Latest charity partnership makes cards more accessible for blind and partially-sighted
Hallmark’s newest charity partnership with the Royal National Institute Of Blind People (RNIB) is focused on making cards more accessible for blind and partially-sighted people.
Accessibility is so important – cards are all about helping people to connect and nurture their relationships so every single person has the right to share in the joy of sending and receiving them.
In 2021 Hallmark ran a study asking people how easy it was to find cards that represent them, unfortunately, a quarter of all respondents living with sight loss said that they found this difficult – with this new range, Hallmark aim to remedy that.
Building on the award-winning Braille collection Feel The Love, the new Better Connected range not only includes Braille but also acts on the importance of colour contrast, type size, font style and the tactility of design, and the bright, bold designs make these cards perfect for a wide range of shoppers.
Hallmark and RNIB have collaborated during the development of the new range and this has included consumer testing with blind and partially-sighted people on the RNIB research platform.
This critical stage in product development allowed Hallmark to test new designs and gather feedback to help reach the best accessible solutions.
Holly Ismail, head of npd, innovation and licensing at Hallmark, said ‘We are so excited about our new partnership and the opportunity to make card sending more accessible for everyone. We wholeheartedly believe that – in the words of RNIB – designing for everyone, is better for everyone.
“Through our partnership we’re challenging our thinking and educating ourselves to find more ways to make our cards inclusive in order to help as many people as possible connect and mark meaningful moments.’
Gareth Davies, strategic engagement manager in accessibility at RNIB, said: “We are delighted to be continuing our work with Hallmark. This follows on from the success of the Feel The Love card range last year, and the donation from Hallmark of braille cards for children with a vision impairment to enjoy in their Letters From Santa packs in December.
“Our partnership will ensure that accessibility is at the heart of Hallmark’s designs, which will make a huge difference to people with sight loss. We’re very excited to be taking this work further and raising awareness of how cards can be made accessible for the two million people living with sight loss in the UK.”
Hallmark’s new range of cards in partnership with RNIB will be available to buy from August.
