Designing Long-Term Care Facilities
COVID-19’s impact on LTC Facilities
Even months into the COVID-19 pandemic, without proper documentation and tracking of national data on COVID-19 cases, it’s hard to get a comprehensive view of who, where, and how citizens are currently being affected. In one of the unfinished first passes of reporting to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), deaths caused by Covid-19 within Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities are reported to account for somewhere between 30-40% deaths in the US. As told by the former head of the CDC on CNN on March 8th, “One thing stands out as the virus spreads throughout the United States: nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are ground zero”. For those who are familiar with the LTC system in the US, no one is surprised by why so much of the Covid-19’s death count appears to occur in these spaces. It is not just a matter of who is compromised by age; it is a systemic issue that many experts saw coming years ago.
The hopeful prospect of this pandemic is that it shows us where our limitations are. As the numbers grow and we continue to fight through this pandemic, it will prompt us to take a long, hard look at how we treat our aging population in need of assisted living services. The Medicare and Medicaid system does not cover the cost of most if any of the skilled labor and facilities needed for assisted living or long-term care. Many seniors of the middle class are forced to impoverish themselves to simply qualify for Medicaid alone and this says nothing of out of pocket expenses that are incurred from paying for services as older adults. We are living in an aging nation and the number of older adults over 65 projected to increase from 15.2% to 23.4% by 2060. This rising demographic does not receive its primary care from hospitals or physicians. Rather, they rely on the work of nurses, personal support workers, home care, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities.
“While the aging of America’s population has been foreseen for decades, little has been done to prepare the health and long-term-care workforce for it’s arrival.” – National Academy of Medicine
Systematically speaking, America does not care for older adults and that is laid bare in facilities of care that are understaffed, undertrained, and undersupplied; all of which are exacerbated by the pandemic. This also feeds into the expansion of privatization in LTC facilities in the US which further widens the disparity between wealthy and poor older adults whose care is now jeopardized by their ability to pay.
With the government making emergency stop-gap solutions for the lack of staffing, supplies, and general support in such facilities, it raises the question of what will happen after COVID-19. When we have time to bounce back, what will we have learned from this pandemic and what can we do differently? With any hope, it means we will see an honest effort made to put more funding into the care of older adults and more creative ideas put into action for what we can do to improve the design of LTC facilities.
Redesigning long term care
Residents in LTC facilities are currently feeling more trapped than ever. As self-isolation has become a mandatory requirement among the residents of these facilities, their routine has been stripped down to daily meals left at their door and minimal interactions with staff and other residents. While there are clear physical risks for older adults venturing outside their rooms, there are also psychological repercussions to being confined to small spaces. Depression and loneliness were issues among older adults long before COVID-19 and are only made worse in our present position. Amidst the pandemic, our team took to coming up with some ideas that, we hope, will be implemented into the design of future LTC facilities.
How can we bring back meaningful in-person connections while still practicing proper social distancing?
Re-Designing LTC Floor Plans
Reorganizing LTC floor plans to cluster resident rooms into smaller pods and have their doors facing each other means that residents can still maintain daily in-person interactions with each other even through the confines of their rooms. Residents would be able to stay within a reasonable distance of each other while still being able to interact with one another in the pod-like layout of the floor, rather than having floor plans with straight and narrow halls with successive rooms one after the other.
Safer Doorway Interactions
We will not always be in a state of pandemic, but it will be important to prepare for those situations. Interactions have become more limited to the space surrounding resident doorways. How can we improve upon that space for interaction and make it a more lasting and enjoyable space for interaction? Introducing Dutch doors will help encourage more interaction from the confines of their rooms, but still offer a physical barrier that helps residents keep a safe distance towards others. Including additions like a folding table can help transform the space into a more enjoyable place for sustained periods of time. For times of more heightened safety precautions, a protective screen can be added to help safeguard other residents and workers while still helping encourage interaction.
Purposeful Wandering
Video chats have become a vital part of how we interact now and are critical for those living in LTC facilities. We should find ways of encouraging movement with these virtual visits to add a more physical element to them. This type of activity is typically conducted while sitting in place and it would be an interesting idea if we could flesh out this experience to be more dynamic for those involved. This would help encourage physical activity and help with the simulation of in-person interactions with loved ones. Using the familiar design of an IV drip stand, we can repurpose this to carry tablet displays while users can travel and walk alongside their virtual visitors with assisted stability. We can also design a tablet mounting system that attaches to an assistive walker, so users are able to use their walkers during a virtual visit. While this has implications for possible points of distraction and injury if users are not careful, with the right safety measures, this could have the potential to provide a new dimension to physical activity, virtual interactions, and personal independence for older adults that can perform these activities on their own.
