Museum evening

Karel van der Waarde; Visual information about medicines for patients: designing for Don Quixote?

Series of lecture On Information Design
20 April 2010 at 7 p.m.
Architecture Museum of Ljubljana, Fužine Castle

Situation: Information about medicines
It is very hard to handle medicines properly without visual information. Leaflets, packaging, websites and pharmacist-labels provide patients with a plethora of texts and images that aim to inform about dosage, correct way of taking, side effects, warnings and storage. Unfortunately, this visual information does not seem to result in ‘effective instructions and warnings’ and frequently leads to confusion and anxiety. Medical errors, persistently increasing costs of medicines, and ineffective use are seen as unavoidable and part of this system.

Issue: Four questionable assumptions
The main practical task is to convince patients to take medicines appropriately and effectively. This is problematic. The reason might be that some of the assumptions that underlie the legal framework for the development of visual information for patients are incorrect. The first assumption is that patients are helped by standardization and by strictly prescribing the information that is required. The second assumption is that patients are not the main influential factor when information about medicines is considered. The third assumption is that ‘medicines’ and ‘information’ must be regulated by governmental authorities in the same manner. The fourth assumption underestimates the ability of patients to recognize and interpret information about medicines. These four assumptions lead to a view that it is only necessary to ‘protect patients’ against ‘incorrect and incomplete’ information. The result is a profusion of guidelines and regulations about visual information.

Consequences: we are solving the wrong problems
The current development process of information about medicines diverts from the tried and tested processes of developing appropriate arguments that could convince patients. There are discrepancies in the selection of the contents, the structure of the argument, and the style in which the argument is presented. The result is that the interpretation of visual information about medicines is unnecessarily difficult.

Approach: Developing alternative prototypes
An analysis shows that the four assumptions about ‘effective communication’ related to information about medicines are malignant. These assumptions hamper the development of appropriate visual arguments that might support patients to handle medicines appropriately. Fighting these ‘windmills’ requires substantial efforts without benefitting patients.

The development of alternative genres that could provide patients with reliable and understandable information about medicines is essential. Novel prototypes that show what clear and understandable information really looks like are urgently required.


Karel van der Waarde studied graphic design at the Academy for Industrial Design in Eindhoven (the Netherlands) in 1986 and obtained his Masters degree in Information Design at Leicester Polytechnic (UK). He received his doctorate from the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, University of Reading (UK) in 1994 for his thesis titled: ŒAn investigation into the suitability of the graphic presentation of patient package inserts.
In 1995, he started a design - research consultancy in Belgium specializing in developing and testing visual information. The company develops package leaflets, instructions, forms, protocols, and the information architecture for websites. The main focus is on information about medicines for patients, prescribing doctors and pharmacists on paper and screen and to supply 'people with information that enables them to act appropriately'. This requires observational studies, prototyping and testing as well as lobbying and publishing evidence based information.
Karel van der Waarde frequently publishes and lectures about visual information. He is moderator of the InfoDesign and InfoDesign-Café discussion lists. The Avans Hogeschool (Breda, The Netherlands) has appointed him as a scholar in Visual Rhetoric in 2006. It is a research post to investigate the development and use of visual communication with a longer term aim to support the relations between practice, research and education.
Van der Waarde is a life-Fellow of the Communications Research Institute (Australia), a board member of International Institute for Informational Design (IIID, Austria) and editorial board member of the Information Design Journal and Visible Language. He writes, edits and reviews articles, and contributes regularly to conferences and publications.