Persil, a Unilever brand, is adding Accessible QR codes (AQR) to its capsules in plastic-free packaging and its Ultimate Liquids range. The AQRs, developed with Zappar and RNIB, provide product, usage, safety and recycling information in a structured way that is designed for blind and partially sighted users. The AQRs also interact with the device’s accessibility features to display information in larger text or in audio-described and voice-guided formats. The AQRs can be detected by accessibility app Zapvision and Microsoft Seeing AI. The initiative aims to create a more inclusive experience for the UK’s 2 million blind and partially sighted people and to make accessible product information a standard for packaging design.
Unilever aren't the only company adding accessible information to their packaging. Back in 2021, Kellogg's started using Navilens technology to add information to their packaging. Read Improving Shopping for the Visually Impaired.
While this is a great step forward in providing information to all, my concern is that we have two technologies being used to provide information to the visually impaired, with both requiring their own apps to access the information. We need to see standardisation of technology, and that technology being built into phone camera apps as standard, like QR code scanning is today.
“Although QR codes have been in mainstream use almost 30 years now, they have lacked the important ingredient of accessibility,” says Zappar CEO and co-founder Caspar Thykier. “This is really about helping make a small but important everyday quality-of-life improvement in people’s lives.”
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