The design and improvement of LTC facilities is not a new proposition, but we are currently living in a time of radical change and it offers the opportunity to look at the problem in new ways. Ageism is an issue in the US and so is the undervaluing of aging services. Policy development and lack of funding reflects our cultural attitudes. There is nothing glamorous about well-designed, pandemic-resistant nursing homes and there is no political or social price to pay for pushing long-term care down the priority list, but with the number of fatalities climbing among older adults we can’t ignore these issues. As designers we have the responsibility as innovators to make the distinction between what is exciting and what is important to talk about, because there is room for innovation in both. There is not enough media attention in the design sphere for LTC facilities to pull focus into these less glamorous subjects. We have the power as designers to help draw attention and bring excitement to these kinds of subjects if we would take the time. So I offer the question: What could Covid-19 mean for LTC facilities?
- How can we learn from the weaknesses we have seen over the past months?
- What is missing and can be improved?
- How do we look at these issues as opportunities for innovation?
- How can we help older adults be more active, social, provide necessary, or be more independent, without the spread of disease?
COVID-19: Perspective in a Pandemic
Product design comes from the unleashing of creative thinking based on an immediate need. It comes from within but is very much influenced by everything we see, hear, touch and experience. It has been this way since the beginning of time really.
As I sit here writing this, I have a torn ACL, torn MCL, and a fractured tibia. The damage was done over a month ago and there is no option for medical treatment at all. It’s not a medical emergency and in the larger scheme of things with what is happening locally and around the world, it is now seemingly insignificant. Before this COVID-19 outbreak, it would have been a different story and garnered much more attention.
The point is, as humans we focus our energy and effort on the biggest challenge or threat that we face at any given time. In the world of product design, it’s no different. When all is well in the world, we focus on creating products with new innovative features and functionality. Better, stronger, faster….more is better! We create brands with stories and beautiful elaborate packaging that offers a great “unboxing experience” for the consumer. For decades we have been spoiled. We live life in an effort to improve our surroundings and make a better world for our children. In the process, however, we seem to have focussed so much on ourselves. Me, me, me. Bigger homes, nicer cars with fancy new technology and features. More color options, more channels, on-demand. More frequent travel to explore all ends of the earth while still maintaining all the creature comforts we have come to enjoy as spoiled humans. Yep, we have slowly gotten so accustomed to “on-demand” products and services that we have slowly lost touch with the fundamentals of life. In an effort to make life easier and allow us to have more conveniences and more free time, we have actually created a world where we have less time. We are always connected with technology and are burdened with “things”. Rather than freeing ourselves in body and mind to truly live, we have essentially become prisoners of our own making. As a product designer, I can’t help but think about this.
It usually takes a very substantial event to hit home with us and make us re-evaluate life and what it’s really all about. For some, it’s a close call with an illness, maybe the death of a loved one or the loss of a limb. Perhaps a natural disaster. For society as a whole, it can be a world war or a pandemic. Something big….. really big. Bigger than all of us. Something that makes us all change our fundamental thinking and how we approach or lives each day.
Our studio is relatively small. Small enough that we were able to react and respond quickly to the pandemic. We made some quick changes and for over a week now, we have all been working independently off-site in our homes, away from the design studio. It does come with some challenges in communication, but nothing that we cannot adapt to. We had a video conference call as a group on Monday morning to touch base and review the many projects on our plates. It was exciting to see the faces of the team that I have missed seeing in the studio during this time of self-isolation. Yet another reminder that it’s not just about the projects or the products we design. Behind those products is a team of real people. People who see, hear, feel and experience life with friends and loved ones.
In a post-COVID-19 era, I have no doubt that our approach to product design will be modified.
Our thinking will most certainly have more of a global outlook that asks critical questions about the validity of what we are designing. We will be more experienced, more understanding and perhaps more humble in our views. There have been some very eye-opening moments over these past few weeks. Moments where we can all do some self-reflection and look at ways to truly focus on how we can all contribute to a better world, whether through product design or any other endeavour. Going forward, those efforts will surely have more purpose and meaning.
