Context

France is the leading country in Europe in terms of medication consumption, with 40% of consumers aged 60 or older. While it is well known that medical drugs must be handled with care, patients often only have their prescription and drug information leaflet when it is time to take medication. Over 70% of the people undergoing medical treatment do not know the names and recommendations for their drugs. 37% of the undesirable events related to taking drugs could potentially be avoided, including the most severe. 7% to 12% of hospital emergency room visits have to do with drug-related problems, such as overdose, side effects, and other errors. Pictograms are one way to attract people’s attention effectively to the dangers associated with medication, and the benefits derived from better understanding and therapeutic compliance. Still, it is essential for pictograms to be well understood by all users.

Benefits

This project provides a solution to a Public Health challenge by helping people to better understand information related to drugs, notably for populations considered as “sensitive”, such as elderly people, handicapped people, poorly educated people, immigrants, and more. The scientific protocol implemented to design these pictograms is based entirely on users, from design to approval. The pictograms thus help to significantly increase people’s understanding of prescriptions and improve compliance with treatment by limiting the risks of improper medication use.

Applications

In the health sector: presented on pill dispensers, medicine bottles, applications to assist therapeutic compliance, these scientifically-designed pictograms will significantly improve people's understanding, satisfaction, adherence to drug treatment, and therapeutic compliance. In addition, by collecting mental images, the Psymages project offers a scientific protocol that enables new pictograms to be designed for many business activities other than health. The project’s scientific protocol makes it possible to create pictograms that are understood by a majority of the population in numerous sectors, from agri-food to safety, industry, and beyond. The know-how seeks to establish itself as the reference standard for visual information design.