Based on an exercise outlined in the book "Thinkertoys"There are a myriad number of items we use in our everyday life, and rarely do we think deeply upon them. They have their purpose, and it is often so simple that there is no reason we might think to expand upon it. When I actually consider it, though (and this is informed by me having just barely gotten through my morning routine this morning), the first item I'd want to have-at in the redesign department would be the average bottle of medicine nowadays.
Allow me to list the features of a generic bottle of prescription pills, for the uninformed:
1. Cylindrical
2. Translucent, tinted plastic
3. Ridged cap (for easy gripping)
4. "Child-proof", meaning that the cap has to be coaxed off in a very specific way
5. Paper label that wraps around the bottle, listing various ingredients and warnings
6. Must be opened manually, intended to be opened without the use of tools
7. Used to dispense pills to cure a variety of ailments
8. Incredibly expensive without health insurance
Now, I don't think that everything on the list needs a major overhaul (and indeed, I won't even go into the last item, since that branches off into a lengthy and fruitless discussion of the state of our nation and other drab and worrisome things).
I will however examine each in turn and give what thoughts I may on the subject.
1. Having used older rectangular designs for pill bottles, I will say that cylindrical is infinitely more comfortable in the hand. However, I think the body of the bottle could benefit from a more grippable surface, as the slippery plastic has caused many an expensive pill to be dashed forlornly upon the floor.
2. Nothing major to report here, I enjoy being able to tell at a glance when I need to run out to the pharmacy and restock my medication. I would say from a design standpoint there are more palatable colors than the neon orange that a lot of bottles seem to be colored; a light blue would evoke a more medicinal feel and put one less in mind of toxic materials.
3 and 4. Oh how I loathe thee, child-proof cap. You are the bane of my existence as I stumble into the kitchen each morning, fumble with you for an embarrassingly lengthy interlude, and nearly send the contents of the bottle cascading everywhere when the cap suddenly and violently pops off.
... from a marginally more divorced perspective, I would posit the following about the current crop of child-proof caps: not only are they miserably ineffective, but they are also consistently a barrier to those poor childless individuals that simply want to take their pill and get on with their day.
Any parent truly concerned about their offspring getting into their various potentially lethal and/or embarrassing medications will have taken additional security measures. Any tyke resourceful enough to mountaineer their way up to a high-up cabinet and unlock it, for example, would not be stymied by a cap you need to press down on before you turn it.
A sleepy college student, however, is going to be unduly frustrated by the need to apply just the right amount of force while tilting the bottle at exactly the right angle and turning the bottle with a cupped palm instead of fingers-- as the ridged easy-grip cap is entirely a red herring-- possibly while mumbling eldritch charms and prayers to their deity of choice.
In short, I should think it more useful to have an entirely different type of cap; perhaps a snap-open one that's integrated into the bottle and can't be lost. As far as child-proofing goes, it'd take a good deal of prototyping, but I think a cap designed to only admit one pill at a time would actually be more useful. In addition to preventing spills, the child having access to one pill at an outset is going to pop it in their mouth, wretch at the chalky taste, and go crying to their mother without having run the risk of swallowing ten pills at once.
5. If the bottles are redesigned to be a bit more grippable, the labels will have to be more streamlined, but that's entirely an organizational concern.
6. Well this is fine, no one is so lazy that they need to push a button and have their bottle electronically open itself; and those that are elderly or have other special needs will have special medicine dispensaries.
7. Redesigned a pill bottle so that it no longer dispensed pills would be a bit of a contradiction in terms; though I touched on a better delivery system above, already.
8. I've already rambled enough, no need to go into a discussion of governmental health care policies. On a simple level, I don't think you could really redesign the bottles materials-wise to be much cheaper; perhaps screen-printing the information from the labels onto the plastic bottle would be a bit 'greener'.
Well! Now all I need to do is make a proof-of-concept render and wait for the investors to start pouring in.
Closing thoughts on this exercise:
I can honestly say I have never thought this much about a random household object before, and I'm astonished at how long I managed to ramble about it. Perhaps my great work that will be remembered for generations to come with be an ode to the unassuming spork.
A short note about my creative environment:
I composed this while sitting at my desk in my dorm room. I wrote it over the course of a few hours, though, taking a break to eat or otherwise recenter myself when I hit a dead end, so a couple of environmental factors changed a bit over time. The lighting was consistently natural sunlight filtering in through closed blinds, plus the light of my computer monitors and my roommate's. My roommate was initially in the room quite loudly talking with a friend of his online while playing a computer game; after he left I put on some nice atmospheric music and my productivity increased appreciably.
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