When Victoria Watts’ son Cyrus was born blind due to a rare genetic eye disease in 2016, the mother of four readily admits that her knowledge of the community was limited to say the least.
“The news was devastating to our family, but it was really hard for me as a mom, because I didn’t know how to help him. I didn’t know anything about blindness,” she said. “What I did know is that there are so many barriers that exist in society today that prohibit people with disabilities from fully participating and enjoying life. That scared me to death.”
As she observed how her son navigated daily life through touch, she noticed that one particular challenge was being able to independently identify and use everyday products.
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“One night I was giving Cyrus a bath and for the first time I noticed all the products that were on the shelf and they all looked similar to me and I thought how the heck is [anyone] going to be able to distinguish one product from another? How do people who are blind shop independently, how do they use products, how do they have that independence and the answer is that they don’t,” she continued. “They rely on other people to help them shop.”
From those concerns, CyR.U.S. Tags was born, a system of tactile symbols and raised QR codes that Watts developed to make products instantly recognizable by touch and the product information digitally accessible through a QR code scan to improve safety and independence.
Watts ruled out braille for the tags, stating that less than 10 percent of legally blind people in the U.S. read braille and that it can take up to two years to master and is technically challenging to implement on packaging due to the space restrictions.
Instead, she believes her system of symbols are intuitive, likening them to emojis, and can easily be learned. For example, in skin care an upside down triangle means eye cream, a half moon is night cream and a hand with a circle in the middle is hand cream. According to Watts, they’re also a good fit for those with dyslexia, as well as foreign language speakers.
This year, Watts, who has prior experience in the beauty industry, having launched her skin care brand Victorialand in 2018, is releasing the first three CyR.U.S. Tags kits across skin care, self care and home care. Each touch tag symbol features a peel off, adhesive backing making it easy to apply to a product for instant identification. They are also waterproof for use in the shower or bath. Each pack containing two sheets of tags will be priced at $14.99.
The self-funded business, which is being advised by Toure Capital, will start as direct-to-consumer, but Watts is in talks with retailers too.
“All too often accessible packaging isn’t considered when designing products and people with vision loss are left to make do or do without products we take for granted. I want to change the status quo and create a world where accessibility is a standard, not an option for product packaging so that everyone can experience products independently and safely,” she said.