From Redesign to R&D: How Tomorrow Lab® Builds for Every Stage of Health Tech

A product design studio is often defined by its viral hits, the launch that sold out or the client whose valuation jumped afterward. Tomorrow Lab®'s health and wellness work makes a case for judging success more open-mindedly. Over more than a decade, the Brooklyn studio has taken on projects that ended in completely different places, and together they say more about what a valuable design partner actually does than any single success story could.

Let’s take a look at four projects, spanning the early 2010s through 2024, representing Tomorrow Lab’s range in innovation and partnership for health tech products: One pill supplement client came in already thriving and needed better packaging. One menstrual pad company came in as a mission-driven startup trying to reach real facilities. One medication adherence startup built something so far ahead of its market that the company was able to raise millions in a Series A investment round. And one cannabis tincture brand proved the studio could commit to engineering a fully working product for a client that even, in the end, never brought it to market.

OK Capsule: Redesigning for An Already Working-business

OK Capsule already had a working business when it brought Tomorrow Lab® on in 2023. The company lets supplement brands and holistic practitioners build personalized vitamin regimens that consumers can get filled on demand. It just needed packaging that matched how sophisticated and convenient the product had become. Using that existing sachet roll as the starting point, Tomorrow Lab built out the rest of a three part system:

1. The roll of custom filled sachets in low plastic and biodegradable options, already part of OK Capsule's product.
2. A recycled paper pulp cartridge, designed around that roll, that lets each pack pop out and tear cleanly.
3. A choice of sleeves, either recyclable cardboard or a refillable metal tin with a bamboo top that took dozens of prototypes to land on.

The team designed the whole system for compact bulk shipping and fast on site assembly so OK Capsule could move fast without adding warehouse complexity. OK Capsule has since grown into an AI native fulfillment platform serving health platforms and clinicians directly, and the packaging groundwork from that redesign is still part of how the company ships products today.

Aunt Flow: Building a Startup's Product to Survive the Real World

Aunt Flow approached Tomorrow Lab® from a different stage entirely. The company was founded on the effort to get menstrual products into schools and businesses for free, on the theory that toilet paper is provided as a given and tampons & pads should be too. In 2020 Aunt Flow needed a second generation wall mounted dispenser that could survive real institutional bathrooms. Tomorrow Lab handled the strategy, industrial design, and mechanical engineering, working through roller drums, bi-stable mechanisms, hook arms, and spring loaded doors before landing on a housing built exclusively for Aunt Flow's own products. The final design solved three problems at once. It resisted theft, let janitorial staff reload it quickly and with ease, and it included a timed reset meant to discourage people from taking more than they need. That dispenser helped Aunt Flow scale into the workplaces and campuses it serves now, still built around a model where every ten tampons sold funds a donation to someone who needs one.

AdhereTech: Building the Future Before the Market Caught Up

In the early 2010s, years before connected health devices were common, AdhereTech asked Tomorrow Lab® to build a pill bottle that could sense how many pills were left and remind patients to take them with gentle lights and sounds. The team engineered a patented capacitive sensor into the bottle itself, added a backlit gauge and edge glow so status was visible at a glance. They shaped the bottle to be easier for arthritic hands to grip and built a cap with a leaf lever switch that could detect when it opened and closed. The bottle connected to the internet using a first-of-its-kind integrated cellular module, requiring zero setup from the patient using the bottle while allowing reliable remote tracking of the pills being taken. Tomorrow Lab led the full build end to end, covering the industrial design, the electrical and mechanical engineering, the firmware, and the service design that mapped out prescription, delivery, adherence tracking, and returns. AdhereTech was genuinely the first of its kind. Their Series A raise in 2014 collected $3.8 million, building a business strong enough that would eventually be acquired in 2018. It stands as a clear example in Tomorrow Lab's health and wellness portfolio of engineering built to carry a company all the way to its next chapter, proof that being early on a hard problem can pay off.

Tync: Proving Capability Even Without a Launch

Although Tync never reached a store shelf, it is a project that shows what Tomorrow Lab® can do even when a launch never happens. A cannabis-focused startup wanted a better way to dose tincture oil onto the tongue than the pipettes most brands were using, ones that were imprecise and made people feel like they were handling medicine rather than a wellness product. Tomorrow Lab designed a pen-shaped dispenser with a twisting dial that locked in three exact doses, 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 milliliters, plus a button that released oil for sublingual or topical use and a swappable cartridge that stopped leaks between uses. The team built both a basic multi-setting version and a single-setting premium model and took the design through pilot production. As the client put it, users wanted the calming benefit of tincture throughout the day without the social stigma that still follows cannabis culture. The product was fully engineered, but never made it to market — at least not yet.

Range as a Measure of Excellence

A studio that only shows its wins is hiding the true reality and how design work actually happens, especially with products that support our health and wellbeing. Tomorrow Lab® specializes in a breadth of innovation categories. Its health and wellness portfolio, from a supplement brand's packaging to a device that helped define an entire category, argues that real skill, commitment, and innovation is required at every one of these stages.

Tomorrow Lab® develops products from concept to market, beyond health and wellness. From work spanning from consumer electronics, transportation, agriculture, infrastructure, to sustainability for clients ranging from early stage startups to high-tier established companies.