Sunday, 14 May 2017

OUGD602 - SB02 - Research




Although I had heard about nootropics before the DBA brief, I didn’t know enough to be able to market the product effectively. I researched the term “nootropic” on the internet both as a wider category and many of the chemicals that come under the umbrella term. It was important to understand fully the context of the brief before I even thought about applying it in a design context. In order to choose our products, we had to establish a solid target audience and know it in-depth. Upon investigation, most nootropics are commonly advertised towards young adults and professionals, when there has been evidence of nootropics being extremely helpful for old age.

The definition of Nootropic is as follows:

In order to be a nootropic, a substance must meet five criteria set by Dr. Corneliu E. Giurgea, the man who coined the term “nootropic.”  The substance must…
  1. Enhance memory and ability to learn.
  2. Help the brain function under disruptive conditions, such as hypoxia (low oxygen) and electroconvulsive shock.
  3. Protect the brain from chemical and physical assaults, such as anti-cholinergic drugs and barbiturates.
  4. Increase the efficacy of neuronal firing control mechanisms in cortical and sub-cortical regions of the brain.
  5. Possess few or no side effects and be virtually non-toxic.

With this information, we decided to market our product towards an older audience, in order for them to reduce loss of or even improve cognitive function. The three products that fit this target audience the most were _________________ because of ________________. As we were marketing the products as a form of “fix” or “cure”, it felt right that we called our range of products Panacea, meaning “cure-all”. The name traces back to ancient Greece, one of the forerunners for modern medicine in our time.

We then researched into what the best Route of Administration (ROA) would be. Due to the elderly population commonly having to take more pills and tablets than any other age group, we saw it fitting for our product to have an oral ROA, but in the form of a powder. This meant that our customers could use Panacea with their breakfast, in their morning hot drink or as a flavoured drink in the day, for example. It was imperative that both the administration and packaging of the product was as easy to navigate as possible as accessibility becomes more of an issue when designing for an older audience.

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