9th December 2025

Inclusive Packaging

Inclusive Packaging is something of a new concept to elements of the packaging sector, however it’s something the team at Cardboard Box Company has been working on for some time to offer the best advice to our customers.

Essentially, designed to be more easily opened by everyone, accessible and inclusive packaging is becoming a much more popular request amongst our customer base. However, there are other elements that add value to customers who may face other challenges, not just dexterity ones.

Kristian Howson, Design Manager, Cardboard Box Company explains the steps we take to help customers achieve their accessible and inclusive packaging goals, and why many of our solutions already support this.

Empowering customers

Providing packaging that is accessible and inclusive is all about empowering the customer, allowing them to independently access products.

This is not just about how easy it is to open a box or pack; it can also be about improving how visible product information is by choosing clear fonts and appropriate font sizes, colour contrasting print to make it clearer, or including some tactile elements to help those who are visually impaired.

Many corrugated ecommerce solutions already support accessible and inclusive targets by way of ripper strips, easy peel open packs with self-seal strips and designs where every unnecessary complexity has been removed.

With over 16m people registered as disabled in the UK, it’s important that we make packaging as accessible as possible to help those with challenges such as decreased fine motor skills challenges or impaired vision as just two examples. And, with an aging population, it is likely in the next decade or so, these challenges could become more commonplace.

Something else to consider, which is becoming less common place in today’s digital world is to consider how you can make returning an unwanted product easier. Very few businesses now help consumers to return products with instructions or labels in the pack. Perhaps consider providing these, printed onto packaging to avoid unnecessary wasting of paper. It may just make the difference to customers who find it hard to access the digital world and be a differentiating factor when faced with a decision as to which product, brand or supplier to choose.

Maybe the wider packaging industry, and businesses who currently use other packaging materials that prove challenging to open and hard-to-recycle, could be adding value to their products by sourcing and choosing packaging which is accessible and inclusive.

Features to elevate the unboxing experience

There are several things’ businesses can choose to incorporate into corrugated packaging solutions to ensure they are inclusive and promote a positive unboxing experience rather than consumers fighting with packaging simply to access their goods!

As designers we always take many elements into consideration to create a design fit for purpose however, when specifically designed with accessibility and inclusivity in mind, we especially consider the following:

Flexibility – This means the design should support a range of different abilities and demands from the packaging depending upon the product size, shape, weight and fragility contained within the pack. Could tactile markings be incorporated into the design, so it appeals to an even wider audience?

Intuitive simplicity – This means the design should be easy to open in one or more simple steps and that this must be easily understand by all consumers, irrelevant of level of dexterity or other challenges they may be facing

Accessible print – Not only does the print on packaging need to convey the brand and make customers want to buy the product, but it should also consider colour accessibility and contrast especially where text is required. The typeface chosen should be as large and as clear as practical, whilst still ensuring the pack remains on brand.

In conclusion, businesses should consider how easy their packaging is to open, how easy it is to recycle and can the print be read with ease (especially important if vital instructions or safety warnings are conveyed on the packaging)

By embracing these points businesses will be supporting people with a disability to enhance the overall experience when receiving a home delivery or choosing a product in a retail environment.

Why not let our design team work with you to create and develop your own range of inclusive and accessible packaging?

We can be contacted on 01254 232223 or info@thecardboardbox.co.uk