Are brands missing the opportunity of less-able consumers? – Consumer Trends

As the Winter Paralympics concluded in Beijing last week, we once again applauded the bravery and skill of athletes with visual impairments, limb differences and more besides, throwing themselves down mountainsides on skis and snowboards. The Paralympics is a brilliant awareness driver for the non-disabled, bringing the myriad ways that a person can be disabled into the spotlight, and showcasing just how much talent and skill these athletes have. As these impressive feats of sporting prowess fade from memory, however, the disabled community once again becomes virtually invisible. Society is often not set up to aid this significant section of the world’s population in their day-to-day lives. An estimated 1bn people, or 15%, have a disability. Employment rates, meanwhile, can be low - a 2004 survey in the US found that only 35% of working-age people with a disability were employed, in comparison to 78% of those without a disability. However, the awareness of the barriers that this significant proportion of the population face is increasing. It takes leaders in multiple fields to shine a light on the issues, and to find solutions, and some of these obstacles are now being tackled. Talking to Alex Kratena and Monica Berg about the design of leading Hoxton bar Tayer + Elementary, the duo discussed ways that they tried to make the bar more inclusive. Considerations include offering some tables at wheelchair height and adding shelves in toilets so that those with a stoma have somewhere to put a colostomy bag while changing them. With such luminaries as Kratena and Berg starting to talk about these issues, hopefully, we'll start to see more accessible design in venues. One of the areas of life that appears to be garnering an increasing amount of attention in recent years is packaging and accessible design, otherwise known as adaptive packaging. There are different barriers for different disabilities – a person with a visual impairment may have two hands to open something, but might have difficulty locating an item; while an amputee could struggle with opening a jar. The team behind Tapuchips – the Israeli name for chip/crisp brand Lays/Walker’s - started looking at creating an easy-to-open crisp bag after the company was contacted by Equals in Market, an organisation created to help maximise independence in the consumer market for people with disabilities. When a focus group respondent told them of their inability to open a bag of crisps, this sparked off an inspiring chain of events that resulted in Tapuchips’ design team changing the package so that the top of the bag has one single, deeper notch, rather than the usual serrated edge. This allows the majority of those disabled users who usually struggle to get a strong enough grip on a packet to be able to tear the new pack open with one smooth movement. Consumer testing revealed that 70% of a disabled focus group were now able to open it - an increase of 30% on the original pack. They were also able to do so faster. “People with disabilities are not really disabled," says Dana Yichye Shwachman, product design lead at Holon Institute of Technology, which collaborated on the project. "We as a society create their disabilities by not providing them with an accessible environment. “Integrated design is about designing for a unique group, people with a specific disability, but not just to make a product suitable only for them but one that will suit the mainstream audience.” The beauty industry is also working on adaptive packaging, with Unilever working on a version of its Degree deodorant with adaptive packaging. This includes a hook for storage, magnetic cap for easy opening and closing, and braille labels. Announced last March, the pack is still getting feedback from users ahead of a formal launch. As well as the use of braille on packaging, other innovations are being utilised for consumers with visual impairments. Kellogg’s has added a NaviLens code to its boxes to aid with locating them on shelves. Consumers scan their environment using a smartphone, with the codes able to be picked up from three metres away. Spoken information about the product is also available, including lists of ingredients. While clearly well-intentioned, time will tell as to whether these designs will truly be brought to market, or whether they're a virtue-signalling PR move. To see an adaptive product that has been successfully brought to mass market, we turn to gaming. In 2018, XBox made waves with the launch of its 'Adaptive Controller', designed for people with limited mobility. With numerous accessories and customisable controls, it has been designed for users to create their own custom controller. The packaging that it comes in is easy to open, too. What does this mean for your drinks brand? Have you stopped to consider whether your brand is ‘creating disability’ by not being truly accessible with regards to its packaging? Incorporating NaviLens codes on drinks packaging, for example, could be a simple and easy win for both brands and consumers - after all, 40m people in the world are blind, with another 250m having some form of visual impairment. Plenty of aids have been designed to help people open bottles and cans, but lots of consumers with a disability would appreciate a brand that has truly considered the barriers they face in using its product, and worked to remove them. Have you taken your product to a focus group of disabled people and discovered how easy it is for them to use? If not, now might be the time to start.