57 Adaptive packaging

Adaptive packaging

Beauty packaging is being accessibly redesigned for a wider range of users.

The beauty and wellness industries are rebranding to better accommodate users with disabilities or limited mobility, making their product packing more accessible.

Procter & Gamble unveiled an easy-open lid on several Olay Regenerist moisturizers in November 2021, to assist consumers who had previously found its products hard to access. The container lid now features winged sides and a raised top, textured for better grip, labels with higher color contrast for ease of reading, and braille text that reads “face cream.” Olay has shared the design with the wider beauty industry, encouraging others to adapt the concept and improve their own accessibility efforts across products.

Unilever designed the world's first adaptive deodorant package in March 2021. The Degree deodorant brand collaborated with people with disabilities to develop a genuinely accessible product concept. The design, which can be used one-handed, includes a hook for storage, a magnetic cap for easy replacement and braille labels. Christina Mallon, global head of inclusive design

and digital accessibility at Wunderman Thompson, spearheaded the design concept. She tells Wunderman Thompson Intelligence: “Every consumer will experience disability at multiple times in their lives but most product designs don’t consider the needs of the disabled consumer.”

Also in March 2021, bath and body care brand Cleanlogic rebranded its packaging to include braille across its entire product offering. A portion of all Cleanlogic sales revenue is donated to organizations supporting the visually impaired, including the American Foundation for the Blind.

Why it’s interesting “Brands must think about adaptive packaging in order to be truly customercentric,” Mallon says. Consumers are requesting more accessible packaging across the beauty industry, and brands are consulting consumers and rethinking product packaging to better serve users with disabilities.

Brands are rethinking product packaging to better serve users with disabilities.