Care Cards
Problem
Improving and maintaining your health can be a drag.
Solution
Care Cards put you in touch with habits to improve your health, life, and well-being. Our sometimes surprising, always practical axioms nudge you toward the healthiest life possible. This deck of cards will transform the way you think about yourself and what it means to be healthy.
Results
An estimated 7,000 Care Cards decks are in homes, clinics, and classes around the country. Cards have been used in presentations by Susannah Fox (while CTO of HHS), Eric Topol (of Scripps), Claudia Williams (former White House Office of Technology + former Director at HHS of HEIs), and many more.
- Nancy Shute, NPR.org: If A Picture's Worth 1,000 Words, Could It Help You Floss?
- Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare: Health Axioms: Turning Advice into Lifestyle -
Time: 1 designer, part time, across 2 years Tags: Patient Engagement, Open Source
Invo relentlessly refined concepts and found a way to meet all of our goals. Working with Invo has been a pleasure.
Roni Zeiger, MD
former Chief Health Strategist at Google, co-founder of Smart Patients
The Genesis of Care Cards
Our Chief Creative Officer, Juhan Sonin, was trying to live healthier. While he discovered an abundance of tips and resources on the Internet, they were far-flung and temporal. While his doctor offered sage advice that also proved impermanent after the doctor’s visit and within the pace of everyday life. He needed something to take healthful tips and inject them in a more lasting way.
Care Cards gives you habits to improve your health and well-being, literally changing your life. There are 54 cards in our deck. On the front of each is a beautiful illustration reminding you of a specific, healthful axiom. On the back are essential insights and tips that help you bring the axiom into your everyday life.
Sketching new axiom concepts before creating digital illustrations.
The Philosophy
We are part of a global movement to shift the healthcare system to:
- Use non-invasive, personal diagnostics
- Train more highly specialized clinicians that work closely with patients
- Enable self-monitoring, self-empowered patients
Realizing these ideals is equal parts smart technology, healthcare reform, and everyday common sense. Living the Care Cards focuses on the common sense part, taking easy-to-understand and realistic-to-implement practices that can become part of our lives in a sustainable way. The outcome directly impacts our health, is smarter for our lives, and is even better for our pocketbooks.
It all starts with awareness. That’s where the Care Cards come in.
Released to little fanfare, the Care Cards quickly took off and enjoyed viral success. Featured in media outlets like National Public Radio and talked about by healthcare thought leaders, Care Cards are in use at a variety of hospital settings including clinics in San Mateo, California; New York City, New York; and Boston, Massachusetts. Along with requests for other form factors like a digital app and large, wall-sized installations, the Care Cards in their current papyrus form are enjoyed by healthcare organizations, clinicians, patients, and just everyday people around the world.
People are thirsty for health advice. They read, search online, and wonder: Am I doing OK? Am I doing the right things for my health? What if, when someone asks the universe (read: the internet), for health advice, they got back a quick tip, backed by evidence?
Susannah Fox
Digital Health Strategist
The Design
Easy-to-use, to take, to share.
Possible Care Cards installations inside clinics.
Similar to a standard deck of cards, Care Cards fit into your pocket —and your life.
