P&G’s New Package Design Helps Vision-Impaired Consumers

P&G-owned hair care brand Herbal Essences is producing the first-ever mass hair care bottle design in North America that will make it easier for vision impaired consumers to distinguish its shampoo and conditioner products through the sense of touch. The newly enhanced package features tactile indentations to help differentiate the brand’s shampoos from its conditioners in-shower given they share the same bottle shape, alleviating in-shower confusion and helping consumers confidently perform daily tasks.

Behind the initiative is creator Sumaira “Sam” Latif, P&G’s special sonsultant for inclusive design, who has been with the company for more than 18 years; she is also blind. Her perspective lit the spark for the idea, which was refined by working with other individuals who are vision impaired, according to P&G. There are some 23 million people in the US who face the challenges associated with vision impairment every day.

“Imagine the daily challenges, like choosing matching clothes in the morning or simply taking a shower after a long day. As a blind person, you must do these things using touch rather than sight. You don’t really know which bottle the shampoo, conditioner, or soap is…you have to get creative. I used to put an elastic band around shampoo or sellotape on conditioner to remind me,” says Latif speaking from personal experience. And as it relates to the bottle design, she says the intention was clear: “It was important that we invent a feature, universally recognizable tactile feature, which would work for people who haven’t had the opportunity to learn braille.”

The shampoo bottles have four tactile vertical lines on the bottom of the back label and the conditioner has two rows of dots on the bottom of the back label. The features were purposely kept very simple and easy to differentiate by touch. The brand hopes that once people learn about the new tactile features, they will easily be able to tell their shampoo and conditioner apart by touch.



Latif worked with Shane Mays, Herbal Essences packaging engineer, on the project.

Herbal Essences North America brand manager, Lynn Hicks, states that not only did she feel it was “the right thing to do,” but explains that there was a solid business case behind this decision. “Making our products more accessible can improve the experience for everyone. We want to be sure everyone can experience the positive power of nature through Herbal Essences every day. While we designed this tactile feature specifically for the visually impaired, others, like seniors or kids, will also benefit from this feature.”

The new Herbal Essences packaging will be available on Herbal Essences bio:renew shampoo and conditioner bottles beginning January 2019.