Ethics & Design

So it's been a while since you, my lovely readers, have seen any of my studio projects. Truth be told, we're focusing largely on ideas, concepts, and research at this point during my time abroad. We've been working hard at defining our own briefs and conducting our own research this semester. It's been a mental challenge to say the least, but I've found it really thrilling and refreshing to have such an open approach to my design projects so far.

Anyway, in my multidisciplinary design studio, I was grouped with not only interior design students, but also industrial and communications design students for our first project. This project, based on a link between our personal ethics and our views of what business ethics should be, focused on the idea of simply being honest. Through a bit more exploration of this topic, we found that pharmaceutical brands were perhaps some of the most infamous brands when it comes to hiding the truth (or at least making it difficult to understand). We asked why most individuals don’t know the facts even when they are given the fine print and found that the fine print can be tiny, there may be too much text, or they cannot clearly understand the terminology used. Then, we looked at pamphlets that birth control companies provide, websites with the facts listed, their commercials, and other tactics that they use to hide or skew the negatives of their product. For the purpose of this project, we focused on the birth control brand Yaz, using it as an example of how pharmaceutical companies should literally and figuratively redesign the fine print while spreading knowledge about the product.

For our final deliverables, we rebranded Yaz by redesigning the fine print through pamphlets, interactive panels and the physical packaging of the product. We then emphasized the idea of honesty within the brand by designing a safe and inviting space within women's bathrooms that persuades the consumer to start having an open conversation about birth control pills. 

Here are some of the slides from our presentation:

Logo redesign inspired by the harmony between information and knowledge created by Kaitlin Juchniewicz.

Surface pattern design inspired by redesigned logo (created by Dana Marcogliese) and interior bathroom rendering done by me.

Second interior bathroom & knowledge sharing space rendering.

Fine print pamphlet redesign created by Kaitlin Juchniewicz and Daniella Franco.

Package redesign featuring daily fact display created by Daniella Franco.