Excellence in Patient Education and Support

Summary of work

Patients with macular degeneration spend long periods of time waiting in hospitals for challenging treatments such as injections into the eye with nothing to distract them but out-of-date coffee table magazines. But when you have a visual impairment, you can’t read such material, making these magazines not only useless to you, but a reminder of your condition and where you are.

The objective was to help Bayer change this by providing patients with something useful, not only helping them to pass the time while they waited, but learn more about their condition, awareness and monitoring of their disease and hear about others in similar situations.

Langland’s response was to subvert this most traditional of mediums to make it work for the people who needed it most. The result was SmartRead, the first large-print magazine to marry design and functionality in a way that brings content, information and reassurance to an elderly, vulnerable and often lonely audience struggling to cope with a challenging condition. In a world where patient support often means a poorly designed leaflet, SmartRead is much more than just a big magazine, it’s an education and support platform for people adapting to a difficult change in life.

Judges' comments

Bayer and Langland’s project is based on real insight into patient needs, this was a wonderfully executed product, with great attention to detail shown.