DEBORAH ADLER
These days Deborah Adler hardly needs an introduction—in or out of the design community. With the launch of her new prescription-bottle system for Target, she’s graced the pages of New York Magazine, been featured in a splashy Vanity Fair insert, and appeared on both NBC Nightly News and CBS Sunday Morning. It’s her time in the limelight, but more importantly, her big idea is changing real people’s lives for the better.

Adler’s interest in prescription bottles initially stemmed from a personal experience: Her grandmother got sick after confusing her husband’s medication with her own. It made the designer take a hard look at those little amber bottles and their overcrowded labels. Additional research showed that her grandmother wasn’t the only person making mistakes at home, and Adler decided to tackle the problem as a graduate-school project while studying at the School of Visual Arts.

Information architecture was a top concern. “I really wanted to make it so when you open the medicine cabinet, you instantly know what the drug is, who it’s for, and how you take it,” she says. The new system, which Adler worked with Target to refine, features a clear label that doesn’t require consumers to turn the bottle to read. There’s also a color-coding system that easily distinguishes prescriptions for different family members, and a sleeve on the back of the bottle for patient information—those critical facts that are often stapled to the bag and thrown away.

Target aptly named this groundbreaking approach ClearRx and rolled it out this past May. It’s garnered a good deal of attention, including a spot in an upcoming MoMA exhibit, and Adler herself has received praise from doctors, nurses, and even the U.S. Surgeon General—who put out a press release applauding her design. “I hope that it makes people feel more confident and secure when they’re taking their medication,” Adler says. “I hope it creates awareness throughout the country that people have to pay attention to what the consumer gets at the end of the day.”

Currently Adler is a senior designer for Milton Glaser, who was an advocate for her prescription-bottle project even before it had a home. She was in a cab with him on one of her first days of work when he told her: “I want to see this happen in my lifetime.” Adler feels fortunate to work in such a supportive environment, one where she learns something new everyday. Glaser challenges her to push the limits—something Adler already knows a bit about herself.

LEFT: Alers's CLEAR-RX system for Target has revolutionized prescription bottles. RIGHT: At Milton Glaser, she worked on JASMINE, an asian food court at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y. Enlarged photos of asian vegetables were used as a decorative motif.