Requests Bluelight drug icons project - community input wanted!

Hello everyone!

EDIT 4th May 2023: So, we are at the point of having the final 20 ideas with some left over for round 2 later (so if you come up with more ideas, please add to the comments and we will incorporate into next round). First off, I will be advising designers of the actual types of images we want to have depicted in the first instance. Once that process is complete, I'll offer prototypes to you all to check out and critique, so we can make them look as excellent as we can, as well as have them accurately depicting each thing based from your first-hand experiences. So, stay tuned everyone and thanks again. :)

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As part of our rebranding project, we are going to create a set of drug-related icons. We would then use these in our branding across the site and our other communities, alongside a new logo.
The logo will represent dialogue whereas the multiple icons will represent the many varied drug topics that we discuss.
While the logo will no longer contain the capsule, rest assured that one of the drug icons will be a capsule - the capsule will live on! But this way, the wide diversity of drug types and topics will be displayed - to show the diversity and variety of Bluelight's scope.

We'd love to get all our community's input into this process.
First we need to decide on 20 different icons - and what they will depict. (Note, I reckon we will have more than 20 good ideas, and we can save those that don't make the first 20 for another round of icons, perhaps in 2024).
Once we've decided on the 20 icons we want to create, our branding agency will create a set of prototypes and provide them back to us for comment.
We can then comment on how to improve them, and then settle on the final set of icons.

Then, the plan is to make the icon set available via creative commons licence for anyone to use, with attribute to Bluelight.org. We hope this will be a neat way of spreading the word about Bluelight to anyone who creates digital content related to drugs that might benefit from using the icons for their own projects, and their audiences.

So, how can you help?

Here's a basic list with some definites as well as some holes we will need to fill.
Broadly I have imagined we would have icons covering drug forms, drug routes of admin, harm reduction and recovery. But this is just an idea, open to critique. we could also change the ratio between the four categories of course. I also haven't covered any legal drugs, e.g. alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes in this set... might not be space for these? but open to ideas on that too if folks think they should be included.
Please comment below with your ideas and I'll update the list and hopefully we will then get to a final 20 concepts before going to create the icons!

1. [form] Capsule (generic)
2. [form] Illicit tablet (e.g. 'ecstasy' pill)
3. [form] Ziplock bag of powder (generic, could be cocaine, heroin, speed, etc)
4. [form] Cannabis leaf
5. [form] LSD blotter
6. [form] Pharma pills (e.g. looks like generic medicine, rather than illicit tablet - something like a xanax bar?)
extra icon ideas - other pharm pills - for round 2)
7. [form] nitrous cannisters
8. [form] mushrooms
9. [route of admin] syringe and injecting equipment
10. [roa] snorting lines of powder
11. [roa] glass pipe e.g. for meth/crack
12. [roa] bong / water pipe
13. [roa] vape
Additional ideas for next time - [roa] plugging (note, extra roas - edible & sublingual)
14. [hr technique] reagent test kit
15. [hr technique] wheel filter
16. [hr technique] naloxone
17. [hr technique] scales
18. [recovery related] support - two people embracing
19. [recovery related] a person waking up to a sunrise
20. [recovery related] sobriety chip

Please do be critical. We want these to represent things people actually do in 2023. Some of these might not be relevant to you or your networks - if so it would be good to get that critique and perhaps information about alternatives we can depict that do resonate with your experiences. It's fine if we end up with a list of 30-40, as we can use the leftover ideas for round 2 :)

Note: the image chosen here is a selection of drug icons made by Alpár-Etele Méder (https://www.iconfinder.com/search?designer=pocike&q=drug) available through a creative commons license.
 
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Thanks for this - any chance you can explain further? I'm not familiar with what CII and CIV actually means. Always keen to learn :)
I guess it’s a bad example because it’s the logo they put on narcotics drugs according to how badly the American DEA has classed them. We have many non us member as they would not recognize it

CI are the worst (schedule 1). This is heroin lsd an lsd weed defined as zero medical value and high potential for abuse

CII are high potential for abuse but medical value such as meth and oxycodone.

CIII is bupe

CIV is less hard drugs like benzos
 
I guess it’s a bad example because it’s the logo they put on narcotics drugs according to how badly the American DEA has classed them. We have many non us member as they would not recognize it

CI are the worst (schedule 1). This is heroin lsd an lsd weed defined as zero medical value and high potential for abuse

CII are high potential for abuse but medical value such as meth and oxycodone.

CIII is bupe

CIV is less hard drugs like benzos
Got it thanks. Aware of the schedules in the US, not aware of the CI-IV way of notating them til now :)
 
These are some great suggestions. Perhaps it would be good to also add one for fentanyl test strips? Considering how important and easy this test method is I think it deserves a spot.

I made this reagent testing how to GIF. In case you need any inspiration. Feel free to use it.

Also, I'm a HUGE fan of The Noun Project. You can upload icon sets and distribute with creative commons license there. Definitely worth doing imho.
 
