Combining accessibility and aesthetics with packaging typefaces | Article

Combining accessibility and aesthetics with packaging typefaces | Article

Brand design company Lewis Moberly not too long ago labored with Tropic Skincare to develop a brand new script typeface supposed to be accessible particularly to dyslexic and neurodiverse shoppers. The typeface, Susie’s Script, combines readability with a dynamic design that mirrors handwriting for Topic Skincare’s packaging and web site.
Emily Fox, artistic director at Lewis Moberly, talks us via the event of Susie’s Script and the right way to stability accessibility with model aesthetics.
The significance of accessible packaging design
Founded in 1984 by Mary Lewis and Robert Moberly, Lewis Moberly is “a strategic artistic enterprise, immersed on the earth of manufacturers” that has labored with Bailey’s, Häagen-Dazs, Johnnie Walker, Selfridges, and Gatwick Airport, amongst others.
Lewis Moberly not too long ago labored with Tropic Skincare with the intention of designing a bespoke typeface that’s accessible for folks with dyslexia and different neurodiverse shoppers. While Fox claims “life is regularly changing into extra inclusive with disabled entry in public locations via to features that assist the visually impaired navigate extra simply”, she acknowledges that packaging accessibility continues to lack in some circumstances.
“Even these with common eyesight and dexterity can expertise points with packaging,” Fox explains, “Whether it’s having the ability to bodily open a pack or directions being so small they’re barely legible.” For neurodiverse shoppers, it may be much more tough “to see the wooden for the timber” in terms of the deluge of visible data generally offered on packaging.
It is well-known that Sans Serif fonts are extra accessible as their Serif counterparts embody ornamental parts that may distract the attention and mind from the general form of the letter or trigger the phrase to blur across the edges in digital codecs. However, manufacturers might have a choice for extra distinctive or embellished fonts on packaging the place the purpose is to face out on the shelf and entice the patron with a restricted canvas.
Fox means that “most typefaces designed for the neurodiverse lack character”, which is commonly antithetical to the aim of packaging design, particularly for segments like cosmetics the place Tropic Skincare sits. Yet 25% of employees within the magnificence trade are dyslexic, as prompt by analysis from Lewis Moberly, pointing to the necessity to make sure that merchandise are accessible not solely to shoppers but in addition to people who are designing, producing, promoting, and promoting them.
In addition, as Fox says, neurodiverse shoppers “nonetheless need and should have our data expressed with verve and drama”. This led Lewis Moberly to develop Susie’s Script, named after Tropic Skincare’s founder, with the intention of mixing aesthetics with accessibility.
Making accessibility constant with branding

According to Fox, “our problem was to create a handwritten typeface that might be simply learn on all Tropic merchandise and communications – the place it might generally seem in opposition to a extra complicated backdrop. We have been continually testing and refining the script to make sure legibility, while not compromising on its expressive design.”
Susie’s Script options “well-spaced open letterforms and thought of textured irregularities” that enable the font to be accessible for neurodiverse readers. The typeface was particularly developed within the script model, which supplies the inspiration for its handwritten look enhanced by the addition of a number of different variations of the letter. “This makes for a gorgeous, approachable and dynamic typeface,” says Fox.
“Susie’s Script brings pleasure to those that discover studying a problem, and additionally in actual fact to anybody else. It unites readability and our lovely disparities. Irregular textures deliver character. You can really feel that means when studying is sensorial — a complete pleasure.”
Another design aspect talked about by Fox is that the typeface might seem in opposition to probably complicated backgrounds, such because the textured and vibrant packaging of Tropic’s skincare merchandise, or the pictures of nature used to border the merchandise on the model’s web site. Therefore, the typeface wanted to suit aesthetically with Tropic Skincare’s current branding whereas retaining its accessibility the place backgrounds can generally complicate studying experiences.
Lewis Moberly seems to have efficiently included this consideration into the ultimate design of Susie’s Script with the usage of color and spacing. Susie Ma, founding father of Tropic Skincare, provides that the typeface “sits fantastically inside our present branding, resonating completely with our total core values round inclusivity”.
The typeface will now be rolled out throughout Tropic Skincare packaging, in addition to on its web site.
What’s subsequent?
“We hope Susie’s Script will lead an ordinary in legible messaging with out compromising on aesthetic,” Fox tells us. “We are aware with each venture we work on that we should guarantee accessibility for all. Be it packaging, animation, internet design or comms, by taking this strategy we will enhance the expertise of a model for everybody it doesn’t matter what their various wants could also be.”

https://packagingeurope.com/options/combining-accessibility-and-aesthetics-with-packaging-typefaces/8368.article

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