Packaging
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Physical Product Design
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Product Strategy
Company
Date
Hats Worn
Impact
Overview
iRhythm’s flagship product, the Zio Monitor, was only available in the US and UK. The business aimed to expand farther internationally, starting with four new European countries: the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland.
iRhythm wanted to expand the presence of the Zio monitor to additional European markets (green).
Problem
Expanding to these foreign markets presented a number of challenges:
Multi-Market Adaptation: The countries had different regulatory, linguistic, and design requirements, making it difficult to create a single, consistent packaging solution.
Logistics and Efficiency: To streamline production and reduce costs, we aimed to minimize SKU numbers and unique parts, despite each market’s unique needs.
Language Constraints: Designing in English, I had to consider how content would fit and translate into multiple languages
Designing for Packaging: Switching from digital to physical product design, I had to leverage my problem-solving skills in a new medium, adapting to new tools, limited packaging space, and stricter processes.
My Role
I was the product design lead, driving the strategy and design for the new packaging components. Some of my responsibilities were:
Collaborating with large cross-functional team-members from product management, labeling, legal, manufacturing, research, and engineering.
Brainstorming the packaging strategy to meet requirements
Creating designs for the different components
Managing three other designers assisting with the project
Outcome
Using the designs I led, iRhythm successfully expanded their Zio monitor service to the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, and Switzerland in August 2024.
The expansion announcement. View the full article here.
Process
Defining the Packaging Strategy
I led discussions with cross-functional partners to understand the logistical constraints and brainstorm potential packaging configurations.
Important considerations were:
Languages: Would there be multi-language components? How many languages could fit without making the booklets too big?
Size: How would the different components fit in the packaging? How would they be manufactured and assembled?
SKU numbers: Business desire to limit the SKU numbers
Design New Instructions for Use Booklet
The Instructions for Use (IFU) was a new component that needed to be included in the international packaging. Balancing the need to fit multiple languages with the limited amount of real estate in the box, I explored various form factors the IFU could take, from a newspaper-like foldout, to a traditional booklet (including a study of how different dimensions would affect the page count and thickness).
Update Symptom Log
I updated the design of the existing US Symptom Log based on new requirements for the international launch.
Working with Other Languages
I initially designed everything in English. and had to approximate how the content would expand when translated into the other languages. In certain places, the translated content would exceeded the allotted space and required design modifications.
The Switzerland designs were especially challenging because we were required to have information in German, French, and Italian.
After some rounds of iteration, I designed a layout that fit all three languages onto the cover, albeit in an information-dense manner.
However for the inner pages, it wasn't feasible to fit all three languages onto the same page. I opted instead to split the languages into separate chapters. This approach was used for the Swiss IFU as well.
The Swiss symptom log table of contents shows the different language chapters
Final Mockups
Below are screenshots showing the final designs for the different packaging components.
Note: These are only the English components. I also created versions in German, Spanish, Dutch, and multi-language (German/French/Italian).
Takeaways
Problem solving knows no bounds – Even though this was my first time taking on a packaging project, my design and problem-solving skills translated smoothly. Regardless of the medium, platform, or program being used, experience and a willingness to learn will lead you to success
Working in multiple languages requires a strict process - This was the company product launch that involved non-English languages. Because this was the first time for everyone, there were inefficiencies across the board when it came to design, content, and regulatory. Defining a clear process would have eased the burden greatly.
Be ready to adapt - When it’s everyone’s first time taking on a new challenge, inefficiencies and mistakes will occur. It’s not always about avoiding them entirely, but being able to adapt when they happen and learn for the future.
Set your team up for success - At certain points, additional designers joined the project to assist with deadlines. I took on a lead role and built a system of delegating and briefing the upcoming work with the team, which proved to be effective.
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