These are some great suggestions. Perhaps it would be good to also add one for fentanyl test strips? Considering how important and easy this test method is I think it deserves a spot.

I made this reagent testing how to GIF. In case you need any inspiration. Feel free to use it.

Also, I'm a HUGE fan of The Noun Project. You can upload icon sets and distribute with creative commons license there. Definitely worth doing imho.
Hey cyrilio

I must be channeling your energy as we just swapped out on of them for fentanyl strips.

I'll check out the how to gif.

And cool, I hadn't seen the noun project. Sounds like a great way to make it more accessible. Will return to it once icons complete!
 
Smiley shaking and holding “I need drugs!” sign – when bad WD hits and you have need to share it with the world

Smiley jumping up and down holding “I need drugs!” sign – when good party could hit in and you have need to share it with the world

Smiley flashing neon colors and holding “I need drugs!” sign – when you’re high but would like to get higher and have need to share it with the world
 
Hey cyrilio

I must be channeling your energy as we just swapped out on of them for fentanyl strips.

I'll check out the how to gif.

And cool, I hadn't seen the noun project. Sounds like a great way to make it more accessible. Will return to it once icons complete!
My very first post 😺

The most addictive (legal and available) form of Fentanyl is the lozenge, brand name Actiq. It's in the form of a lollipop with a distinctly shaped stick. You rub it on your gums and under your tongue, until it dissolves. It hits with a powerful blast of pain relief and mellow very quickly. It's made for end stage cancer pain, but is used sometimes for other types of very severe pain - I used it for a few years for trigeminal neuralgia, was then able to get other meds working better, and went down to a less powerful pain med. Honestly, she probably overmedicated me (this is just one example), and I'm on considerably fewer pain meds now. I really did love the Actiq, though.

I actually do have a point. How about an icon in the shape of an Actiq pop? Anyone who has used or seen one will know what it is right away.
 
My very first post 😺

The most addictive (legal and available) form of Fentanyl is the lozenge, brand name Actiq. It's in the form of a lollipop with a distinctly shaped stick. You rub it on your gums and under your tongue, until it dissolves. It hits with a powerful blast of pain relief and mellow very quickly. It's made for end stage cancer pain, but is used sometimes for other types of very severe pain - I used it for a few years for trigeminal neuralgia, was then able to get other meds working better, and went down to a less powerful pain med. Honestly, she probably overmedicated me (this is just one example), and I'm on considerably fewer pain meds now. I really did love the Actiq, though.

I actually do have a point. How about an icon in the shape of an Actiq pop? Anyone who has used or seen one will know what it is right away.
Wow, your first post. Welcome!

This is such a good idea. Would you be able to link to an image of the Actiq pop so we get that right? I think this should be in the list for round 2, given we already have 20 icons for round 1.
 
What a fantastic project! Just a couple thoughts from my side.

For Buprenorphine/Suboxone, I think it would be easily identifiable if we used a single, round, orange pill.
Psilanaut got me thinking how to go about depicting opioid agonist therapy (for example, with methadone and buprenorphine) as it's commonly discussed here.

Thanks. It's tricky as we won't necessarily have the exact drug type but rather the form. Although maybe we can design a generic but easily identifiable version of a couple of common pharma drugs, as mentioned above with Xanax bars and by yourself with Bupe.
It is really tricky because each therapy is available in several formulations and delivery systems that differ between and within countries. For example, with buprenorphine there are several formulations of available: a monobuprenorphine formulation and buprenorphine–naloxone formulations, administered sublingually, and, more recently, extended-release depot formulations. I'm not sure how we'd best capture these routes of administration (especially subcutaneous injections and implants, e.g. long-acting injectable depot buprenorphine)? I don't have any suggestions - and my icon-design skills aren't really up to scratch - but just thought I'd throw this out there as something to discuss.

Drug types would also be tricky, as a round orange pill might be identifiable to some in a particular context, but not others. For example, some in Australia might identify a buprenorphine-suboxone film (and/or a 2mg or 8mg sublingual tablet), however, Bluelight members from countries where the film is not available wouldn't (for example, South Africa).

I think it would be really difficult to cater for every persons' context and sense of familiarity of icons across the different categories. Anyway, just some food for thought and discussion. Look forward to seeing this project grow!
 
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Thanks @Imaginarium
Perhaps for round 2, we could have an icon for - say - methadone or buprenorphine -which includes how it is presented in different parts of the world. Shows the global nature of Bluelight!
 
Bupe icon is orange reckitt bankaheiser 8mg pill that is “lit up” and placed where the red light would be on a vertical three light traffic light, so instead of a red light lit up it would be a reddish orange to be true to what the pill looks like

Methadone could be handcuffs that appear to be made of red dripping liquid, or it could be a hand holding a little cup of red liquid that also has a handcuff on the wrist

For the ecstasy pill, I vote for white lightning bolts or for a Pac-Man, or a Mitsubishi pressed pill
 
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