Frustration free packaging

Packaging needs to be a doorway to the product, not an obstacle, regardless of users’ motor, sensory and cognitive skills. How can we combat package rage - the frustration caused by packaging -  and make the experience of buying and using a product accessible to everyone? This is how design can help. 

By Lorenzo Capitani | On PRINT #82

Italians spend 17 minutes every week trying to open boxes, packages, bubble wrap, bands and blister packs. This data was the result of a research project carried out by DS Smith, a British multinational specialised in sustainable packaging. It is even more significant if we consider that over 35.5% of Italians said that complicated packaging has caused them to stop purchasing from a certain brand, and 25% have said they don’t buy products online because of the difficulty in unboxing them. With the average purchase being 85 euros, this amounts to 2 billion euros in lost sales every year. In fact, packaging which is difficult to open doesn’t have only an economic impact, but also a social one: it is even more important if we consider those groups with physical difficulties or limitations for whom a simple box (not a complicated thermoformed bivalve PET pack) can be impossible to open, for whom a simple expiry date label can be illegible or, worse, invisible.

And yet there are rules on this: for example point 4 of the “Ethical Chart for Packaging”, introduced in May 2015, says that packaging must be accessible. This means it must be easy and intuitive to use, it must guarantee “a flexible use, for both right- and left-handed users” and must communicate “effectively to everyone, including the most vulnerable users and regardless of their physical abilities. [...] Sense of touch and sight, and their quality, actively contribute to the accessibility of packaging in all its components: graphics, the spatial organisation and layout of text make it legible and ensure the information is easily found. This enables the user to immediately interact with the product and use it”. Therefore the role of packaging is not only to protect, preserve and present a product, but also to be a doorway - and not an obstacle - to it.

Amazon was one of the first companies to take action against ‘package rage’, or packaging-induced frustration. This was not only for social reasons, but also for mere practical necessities: they wanted to optimise logistics, boxing, shipping and disposal costs. They went further than easy-opening boxes, and in the USA they require their suppliers to use ‘frustration free’ packaging. This kind of packaging is made of eco-friendly cardboard, uses little plastic, has few compartments. In short, the bare bones of packaging, without original packaging, and with immediate and guaranteed opening. Hasbro and Mattel are already using these solutions for some products, in Italy as well.
 
Everything within reach
Those with physical disabilities encounter obstacles not only in packaging, but during the entire buying experience. Physical stores are not always inclusive because of various factors, starting with shelves and how products are placed on them. Caterina Falleni, Design Lead for Accessibility at Facebook, defines disability as “a flawed interaction between the characteristics of a person’s body and those of the environment in which they live”. If we keep this in mind and look around, we’ll notice that shelves in supermarkets, bookshops, and stores are everything but inclusive.

As we know well, in-store product placement or shelf marketing is not accidental, but the result of a marketing and design process based on research and studies that cooperate to achieve specific buying behaviours. But what happens if, very simply, someone can’t reach a product on a certain shelf? If someone is limited to the products they can reach independently - and this is the case not only for wheelchair users, but also for the elderly, people who are shorter than average or overweight - marketing has failed. And yet there are simple solutions, as Domenico Monaco suggests in his blog dedicated to technology for people: if the most inclusive area of a shelf is the middle, there are at least four ways to display products in an accessible way - in columns, alternated, top-bottom and repetitive. Top-bottom is the most effective: products are accessible, recognizable, and occupy space efficiently. It is achieved by dividing each column in two areas, the higher and the lower one, which are both accessible in the middle part.

More inclusive design is a victory for everybody
Let’s go back to boxes sealed with too much tape, packaging closed with plastic bands, objects held in place by screws or metal wire, plastic film, jar lids, medicine bottles and the tabs of cans. What happens if, on top of not being able to use them, someone can’t see them? How can they measure out laundry detergent or tell apart shampoo and conditioner? These are the questions Procter&Gamble asked themselves, as Sumaira Latif, global head of Inclusive Design, who has herself a visual impairment caused by a rare genetic disease, tells us.

