Designing Graphics for Seniors
by Daniel Jay Morrison

 (Published in “BrandPackaging” Magazine, July/August 2001)

The demographic tidal wave of the senior population is upon us.  The volume potential of this market is vast for manufacturers who are responsive to the unique needs of this aging segment.  Have you developed the plans, strategies, and tactics to tap this vibrant opportunity?

BrandPackaging’s November/December 2000 edition included a wonderful article on identifying the special structural packaging needs of the senior market. The subject is clearly of growing importance as aging seniors begin to lose the physical strength and dexterity needed to open some of today’s manufacturing-efficient and product safety designs.

Changing graphics is also critically important.  Just as physical agility wanes with age, so too does the ability to see and read packaging designs and copy.

“As boomers age, they start to lose their visual acuity. Among those 55+, 42 percent wear regular eyeglasses, 39 percent wear bifocals, and 3 percent wear contact lenses.  If the print is not large enough or is difficult to read, they will miss out on what advertisers have to say.” ¹

Is this a problem?  Here’s how the situation was reported ten years ago:

“Packaging increases in importance with age. Sixty percent (of seniors) cannot read the lettering on packages.” ²

Is it still important?  More than ever!

“If you want to keep your market share, you have to address (the senior) market.” ³

Once a potential consumer is standing in front of your product, the last hurdle toward a sale is the final communication of the brand name and product features and benefits.  At the store level, you must be effective through package design, copy, and POP collateral materials.  The key is to reach out to the aging population sector while holding on to your current consumer franchise.  

The senior market segment is already enormous … and growing rapidly.

•         26% of Americans, or 63.5 million people, are 50+. 

•         By the year 2010, 33% of the total population will be 50+.  

•         50+ consumers already represent a 900 billion dollar market.

In today’s market of flat growth for many products, the potential of the senior market is exceptionally appealing. Paralleling younger generations, the needs of seniors obviously include food, clothing, and housing.  Interestingly, as many studies have confirmed, the 55+-ers also buy significant percentages of other categories intuitively thought to be only for younger markets, such as toys and children’s clothing, sports equipment, and, increasingly, computers.The older population segment is also extremely powerful in its ability to change market dynamics and create major opportunities for companies to develop incremental volume and profit.  Best of all, companies can use their existing product mix, in-place sales and distribution channels, current production systems and capacity, and fixed central overhead costs.  A great opportunity, but this enormous and rapidly growing market cannot be approached with a single marketing positioning and format. The senior population is a multi-dimensional mosaic of subsets, each with its own identifiable needs, avenues of approach, and often unmet desire to be specifically addressed.

“It’s a mistake to lump seniors into a single category.  It takes more than big type to appeal to a totally different set of values and attitudes.” ⁴

Since the 55+ population covers a range of profiles, several different “fault lines” can be drawn to subdivide the total into identifiable sub-segments.  Compare, for example the needs of the Newly- or Soon-to-be-Retireds of 55-65.  This group is just beginning to feel the physiological effects of aging and often is reluctant to acknowledge their emerging problems.  By comparison, a Young Elderly of 65-75 clearly has become aware of declining skills and is more receptive to the need for help.  The Middle-Aged Elderly of 75-85 readily admit their needs and seek resources to bring ease and assistance to their daily living.  The Old Elderly, 85+, often simply require help to survive.  While there is some overlap, each of these groups must be considered separately and each may require uniquely focused communications.  In addition to grouping by age, there are other segment definitions based for example on wealth, health, life experiences, and values.  The senior citizen, while a great sales prospect, is therefore a challenging target to reach.  To maximize sales volume, then, the package designer must employ a carefully crafted “Multiplicity of Design”, whereby various age group needs can be met while not losing other segments of the market.Let’s look now at the copy and design requirements necessary to tap this vast opportunity.  Visualize the reading problems caused by glasses daubed with Vaseline.  Whether obscuring the center, the bottom, or the entire lens, you would unquestionably experience many of the same limitations daily affecting the eyesight of the aging population.  With your goal to minimize purchase barriers of your products, specifics can be implemented that would help improve communication. 