After the dust has settled from the COVID-19 pandemic, the world will be changed. It will surely be a different place with new challenges and renewed focus. I am a firm believer in the notion that through overcoming challenges and difficulty, we gain valuable insight and experience. The type of insight that leads to the creation of more meaningful products. Products that are designed with purpose and meaning. I am personally looking forward to the next chapter and am ready to take it on with renewed energy and an open mind.
What is tooling?
What is tooling?
To put it simply, tooling is the backbone of the physical production of a product. Much like how you could not make muffins without a muffin tin, many consumer products need their own version of a “muffin tin” in order to be mass-produced. For many, this is the non-glamourous side of production but without it, products simply do not exist. The term “tooling” refers to any number of implements required to produce a product.
Injection Mold
This is one of the most common forms of tooling. Most commonly, this will be a block of steel or alloy that is precision machined as a negative of the part being produced. In it’s simplest form, it is a two part core & cavity the closes up with hydraulic pressure. A hopper filled with plastic pellets is melted and injected into the cavity under high pressure to take the shape of the part being produced within the mold. Once cooled, the two halves of the mold are separated and the plastic part is ejected from the mold. There is always some post-processing that takes place to remove any bits of plastic from the injection point but essentially, once it is out of the mold, the part is ready for assembly or post-processing which can include painting, chrome plating, or printing with additional elements like a company logo etc. This is how pen caps, food storage containers and your key FOB are produced.
Blow Mold
This is another common form of tooling and one that is simpler in construction than an injection mold because it only requires a cavity and no core. This type of tool is also precision machined from a block of steel or alloy to create a negative of the part being produced. In production, The two halves of the blow mold cavity come together to pinch a curtain of melting plastic, trapping it within mold. A small injector (essentially a needle) also trapped between the two halves, blasts air into the middle of the curtain of melting plastic, sending it outward against the walls of the mold to take the shape of the final product. Once cool, the mold opens up and the part is ejected with a hollow inside. This is how pop bottles, water jugs and oil bottles are produced.
Rotational Mold (Roto Mold)
This is somewhat similar to a blow mold in construction but the process is quite different. With this type of tool, the two cavities come together with a pre-measured quantity of plastic pellets inside the mold. The mold is then heated while being rotated on multiple axis until the plastic with the mold melts and coats the inside of the mold. The process or “cycle time” is much longer than blow molding but it is well suited to producing very large parts and parts that require a thicker wall. This is how some kayaks are made as well as large water holding tanks, children’s playground sets etc.
In its most basic sense, a tool is simply a working or manufacturing aid that is required to make a product or part. They can include dies, gauges, molds, jigs, and cutting equipment. While tools can be used for general purposes (cutting equipment and screwdrivers) in the case of most of our clients, when manufacturers are referring to tooling, it’s generally in a highly specialized sense – as one of the molds mentioned above.
Shape Products wins Red Dot: Product Design award for TAP
Toronto – Shape Products Inc. has won a Red Dot award: Product Design 2019 for its work with TAP – wearable keyboard and mouse. TAP receives an Honourable Mention, which the renowned jury awards for particularly well-executed aspects of design work.
TAP partnered with Shape Products to design a new wearable keyboard and mouse that is multifunctional and intuitive. The final product is a game-changing wearable technology that turns any surface into a touch keyboard. This wearable technology with its ergonomic design is comfortable and straightforward to use. The design language for TAP embodies extensive research in materials to achieve a form function that is not only comfortable to wear but has a high level of input accuracy. The light-weight and minimal design makes it ideal for VR/AR applications, as well as for the visually-impaired audience.
On winning an honourable mention in the prestigious Red Dot Product Design category, Shape Products Inc.’s Founder and President – Ron Tsang, said, “We are ecstatic to receive such a world-renowned award. This recognition of our extensive work in TAP’s design and production of the final product is a fitting testament to Red Dot’s high standards. I would also like to congratulate our designers at Shape and partners at TAP for this remarkable achievement.”
“Shape Products understood our design challenge and was able to deliver a product design that complements the complex technology within TAP. A product design that is not only appealing, durable and comfortable to use but is also futuristic in its vision.” said Ran Poliakine, Co-founder, TAP.
