The need for easy to open packaging
Difficult packaging excludes a growing market. Inclusive design means more customers – and more revenue. Let people love your product, not hate your packaging.
Are your packaging and products designed for all consumers?
Usability is a crucial factor in product design. It can determine whether a customer is satisfied with their purchase or not. If a product is functional and easy to use for individuals with impaired hand function, it is generally suitable for all consumers. That’s why it’s both smart and cost-effective to involve the most demanding users early in the design process.
A package that is difficult to open is not just a source of frustration—it creates barriers and excludes consumers with reduced hand strength. This group is large and growing, given current demographic trends. The seniors of tomorrow will not accept packaging that doesn’t work for them and all consumers likes accessible packaging.
Let your customers love your product – not hate your packaging.
What we offer you
At the Swedish Rheumatism Association, we work continuously to encourage companies to test new products to ensure they can be used by everyone, including the large group of people with impaired hand function. What makes our product testing unique is that it is carried out by individuals with reduced hand function, who assess the usability of packaging and products. Those that meet the criteria are certified by us as Easy to use.
We also offer companies coaching, for example, on how to redesign difficult-to-open packaging to make it accessible to all consumers. This is done by our partner, Lena Lorentzen Design AB, who also conducts the Easy to use tests on our behalf. Lena Lorentzen is an industrial designer and professor of industrial design with 30 years of experience in inclusive design. She is one of the pioneers of Design for All and is an internationally recognised expert in the field.
Contact Us
Would you like to learn more or test a prototype or product? Are you interested in selling a product in Easy to use-certified packaging and want to know which ones we have approved?
Do you have a really good packaging that you want us to test for you?
Please contact: Kristina Heilborn
📞 +46 8 505 805 28 [email protected]
More about Lena Lorentzen Design lenalorentzendesign.se
About Easy to use
Unique test and certification
Our Easy to use certification is based on usability test of packaging and products, carried out by individuals with impaired hand function.
Is your product truly easy to use?
Design for usability. Involve people with the highest demand early – it’s smart and cost-effective. If it works for those with limited hand function, it works for everyone
Not only for people with arthritis
The ease of opening and handling the packaging can be crucial in determining whether customers are satisfied with their purchase or not.
About us
The Swedish Rheumatism Association, founded in 1945, is the largest patient association in Sweden. We work for people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.
Easy to use label launched
We have launched a product label for packaging and products that have been tested and certified as Easy to use.
Certified products
What packaging and products has been tested and approved by the Swedish Rheumatism Association so far? Companies like Ecolean, Essity and Tetra Pak has tested products.
Stories from test participants
Easy to use test are carried out by people with impaires hand function, who generously lend their hands as measuring tools. Meet some of them here.
Contact
E-post: Kristina Heilborn
News
22 april 2026
Hard‑to‑open medicine packaging can compromise patient safety
Giana Carli Lorenzini, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Department of Engineering Technology, Technical University of Denmark. She conducts research on patient‑centred pharmaceutical packaging and welfare technology, using a sociotechnical and inclusive design perspective, with a particular focus on how older people manage medicines at home. Her research shows that today’s medicine packaging is often difficult to understand and open, which can lead to misuse and increased risks to patient safety.
5 februari 2026
Ecolean – the only company to have all its packages approved
It’s not easy to get a package approved by the Swedish Rheumatism Association. One company has succeeded in having all its products approved and certified as Easy to use by the Swedish Rheumatism Association. That company is Ecolean, headquartered in Helsingborg, Sweden. Ecolean develops packaging and equipment for liquid food products. Their packages are used for items such as milk, yoghurt, cream, plant-based drinks and still beverages. The company is known for its lightweight and flexible packaging, designed to use less material than traditional alternatives. We had a brief chat with Cecilia Ask, the company’s Communication & Marketing Manager.
2 februari 2026
User-friendly packaging competition
Following a proposal from the Swedish Rheumatism Association, Packnorth Award — the largest Nordic packaging competition — is introducing a new competition category: User-Friendly Packaging.