• Size – An obvious starting point, as small type becomes even smaller during the aging process.  My experience has been that 12-point is the minimum required for optimal communication, and that 14-point and larger should be used whenever the package panel space permits.
• Typeface – Select a typeface that facilitates reading.  For all important copy, remember KISS:  avoid seraphs, shading, dimensions, upper and lower case lettering, elegant script, reverse print, and, importantly, skip the elongated and compressed fonts.
• Copy - Issues of critical importance to 55+-ers are nutritional data (with emphasis on sodium, fat content, and fiber), ingredients, net weight, yield, dosage, cooking instructions, how best to open and close the package, and an 800 number for questions.  As consumers avoid buying a package that is difficult to open, they are also unlikely to buy a product whose copy they cannot read.
• Copy Compression – Don’t.  Companies are often conflicted by the fact of small size label space and a desire for complete sell and legal copy; the net impact on the older reader is difficulty and confusion.  I have often had to challenge marketing managers whose desire for extra copy on the package has caused a virtually unreadable label for seniors.
• Color, Color-on-Color, & Contrast - Aging eyesight loses the ability to differentiate among colors of the same base.  I have found that the greater the contrast, the greater the readability.   Also, seniors best distinguish reds, greens, oranges, and yellows.  Solid dark color on white is optimal.
• Information – With specific medical needs that must be met, greater available time, a penchant for continued learning, and matured judgment, the 55+-ers are a very deliberate, discerning, and factually driven buying segment.  Whenever possible, if not detrimental to a simple layout, added information should be provided to encourage the shopper to learn more about your product.
• POP – To engage the 55+-ers, POP (riser cards, posters, shelf hangers, etc.) should be simple, direct, and easy to read very quickly.  (Think of the POP material as a highway billboard that must be read while speeding by at 75 mph.)  Again, if space permits, support information should be provided as 55+-ers have the time and the interest to read, learn, and make determined decisions.
• Design – POP can be used creatively to evoke positive memories with the older market.  Proper selection and portrayal of human models, for example, are absolutely critical for effective outreach.  Any implied or inadvertent suggestion of frailty through mistaken copy or picture can be devastating to the potential of an otherwise well thought out marketing program.  The senior market can be targeted, but the imagery must be executed to meet their self-perception of vitality and personal growth.
• Illustration - Illustrations in POP can contribute considerably to tapping familiar feelings.  However, if the target is the senior market, the illustrations must be appropriate for the age segment. The following example highlights the critical differences of just what is familiar:

•       the Newly- or Soon-to-be Retireds were fans of Elvis Presley with music on 45 rpm records,

•       the Young Elderly enjoyed Frank Sinatra on 78 rpm records,

•       Middle-Aged Elderly remember Billie Holliday and Al Jolson on the radio.

Care needs to be taken to assure appeal to the targeted sector will also be acceptable to the remaining market franchise. 

How do you know if your design and copy work effectively among the various sub-segments of the 55+ market?  Ask them!  Talk to them.  Show them your developing ideas for feedback.  I have found through many, many qualitative interfaces with targeted market segments that packages and POP can be significantly improved based on responses from consumers.   Refinements to copy, elimination of less important issues, and increased size on selected design elements all contribute to encouraging the purchase decision.The respondents in a focus group are not packaging experts, but they are real consumers, and their feedback will help you make better decisions on final design.  (If possible, include Marketing, Packaging, Advertising Agency, Research, and In-house Design personnel in the qualitative research execution.  There is no better way to learn how to maximize the package than by collectively hearing feedback from the intended consumer.)  It is equally important to research both packaging graphics and POP as they are the last (and sometimes the only) “advertising” a product may have.  With the business risk of annual sales in the balance, it is absolutely essential that you hear your customers talk about your current and future packaging.Plan ahead. Include in your Critical Path or Pert Chart the time needed to gain feedback from consumers and then to implement those changes without added design and engraving costs.  Research, as a part of the total expense of converting packaging or expanding a line, is a minor but absolutely necessary expense.Seniors are very responsive to communications designed specifically for them.  So, go for the gold … as in “Golden Age”.

References:

¹  AMA Marketing Review - January 1996 ²  The Food Channel - January/February 1990 ³  AdAge - 10 July 2000, emphasis added ⁴  PROMO – November 1991

© DJM & Associates, Inc.™