Accessible Packaging Design: How to Make Packaging Usable for Everyone

Accessibility in packaging is not a niche concern. Approximately 2.2 billion people globally have some form of vision impairment. In the UK alone, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) estimates that over 2 million people are living with significant sight loss. The ageing population in most high-income markets means that the proportion of consumers who struggle with small type, low-contrast labels, difficult-to-open closures, and packaging that provides no tactile information is growing year on year.

Beyond vision, packaging presents barriers related to fine motor control (dexterity-affecting conditions like arthritis affect approximately 10 million people in the UK), cognitive load (complex instructions or dense information on small packaging can be difficult for people with cognitive disabilities), and strength (closures that require high grip force exclude people with reduced hand strength).

Accessible packaging design removes these barriers. And the evidence is consistent: design changes made to improve accessibility for people with disabilities routinely improve the experience for all users. Larger type is easier for everyone to read. Tactile differentiation helps in low-light and hurried contexts. Easy-open closures reduce frustration for all ages.

Vision and Legibility

Type Size and Contrast

The most common barrier to accessible packaging is type that is too small and insufficiently contrasted against its background.

The regulatory minimums discussed elsewhere in this series (4.5pt in the US, 1.2mm x-height in the EU/UK) represent the legal floor, not the accessibility standard. The RNIB's guidance for accessible print recommends a minimum of 12pt for general body text that is intended to be readable by people with low vision. This is significantly larger than most packaging currently uses for regulatory text.

The practical accessibility standards for packaging type:

• Minimum 12pt for any text that a consumer needs to read and act on (dosage instructions, safety warnings, allergen declarations)
• Minimum 9pt for regulatory text (ingredient lists, nutrition facts) where the 12pt minimum is genuinely not achievable within the available space
• Never below 6pt for any text, including fine print
• Contrast ratio minimum 4.5:1 for body text (the WCAG AA standard, adapted for print). This means black text on a white background (21:1 contrast) or dark text on a light background — not light grey on white, not pale yellow on cream

The Colour Blind Awareness organisation estimates that approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of females have some form of colour vision deficiency. Designs that rely on colour alone to convey information (a red cap meaning "do not take with alcohol" without any additional text indicator) are inaccessible to colour-blind users. All information conveyed by colour should also be conveyed by shape, pattern, or text.

Braille on Packaging

In the EU, the Falsified Medicines Directive (Directive 2011/62/EU) requires that the brand name and strength of all licensed medicinal products appear in Braille on the packaging. This requirement applies to all medicines sold in the EU — not just those intended for visually impaired users.

In the UK, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has equivalent requirements for licensed medicines under UK pharmaceutical regulation.

For food, cosmetics, and other consumer goods, Braille is not legally required in most markets — but it is increasingly adopted by brands as a voluntary accessibility commitment.

How Braille works on packaging: Braille can be applied to folding carton packaging by hot embossing (pressing Braille dots into the board surface using a metal die) or by UV varnish application (printing raised dots using a thick-build UV varnish). Hot embossed Braille is more durable and more tactilely distinct; UV varnish Braille is lower cost and can be incorporated into the standard finishing process.

Braille must meet the dimensional standards in BS EN ISO 17351:2013 (European standard for Braille on packaging for medicinal products) to be legible by Braille readers. The dot height, dome shape, inter-dot spacing, and inter-cell spacing are all specified. Non-standard Braille that doesn't meet these dimensions may be unreadable or misread.

Tactile Differentiation

For people with significant vision impairment, tactile differentiation between packaging types — different products in the same range, or a product with a critical safety distinction — is essential. In the pharmaceutical sector, the triangle tactile warning indicator (a raised equilateral triangle with a point-down orientation) indicates an over-the-counter medicine. This standard is defined in BS EN ISO 11683 and is used across EU pharmaceutical packaging.

For consumer goods, tactile differentiation between product variants can be achieved through:

• Different embossed patterns on the label or carton surface for different variants
• Different tactile indicators on the cap or closure for different products
• Different surface textures on the primary container

Dexterity and Ease of Opening

The Challenge of Child-Resistant Closures

Child-resistant (CR) closures present a fundamental accessibility tension: they are designed to be difficult to open (to protect children), but this same difficulty excludes many adults with arthritis, reduced hand strength, or limited fine motor control.

The CR testing protocol (16 CFR 1700.20) requires that 90% of adults aged 50–70 can open the closure within five minutes — a relatively low bar. Many closures that pass this test are still genuinely difficult for people with significant arthritis or dexterity impairment.

The senior-friendly non-CR exemption (discussed in the child-resistant packaging guide) exists specifically for this reason. For products where CR packaging is required, the PPPA allows brands to offer one size in non-CR packaging marketed for households without young children — giving adults who need easier access a legal option.

