Katharine Gough / Industrial Design Engineering

home comforts: better packaging design for all

A design investigation of ways in which packaging for use in the domestic environment can be developed to include the needs of older and less able people.

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Unilever's Home and Personal Care product range includes some of the best-selling branded goods in Europe - from fabric conditioners and bathroom cleaners to washing powders and shampoos. The manufacturer has a proven design process for developing mass market products. But while a customer focus is part of Unilever's ethos, the needs of less able customers who have problems with opening packs and applying contents due to physical, visual or cognitive impairments have in the past been viewed as a separate niche group and therefore received less attention from Unilever's Global Design Centre at Port Sunlight. This project set out to redress the balance and show how better design can include a wider range of abilities - by creating a set of inclusive design guidelines supported by prototypes and concepts.

At the heart of the project was an observational study of six people dealing with packaging in their homes, using video ethnography as a technique. Issues and challenges were identified in making Unilever packaging more inclusive, such as the size and angle of handles, tightness of caps and grip details. Unilever pack designs for a fabric conditioner and bathroom cleaner were used as a starting point from which to demonstrate ergonomic principles that could be applied more broadly across Unilever's portfolio and to show how small changes can have a big impact on the user experience.

More about Katherine Gough
 

research partner: Unilever

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