The Red Dot Award: Product Design is one of the world’s largest design competitions. In 2019, designers and manufacturers from 55 countries entered more than 5,500 products in the competition. The international jury has been convening for more than 60 years to select the year’s best designs and comprises experienced experts from different disciplines. True to the motto “In search of good design and innovation”, their assessment focuses on criteria such as the level of innovation, functionality, formal quality, longevity and ergonomics.
On 8 July 2019, Shape Products will celebrate its success during the award ceremony in Essen’s Aalto-Theater as part of the Red Dot Gala. At the subsequent Designers’ Night party, the Honourable Mention laureates will receive their certificates and TAP will join the exhibition “Design on Stage” in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen, which presents all of the award-winning products. From that date, TAP will also be on show in the Red Dot Design Yearbook, online and in the Red Dot Design App.
About the Red Dot Design Award
In order to appraise the wide scope of design in a professional manner, the Red Dot Design Award is broken down into the three distinct disciplines: The Red Dot Award: Product Design, Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design and Red Dot Award: Design Concept. With more than 18,000 submissions, the Red Dot Award is one of the largest design competitions in the world. In 1955, a jury convened for the first time to assess the best designs of the day. The name and brand of the award were developed in the 1990s by Red Dot CEO, Professor Dr. Peter Zec. Since then, the sought-after Red Dot is the revered international seal of outstanding design quality. The winners are presented in yearbooks, museums and online.
Further information: www.red-dot.org.
10 Tips for Innovative Packaging Design
10 Key Tips for Innovative Packaging Design
So, you have your game-changing product all dialed-in and ready to sell, now what? Just throw it in a craft box and you’re good to go right? Well, not exactly. Before calling it a day, maybe it’s best to step back and ask yourself a few critical questions first. Let’s take a look at a few key factors that will contribute to the effectiveness of your packaging:
Physical protection
Is your product going to be sold exclusively online? If it is, your packaging may be simpler and cheaper but you will need to protect from abuse during warehousing, shipping & handling. Variables like temperature, time, and other environmental influences like dust, mold, insects, microorganisms, and UV light can damage certain packaging materials. It’s best to make the right decisions on the use of materials from the get-go to avoid any potential issues further down the road. Now that you have a second mortgage on your house to finance your dream product, it’s important to proceed with care and confidence, while so much of your money is invested into your product before you have even sold your first unit. Thinking of your packaging as a protective shell for your product is a good approach and only the first of many factors to consider.
Drop testing
Physically surrounding and protecting your product is only a part of what packaging should do. What about drop testing? This is the packaging design equivalent to an automotive crash test. Your package will need to survive a fall from a predetermined height and your precious product inside will also need to survive without physical damage. If your product is a food item, you should consider the shelf life measured against the estimated time your product will be in transit, and in warehousing/distribution before it gets to your customer. All those environmental factors mentioned earlier like temperature and time duration will surely have a huge impact. Ultimately, your packaging solution needs to act as a protective outer shell from manufacturing, through shipping & transport, and all the way down the line to the retail environment and into the hands of the consumer and that cashier with butterfingers.
Sustainability
Have you thought about the sustainability component of your product? Can you even produce a cost-effective packaging solution while looking out for Mother Earth? In a perfect world, we all want to be better stewards of the earth and do our part to reduce any negative impact, but how? You don’t want to be responsible for creating more waste or be the one responsible for entangling sea turtles in plastic debris. In some instances, you do have options for using recycled packaging materials or at least a percentage of it along with environmentally safe printing dies and materials for any additional product protection while in the box.
The harsh truth is that sometimes, things are not as environmentally friendly as we might think, particularly if a certain production process has a high scrap rate or increased cycle time associated with it. Some of these processing methods could mean using more energy during production. That can’t be good for the earth either, can it? Is your finished packaging solution easy for consumers to break down and recycle? Is every material clearly labeled to help with this process, or will it simply get trashed out of confusion or frustration and end up floating in the pacific ocean? Wow…so much to think about, right?
Tamper & Theft proofing
You will also need to consider how to make your package tamper-resistant to reduce potential theft. Yes, it’s a problem and it’s often ignored by many. Is your packaging solution so small and efficient in the use of materials that it is now also very vulnerable to theft? Perhaps your product requires a visual indicator to show consumers that your product is safe to use/consume and tamper-free. Many food items or medications have safeguards in place to protect products from tampering and to raise consumer confidence & safety.