“Our Dash Pods simplified laundry for everybody. In particular, it is very easy for people with cognitive, visual or dexterity impairments to simply put a pod in the washing machine before they put in their clothes. Before our pods many people found it hard to precisely measure out detergent.” Latif continues, following the example of the French brand L’Occitane “we introduced two vertical lines for shampoo and two horizontal lines of dots for conditioner on our bottles of Herbal Essences Bio Renew. Herbal Essences and ClearBlue are integrated by the Be My Eyes app, which uses Amazon’s Alexa technology to enable visually impaired users to videocall us for advice on their hair and help reading pregnancy test results”. Furthermore, the brand’s website and Instagram account use Apple Voice Over so that users can listen to descriptions of images on the feed.

But there are also more traditional, simple solutions, as reported by Mordor Intelligence, specialised in market surveys, in “Cosmetics packaging market - growth, trends and predictions (2020-2025)”: we can use square packaging, as round packaging tends to roll away and can be difficult to find for users who are visually impaired, and we can use snap-on or magnetic lids, such as the one used for Chanel’s Rouge Allure Velvet lipstick.

Sounds in the dark
But P&G went further: in the UK all of their TV ads have audio descriptions, which enable blind and visually impaired users to better understand the ad. In July 2019, P&G announced their commitment to use their descriptive advertising in Italy in order to involve blind and visually impaired viewers. “The Gillette Shave like a bomber ad has already done this. - says Latif - Unfortunately, though, it can’t be broadcast because Italian broadcasters don’t have the appropriate technology to show it yet.”

Inclusivity for visually impaired users has already gone further than the use of Braille, the  tactile reading and writing system designed by the Frenchman Louis Braille in the first half of the XIX century. Accessible packaging for people who are visually impaired isn’t a trend yet, but is experiencing continuous growth. The number of companies working in this direction increases every year, reaching a niche, but significant market: there are 1.3 billion people with visual impairment in the world, 36 million of whom are blind. It is no coincidence that the video in which Molly Burke does her and her colleague James Charles’ make-up and in which she describes her life as a beauty-lover who can’t see what she wears, has over 13 million views.
Molly explains that she makes do with products that “accidentally” are easily recognisable. For example, she uses the Chocolate Bar set of 16 eyeshadows by Too Faced Cosmetics, of the Estée Lauder group. The set is made of cacao powders, so each shade has a different smell which makes it recognisable to people who are visually impaired. 
A brand that has successfully implemented Braille in their packaging is the French company L'Occitane. In the 90s, their founder Olivier Baussan noticed in one of their stores a blind client feeling the bottles in order to recognise them. They started using braille on their packaging in 1997.  Today about 70% of L’Occitane products has braille labeling, but technical limits are still stopping full implementation. For example, braille can’t be used on smaller products like soap bars and small tubes because of technical problems. Research and implementations have cost the company an extra 25%, “but it is so important we’re happy to spend that”, says a L’Occitane Foundation spokesperson. 

Labels, beyond braille
Another company who have chosen to use braille in their packaging are RPC M&H Plastics, who are specialised in the production of high quality plastic containers and have developed a way of using braille directly on the packaging. Printing directly onto the packaging has huge advantages compared to labels, which can be damaged or removed easily. This printing technique uses a specific varnish to stamp the dots, and a system to measure the distance between them. The latter guarantees that the elevation of the signs is uniform, which is essential for the user to read correctly.
Over time, the world of packaging has become particularly conscious in regards to braille. Legislative decree n. 149 of 26.07.2005 says that the packaging for pharmaceutical, phytotherapeutic and homeopathic products must include the commercial name in braille; since 2007 this extends to the expiry date and dosage. Producers have adapted, but the problems arise with products where information, such as expiry dates, are printed directly on bottles, containers, cases and boxes, which are often difficult to read even for sighted consumers. Braille labels often aren’t viable because their application or other processes can flatten the dots.

