The New Face of Danish Pharmacies

Almost every city or town in Denmark has one. Now, its face is changing. Re-launching the visual design of pharmacies, the Danish Pharmacy Union sets out to redefine the position of Danish pharmacies. In one of the country's most ambitious and largest identity programmes, Kontrapunkt is helping the pharmacies realize their vision.

New challenges, new core idea

Due to increased competition from supermarkets and healthcare chain stores, the Danish Pharmacy Union wanted to establish the pharmacy as the Danes' preferred centre for professional health guidance and to be perceived in the public as the natural continuation of the National Health Service institutions.

Meeting the challenge, Kontrapunkt started out with a systematic research and strategy phase, including interviews about the role of pharmacies in people's lives. The core idea was to change the "pharmacy experience" from one of illness treatment to one of professional health guidance.

The identity programme

The new identity is built around the word Apotek. Starting from the brand name Apotek, a fully fledged identity programme covering all consumer touch points, including print, digital media and signage was developed.

Implementing the new identity was especially demanding because many of the buildings housing the pharmacies hold significant cultural heritage, which means that signs and decorations are heavily restricted. Kontrapunkt held extensive dialogues with each of the local pharmacies in order to balance their individual desires with the design.

Download the case description of the Apotek Identity Programme. (PDF, six pages, 448KB, in English only)

Danish pharmacies are...

Danish pharmacies are institutions with a unique position. They are not strictly considered commercial entities but rather - due to their long history - cultural institutions. Two thirds of the Danish pharmacies participate in the design programme - ensuring the necessary coherence. ///

April 2006