For non-CR packaging, designing for dexterity means:

• Avoiding closures that require two-handed operation where one hand is needed to stabilise the container
• Avoiding closures with very high torque requirements (force needed to open)
• Avoiding packaging that requires fine pinch grip to open (peel tabs with very small tabs, foil seals with no pull tab extension)
• Providing a clearly visible and tactilely distinct pull tab for peel-open formats

Easy-Open Features

Easy-open packaging features that are standard in European food packaging include:

• Tear notch: A V-shaped notch in the packaging edge that initiates a clean tear without scissors
• Score lines: Pre-scored lines that guide tearing in the intended direction
• Extended pull tabs: Foil peel seals with a tab large enough to grasp without fine pinch grip
• Large-grip zip closures: For resealable pouches, a zip closure wide enough to open with the side of the finger rather than requiring a pinch

The Easy Open Packaging Confederation (EOPAC) and the EU's packaging accessibility guidelines (referenced in EN 17496:2022, the European accessibility standard for packaging) provide detailed specifications for easy-open features.

Cognitive Accessibility

Packaging is sometimes designed to communicate complexity — many ingredients, many claims, many instructions — in ways that are difficult for people with cognitive disabilities, limited literacy, or unfamiliarity with the product category.

Principles for cognitive accessibility:

Hierarchy and visual order. The most important information (what the product is, how to use it, key warnings) should be visually dominant and encountered first in the reading order. Dense, undifferentiated text where everything appears at the same size and weight is cognitively taxing.

Plain language. Regulatory text in particular tends toward jargon and complex sentence structures. Where the regulation permits restating mandatory information in plain language — or supplementing it with plain language — doing so is an accessibility improvement. "Contains tree nuts (almonds)" is more accessible than "Almonds" alone in a bolded ingredient list for a consumer who doesn't immediately recognise that almonds are a tree nut.

Pictograms and icons. Universal pictograms reduce the language and literacy barrier for key information. Storage instructions (refrigerate after opening: the snowflake and arrow icon), recycling information (the Mobius loop and How2Recycle symbols), and opening instructions (press here, pull here) are all communicable through standardised pictograms without reliance on text.

Consistent placement. When information is always in the same location on the packaging — the barcode always on the bottom right, the allergen statement always immediately below the ingredient list, the serving suggestion always on the front panel — consumers who have used the product before can find the information they need without reading the entire label each time. Consistency across a product range extends this benefit to range exploration.

The Business Case for Accessible Packaging

Accessible packaging is not purely a social responsibility decision — it has a commercial rationale.

Market size. The 1 in 5 adults with a disability that affects packaging use is not a niche market. It is a mainstream market that has been underserved by packaging that treats able-bodied consumers as the default.

The ageing consumer. In most high-income markets, consumers over 55 represent the fastest-growing and highest-spending demographic. Many age-related changes in vision, dexterity, and strength are packaging access barriers. Brands that design for this demographic's needs build loyalty with a commercially valuable consumer group.

The "for me" signal. Research consistently shows that accessible design features — larger type, clear colour contrast, easy-open closures — are appreciated by the broadest range of consumers, not just those for whom they are strictly necessary. A consumer who doesn't have arthritis still appreciates a cap that opens easily. A consumer with normal vision still finds larger type easier to read in low light. Accessible design makes packaging better for everyone.

Regulatory direction of travel. Accessibility requirements are increasing, not decreasing. The EU Accessibility Act (European Accessibility Act 2019, implemented by member states from 28 June 2025) applies to certain product categories and services. UK accessibility legislation is similarly expanding. Brands that build accessible design into their packaging systems now are ahead of requirements that will become mandatory for more categories over time.

FAQ

Is Braille required on my packaging? In the EU and UK, Braille is legally required only on licensed medicinal products. For food, cosmetics, and other consumer goods, it is voluntary. However, voluntary adoption of Braille is increasing — particularly among larger brands responding to RNIB guidance and accessibility commitments.

How do I check my packaging's colour contrast ratio? The WCAG contrast ratio formula (based on relative luminance of foreground and background colours) can be calculated using free online tools (WebAIM Contrast Checker). Input the exact colour values (in hex, RGB, or CMYK) for the text and background; the tool calculates the contrast ratio and whether it meets WCAG AA (4.5:1 for body text) or AAA (7:1) standards.

Does accessible packaging cost more? Some accessible features add cost: Braille embossing ($0.02–$0.08 per unit at volume), easy-open tooling for tear notches, larger label formats to accommodate larger type. Others cost nothing: increasing type size to 9pt from 6pt on an existing label layout costs no more to print. On balance, accessible packaging design is predominantly a design decision, not a cost decision — the most impactful changes (contrast, type size, clear hierarchy) are free to implement.