To solve this problem, the British food-tech startup Mimica has developed labels which deteriorate past the expiry date: in this way people who are visually impaired can tell by simply touching the packaging if it’s time to throw out the product. The label is made of a specific gelatine and functions as a tactile warning: if it’s solid and smooth the food is still edible; if it’s soft and uneven it’s gone off.
More traditionally, the oil and wine sectors have found a solution which brings together braille and QR codes. The former is used for the mandatory informations, the ones the oil producer has to give to the consumer by law. The latter is used to redirect to an audio file that can be downloaded smartphones and has been called “narrating label”. The new label was introduced by CREA (the council for research in agriculture and agricultural economics), who collaborated with the Cosenza UICI, the Italian union of blind and visually impaired people. The technology was provided by SISSpre, specialised in technological solutions for traceability, and the oil is produced by Di Tucci.
There are many more wine producers who use braille labels. La Cura winery in Massa Marittima, for example, has a special selection of Cabernet Sauvignon with a braille back label and a QR code with audio information. “I was having dinner with a group of people who are blind and I realised I had to do something for them” explains Enrico Corsi, owner. “By spending 5 cents more on each label we enable everyone to read our wine labels”.
No QR code, but braille labels for the bubbles produced by Durin, a historical wine producer in Ortovero, in Liguria. Among others, Castrum Morisci in the Marche and Ca’ del Principe di Santo Stefano Belbo, in the heart of the Langhe, do the same. The first experience, though, was in 2010 and was carried out in Veneto by Italo Cescon Storia and Vini di Roncadelle in Ormelle. Among the label producers, we must mention Etik90, based in Piacenza and specialised in labels with screen-printing relief with braille varnishing. We must also note that often label producers use the term ‘braille relief’ to describe the relief effect achieved with varnishes or embossing.

High contrast graphics
But inclusive packaging doesn’t only mean braille, QR codes and easy opening. High contrast graphics are enough to meet the demands of everyone who is dyslexic, for example. It is estimated that there are more than 700 million children and adults who are dyslexic in the world, which is something in between 10 and 20% of the world population. This is what makes the range of Vision 20/20 packaging interesting. These products juxtapose high contrast colours, specifically black and yellow. Simple graphic design and images make them easy to find on a shelf. The text on the front of the product uses a large and clear font, which makes it easy to read.
Dyslexia is caused by our brain’s tendency to swap, rotate or mirror letter. Experts believe it is because our brain sees letters not a simple bi-dimensional objects, but as three-dimensional, easy to manipulate ones. It’s what happens with the letter ‘b’ and ‘d’, and ‘p’ and ‘q’. On the basis of these observations, in 2008 designer Christian Boer, who has dyslexia, created a font which reduces difficulties in reading.
«Traditionally there are rules in font design –  Boer explains – that say it’s preferable to make letters as uniform as possible, so the arch of the letter ‘n’ is the same as the arch of an ‘h’. This is why Dyslexie, the font I designed, is highly asymmetric. Instead of keeping letters the same size, some have longer lines than others, so similar letters such as ‘v’, ‘w’ and ‘y’ have different heights once they’ve been typed”. While widely used serif fonts, such as Times New Roman, are often difficult to read for people with dyslexia, Boer discovered that the problem can be solved with a few changes. For example, the right vertical line in the letter ‘u’ of Dyslexie is longer and thinner than the one in the letter ‘n’. 
Boer’s font isn’t the only one for people with dyslexia. Natascha Frensch, graphic designer from the Royal College of Art, produced in 2003 Read Regular, and the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) recommends using Arial, Comic Sans or Century Gothic. But Boer’s font exaggerates asymmetry much more than these other fonts, in order to make them easier to read. Several studies have proven this font is effective. Dyslexie is so successful that, since it was made available in 2011, it’s been downloaded more than 300,000 times, mainly by private users, but also by schools, universities and companies. 
Graphic arts have also found a solution to the problem of the integration of aesthetic and functional aspects of braille, which usually requires a dedicated space. The Japanese designer Kosuke Takahashi has developed Braille Neue, a universal font which combines the braille systems and traditional types, and is therefore readable by both sighted and blind people at the same time. There are two versions of Braille Neue: Braille Neue Standard, designed for the English alphabet, and Braille Neue Outline, designed to work for both the Japanese and the English alphabets. A significant effort, considered the differences between the two.