A Brand-New Vision for Greetings Cards

Buying and reading greetings cards can be a real challenge for blind and partially sighted people. That’s why we’re proud of our partnership with RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) and our latest collaboration: The Better Connected card collection.

Hallmark has worked with RNIB over the past couple of years to create stylish and accessible greeting cards. We gained some amazing feedback for ‘Feel the Love’, our first card collection featuring braille. The range even won a Henries’ Award in 2022 (think the Oscars, but for the greeting card industry).

Thanks to our ongoing partnership, we can continue to develop our products to meet the needs of people living with sight loss in the UK. With new cards ready to launch, it seemed like the perfect time to explore the story behind the development and what led to this exciting collaboration.

Where it All Began

We track the preferences of new and existing customers through extensive research and insights. This is done by consumer research, communicating with followers on our social channels and engaging with people who contact us. In 2021 we ran a study asking people how easy it was to find cards that represented them. A quarter of respondents living with sight loss told us they found this difficult. We wanted to change that.

Last year we launched our Feel the Love braille cards and had a fantastic response. People told us to “keep up the good work” and that they were pleased to have more accessible options in the greetings card market. This feedback inspired us to do even more to increase the accessibility of our products.

What We’re Doing & Why It’s So Important

According to RNIB, the number of blind and partially sighted people is predicted to double to 4 million by 2050, so our goal is to lead the way in creating accessible greetings cards for the increasing number of people living with sight loss.

After receiving expert training from RNIB – including an interactive session with sight loss simulations – we created an accessible product guide. The guide will help our creative teams understand how to approach their work with accessibility in mind and how to build it into future designs. We’re also collaborating with RNIB for consumer testing with blind and partially sighted people, allowing us to trial concepts and gather feedback.

This feedback has helped us to create a brand-new collection of cards with RNIB. The Better Connected card designs will again feature braille, along with clear contrasting colours, large legible font types and tactile elements. These cards also include a QR code link on their back pages to educate about sight loss and access RNIB support via their website.

Finally, Hallmark’s digital and online teams have received training from RNIB on how to improve the accessibility of our website and social channels. Because accessibility isn’t just about our products – it’s all the ways that people interact with our company.

What We Want to Achieve

Designing for everyone is better for everyone. It makes our colours pop, our words easy to read and helps more people connect. We're constantly challenging our ways of thinking and educating ourselves to make our products more accessible. We believe that by doing this, we can play our part in creating a more connected world – because everyone should be able to enjoy sending and receiving greeting cards.

What’s Next

Our Better Connected collection is launching in October. Available in stores and online, there are over 30 cards in the range including birthday celebrations, Valentine’s Day and Christmas. 

We’re excited to continue our collaborations and innovations with RNIB. Together, we can create better cards for everyone.