and the package for the band-aids says “Help / I’ve cut myself”:"

This type of wholesome/rounded view of the packaging that incorporates holistic needs, environmental ones as well as practical needs is very interesting.
"By the way, this is a company concerned not only with the envrionment but also society. The packaging is made out of compostable, recycled paper pulp, with a tiny amount of plastic around the pills (an FDA requirement). Plus they plan to give 5% of their profits to charities that will help people without healthcare get healthcare."
“Help” brand aspirin and band-aids“Help” brand band-aids“Help” brand aspirin

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

more air fresheners

some of these glade ones are oil based, using scented oils to carry the scent, releasing it with an inbuilt warmer.
some of the plug ins carry multiple scents, possibly showing a way of administering different levels of smart drug through different periods of the day, as well as maybe an anti-smart-drug that switches you off from work at lunch and the end of the day.

air freshners

air born smart drugs. Air freshers come in lots of forms. obvious, discrete, hidden, gimmicky, pleasant, odour-covourers. i like the idea of administering smart drugs into the workplace through airborne/air-freshning dispersal. Some like the Air-wick plug ins dispense a certain amount of fragrance  at set intervals in set quantities, which could be used to administer smart drugs at predetermined points through out the working day which are know for low levels of concentration and productiveness.

the point about current air fresheners is that there is always an impregnated "wick" or a liquid perfume which needs to be considered, which would show how smart drugs could be added, as either fragrance sheets or liquid refills.

Air Wick Symphonia <br /> Plug in & CreateAir Wick Ribbons Scent CandleAir Wick Reed DiffuserAir Wick Crystal’Air

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

substitutes, how to disguise the little cheats in life

how do you disguise all the little cheats in life, the cake-and-eat-it products. supplementary naughties for the sweet tooth and guilty of consciences. The diet-hiders, the little pick-me-ups, the little sly backhander in daily diets

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

more on smart drugs form the independant

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/are-smart-drugs-really-that-clever-1791131.html


The effects of the drug are well-proven. In 2003, Cambridge University researchers found a single dose helped male university students perform in mental planning tests, accurately complete puzzles and remember long chains of digits; it has also been tested by the US and British forces to allow soldiers to complete all-night operations. Scientists believe Modafinil can give its user 48 hours of continuous wakefulness (though there are some side effects: headaches are the most common, though there are plenty of others). The most remarkable thing, however, is that its users don't have to pay back sleep "debt" – a standard eight hours is enough to compensate for no sleep on the previous night: could this mean a future of 22-hour days? Our bosses may hope so.

smart drugs

articles o the safety, effectiveness, and ethics surrounding smart drugs designed to improve attention, awakeness and alertness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/apr/06/students-drugs-modafinil-ritalin

"Modafinil is one of the new neuroenhancing "smart drugs" now being taken by growing numbers of students. It was originally developed for the treatment of narcolepsy, but is now used by students to combat fatigue. Another popular choice is Ritalin, originally designed as a treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Both increase levels of dopamine levels in the brain – and the alertness and wakefulness of those taking them.


So popular have these drugs become that last month Barbara Sahakian, professor of clinical neuropsychology at Cambridge University's psychiatry department, warned that their use has "enormous implications" and that universities must act on them – even mentioning dope testing as one possibility. But this is not happening. "What universities are doing about [them] is nothing," she says.
Students believe the drugs enable them to do more work. "I take them when I need to get through lectures and I have a terrible hangover," says Price.
At the other extreme, Lucy Makepeace, a postgraduate student at Cambridge, uses them less from a lack of diligence than an excess of it. Extremely hard working, she takes modafinil once or twice a week. "With study, work and sport I have a very full timetable," she says. "I want to do everything, but I don't want to do any of it at a mediocre level. Taking modafinil helps me to do it all."

"I don't think this is cheating. I read a nice analogy, which said that people with a bad memory are no different to people who have bad eyesight. You let people with bad eyesight have glasses; why not let people with a bad memory have these pills?"

More on the times:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article1780141.ece

limitless

it is said that we only use around 20% of our brains. The film limitless explores the idea of a pill enabling users to use the full capacity of their brains.
Would it work? what would happen? would your brain just melt?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12922451

maybe it's not so far fetched. the article above shows that people already take mind enhancing drugs. the type that are given to ADHD sufferers to improve concentration have become popular with students without the condition, as well as those in the military.

"Drugs like the one portrayed in the film do exist and they have been found to boost concentration and improve memory, hence the use of the term "smart drugs" to describe them.
Modafinil has been branded a smart drug because of its growing use among UK students to cope with the fatigue of exams.
Although it was originally designed to treat narcolepsy - extreme drowsiness and sleep disorders - its ability to increase levels of wakefulness and alertness has given it popularity among a number of groups.It has been used by the military to keep soldiers awake in times of combat and its use is thought to be on the rise among shift workers, such as nurses, doctors and pilots. Modafinil is also said to be popular among jet-lagged academics.

test post

test post for Alex Loudon's Pill Project, A Pinch of Salt