Not only can some products be removed far too easily from the package itself, but some entire packages can be easily stolen if not carefully designed to safeguard against it. Often a package for a very small item needs more visual presence or bulk intentionally designed into the packaging solution just to reduce or illuminate the possibility of being stolen.
In addition to the exterior packaging, your product might require additional plastic wrapping, a plastic hang tag or a blister pack or a plastic vacuum-formed tray, wire fasteners/tie-downs to help secure your product or protect it.
Accessories
Will your product be all alone in that beautiful package? What about any additional elements that need to be considered? Extra parts, accessories, cables, power adaptors, batteries, mounting hardware/fasteners swag, or anything else that needs to be accommodated alongside your product? Many additional items require additional special tooling or forming that adds additional cost and also has a potential environmental impact. If these items need to be food grade, your options will be limited in terms of material choices and may be regulated depending on what you need to include in the box.
Copy & Translation
Have you considered what kind of written literature needs to be included to help consumers with your product? How about an instruction booklet, warranty card, or additional legal copy? All that copy will need to be written and illustrations & icons created, not to mention any certification labels required and it doesn’t stop there. Just when you thought you had so much packaging real estate to work with, you may need to have all of your copy translated and written in other languages too depending on where you are intending to sell your product. Sure, it’s becoming a global market but there are still many differences within various parts of the world. On top of cultural and language challenges, If you want to maximize your product’s potential, you’d best pay attention to the details affecting all the specific regional nuances.
Retail requirements
Not all bricks and mortar stores are alike and in fact, they all have different practices when it comes to displaying and merchandising your product. Will your package hang on a hook or will it stand on its own on a shelf? Perhaps it will be sold on a pallet in a club store or get stacked? Any concerns with weight? Will it be in a PDQ with its own header card and infographics? Many retailers have specific requirements that need to be followed so it’s best to find out what limitations you may be up against before you get too deep into it. You may only have a limited amount of shelf space to work with so the package size will most certainly be a factor. You’ll want to maximize your shelf presence to make a bigger, bolder impact and connect with your intended consumer.
Cost vs Perceived value
A common objective is often to create the cheapest possible package to help reduce cost but wait, not so fast. Besides theft being a potential issue, think about your product from the eyes of a consumer for a minute. Does your packaging solution accurately match your brand essence and project a high perceived value? Will adding 30 cents to the overall packaging cost help to elevate that perceived value and translate to more sales? If the answer is yes, then it’s a no-brainer. Give your product the best chance to succeed. Conversely, if your product is intended to be a low cost, high volume consumable item, don’t create a package that makes it seem unapproachable or unaffordable. Either way, the packaging should match the brand and clearly communicate your message.
Unboxing experience
Don’t forget about the unboxing experience as a consumer initially opens your package and reveals your product for the first time. Keep in mind that this is the very first chance you have to make a positive impression. If the unboxing experience is not a positive one, your product already has a tarnish on it regardless of how great it might be. Its best to make the experience pleasurable but don’t make it complicated with unnecessary obstacles or barriers. This is not foreplay, let’s get to the good stuff already…your product!
Prototyping
One of the best methods of ensuring that your product experience is a good one is to prototype your complete packaging solution so that you can put it through its paces. You may even need to do more than one round too because there are so many variables and considerations involved. Make sure you have some real-world, hands-on experience with all aspects of your packaging solution before you finalize it and pull the trigger on production. The more time you spend upfront addressing potential issues, the less likely you are to encounter that “oops” moment further down the road when you have retail commitments to adhere to.
We haven’t even touched on the graphics & printing requirements of the package yet…that is an entirely different subject with a new set of considerations. These include your branding, product story, and all the good stuff that helps consumers to make an emotional connection with your product. Be sure to address the top 10 considerations affecting the physical structure of your packaging before you even start with your graphics.
Make sure you have an experienced, competent, and knowledgeable team working for you to help you achieve your goals. That second mortgage and extended line of credit are real. Make sure you give yourself the best chance to succeed and get that great product of yours flying off the shelves!
Have more questions about packaging design? Head over to our Packaging Design page to learn more.