Your beauty brand strategy should include accessible packaging, and here’s why

For many consumers, packaging can be a struggle. The “unboxing” or unveiling. experience of the product can be ruined solely because it was hard to open or use. Not only is it irritating, but it can prevent some consumers – particularly those with physical needs – from utilizing the product as much as possible.

Consumers may face numerous issues with packaging. Packaging can be difficult, complicated, and time consuming to open (such as items sealed in plastic or products that are difficult to twist.) It can be unsustainable and not environmentally friendly. Non eco-friendly and excessive packaging is pretty complex to open and access. It can also be non-inclusive because the brand did not take the diverse nature of its audience into consideration.

There is a simple but powerful solution to this in the beauty world that will benefit your consumers and your brand: design accessible packaging.

What is accessible packaging?

Simply put, accessible packaging takes into account varying physical and sensory capabilities of users, and is inclusive of the unique needs of each consumer.

Accessible packaging and products should be easy to open, hold, and use. Opening the product should feel as exciting as unwrapping a present on Christmas Day and not a struggle. The design of both the product and its surrounding components should take into account the sensory needs and requirements of its consumer.

The Vamp Stamp was created out of necessity when celebrity makeup artist, Veronica Lorenz, was diagnosed with a benign spinal cord tumor. The life-saving surgeries to remove the expanding tumor caused Lorenz to lose feeling and strength in her hands, directly affecting her career as an esteemed makeup innovator in television and film. The Vamp Stamp creates create ‘makeup magic’ and instantly apply the perfect winged liner with the help of an easy to grip and use stamp. With accessibility in mind, it enables both abled people and people with limited physical mobility to create a smooth and symmetrical winged liner.

When makeup artist, Veronica Lorenz, was diagnosed with a benign spinal cord tumor for the second time, she invented the Vamp Stamp.
Image: IPSY

Grace Beauty created their brand on the basis of being disability-friendly and accessible for all. They manufacture add-ons to existing products, such as a cap that makes mascara easy to unscrew. This is particularly helpful for those with physical disabilities such as arthritis, which can make opening products a challenge.

It is estimated that 25% of people suffer from visual difficulty, accessible packaging can also easy to read and understand. It should be simple, clear, minimal, and aesthetically-pleasing to the eye. Having certain elements like tiny fonts, clashing colors, or strange visuals that aren’t relevant to your brand can become clutter and detract from key messages. This is vital to designing products for those who are visually impaired.

In partnership with World Sight Day, Herbal Essences committed to accessibility by designing its bottles to help visually impaired people identify between its shampoo and conditioner. Other brands, such as Soap Co – which sells a range of luxury handmade soaps, hand washes and hand lotions – has Braille on its items for visually impaired people.

Taking the design of your product and packaging into account is not just about catering to the unique needs of your audience. It’s also about taking into account the priority of protecting the environment. Accessible packaging design should be sustainable. Wasteful and excessive packaging is not only annoying to deal with, but it is inconveniently not eco-friendly. Sustainable packaging follows the ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ principle: it’s a smaller amount compared to standard packaging, it can be reused, and it’s easy to recycle. Sometimes, less is more.

Here’s why accessible packaging is essential to your beauty brand and brand marketing strategy

Accessible packaging is essential to your beauty brand and should undoubtedly be a part of your brand strategy. Everyone from a wide variety of groups benefits from accessible packaging, from young people, to those with disabilities, to the aging population. With accessible packaging, no one is left out, and everyone is catered and accounted for. Everybody benefits from this type of design.

Grace Beauty describes themselves as “a selection of beauty product add-ons designed to make products more accessible and a platform for you to share your beauty story.”
Image: @gracebeautyforall on Instagram

Accessible packaging allows for beauty products to be easily obtainable for those who have physical and cognitive disabilities. When packaging is easy to access, it reaches out to all groups of people, and it connects those with disabilities to their favourite brands and products. With households containing disabled people spending 68% more than non-disabled households and with disabled people possessing $1 billion spending power, accessible packaging is the perfect opportunity to convert sales, increase brand loyalty, and to tap into this growing market.

All in all, accessible packaging is the way forward. It should be an essential part of your beauty branding and beauty marketing so that you can ensure that you are reaching out to the whole audience, including those from undermined groups. Brands should always aim to create innovative beauty products that are visual, inclusive, and easy to integrate into the lives of all consumers.

Accessibility is the new beauty frontier that benefits everyone, so it is time to take advantage of it.

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MSLK was recently featured as a top New York branding company.