Nestlé has announced it is adapting the packaging of some of its products to ensure consumers of all ages can use them easily.

Photo: new Boost design, a snapshot from www.boost.com

The approach, established by the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, is called ‘Inclusive Design’ and includes process which seeks to develop product design to meet the needs of more people.

Nestlé partnered with the university in 2009 and is the first food and beverage company to adopt this method.

“Nestlé is taking a lead role in the development of this design philosophy,” said David Wiggins, Head of Packaging at Nestlé UK. “Inclusive Design allows us to move from good design to great design. It is about pioneering design that benefits all our consumers.”

As part of the project, in Australia, a special pair of gloves was designed by researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta in the United States for Nestlé to the impact of arthritis. Nestlé packaging experts used the gloves on five of the company’s most popular products to simulate the way the disease restricts movement. It resulted in Nestlé’s launch of an Accessibility Benchmarking Scale last year with Arthritis Australia. The scale allows packaging designers to see how many people can use their packaging.

“We wanted to develop a new Nescafé Gold jar, so gaining consumer insight was the first step,” explained Philippe Domansky, who led the jar redesign at Nestlé’s Product and Technology Centre in Orbe, Switzerland.

Nestlé is also creating easy-to-use packaging. It started with a redesign of the Nescafé Gold packaging last year. In the US, the company redesigned packaging for its ready-to-drink brand Boost last year. Boost’s target audience is elderly people who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. The new packaging includes an easy-to-grip bottle, easy-to-open cap without the inner seal and easy-to-handle multipack holders.

Currently, the company’s brand Purina is running the Pet Slim Down Program aimong to help pets loose weight.