The Commonality Differentiation Index Using Prominence of Visual Information for Medication Package Family Planning

Consumable products such as medications rely on the package or label to represent the contents. Package confusion has been widely recognized as a major problem for both over-the-counter and pharmacy-dispensed medications with potentially lethal consequences. It is critical to identify a medication as a member of a product family and differentiate its contributing elements based on visual features on the package or label. Indices that indicate degrees of commonality and differentiation of features for platforms have been shown to benefit development of engineered product families. It is possible to take a similar approach for visual features in packaging such as typography, shape/form, imagery and color. This paper establishes a commonality/differentiation index for prominence of visual features on over-the-counter and pharmacy-dispensed medications based on size and location of features. It provides a quantitative measure to assist package designers in evaluating alternatives to satisfy strategic goals and improve safety. The index is demonstrated with several medications that have been identified by the Institute for Safe Medication Practice as commonly confused.