In Johnson & Johnson’s health and healing products, great design can look like a variety of things. If we just examine the BAND-AID category in particular, there are a couple of great designs that Johnson & Johnson has come up with over the years. One great design idea was to make BAND-AID’s waterproof. It is not ideal to have a cut that you try to cover with a bandage, only for the bandage to get wet when you are washing you hands and fall off. This aspect allows users to carry on with their everyday lives, even after they have suffered a minor injury.
Another great aspect that BAND-AID implemented was creating visually pleasing bandages for children. There are bandages that are colorful and neon as well as ones with various cartoon characters on them. I remember when I was little, I would pretend to have a cut or scratch just so my mom would put a Scooby-Do bandage on me. This design aspect reaches out to the younger audience and encourages them to take care of any wounds they may receive. If children had to put on the regular old brown bandages, they probably wouldn’t do so without a fight first. However, these cute ones are much more appealing to them, making them more desirable and less of a hassle to get a child to wear in the first place.
Some of the design principles that BAND-AID does a good job of addressing are: simplicity, ease, and portability. BAND-AIDS are very simple to apply and I’m sure most everyone has done so in their lifetime. They make the bandages very easy to remove from their packaging and line them so you don’t have to touch the adhesive part onto any part of you skin other than what surrounds the wound. If you are like me, you probably have a hard time getting the sticky piece of tape off of your fingers without touching it too much and diminishing the stickiness of the tape. BAND-AID has fixed that issue by using two pieces that adhere to the sticky part of the bandage in opposite directions, making it easy to peel off and put right onto the correct area. They are also extremely portable – whether you have a first-aid kit in your purse/car or just want to carry a single bandage in your pocket – they fit anywhere easily. Overall, Johnson & Johnson’s BAND-AID has done a great job adapting to the needs of its customers.