When Packaging Forgets the Aisle

Lately, I’ve noticed something while wandering grocery store aisles and looking at packaging: accessibility seems to be slipping.

I’m seeing color combinations that are too close together to read easily. Fonts that are overly decorative or abstract. Labels that look visually interesting up close but fail at their primary job when viewed from a distance.

And I’m not talking about small startup brands still figuring things out.

The product that sparked this particular observation was WishBone’s Lemon Herb Vinaigrette. The label uses white text on a bright yellow background. In my opinion, that’s a basic Design 101 “no.”

The word “dressing” appears underneath in a darker color and is much more legible. Because of that, the hierarchy flips unintentionally. At a glance, the label reads “WishBone Dressing.” Which, of course, is obvious.

The variety itself becomes the least visible piece of information.

Unless someone is specifically searching for that lemon variety, it’s very easy for the eye to pass right over it while scanning the shelf. From more than a foot or two away, the label becomes difficult to read. When you’re moving through a grocery aisle, it’s nearly impossible to decipher quickly.

That made me curious about how the label came to be.

Was it created by an in-house design team? Was it handled by a manufacturer whose expertise is printing rather than design? Was it an agency decision that leaned too heavily into visual cleverness because the color matched the flavor?

Somewhere along the way, legibility lost the argument.

It also makes me wonder about education. Accessibility wasn’t a major buzzword when I was in school, but the principles behind it absolutely were. Legibility, contrast, and hierarchy were drilled into us early on. The idea that design has to work at a distance, in motion, and under imperfect conditions was foundational.

Packaging doesn’t live in a vacuum. It lives on shelves, surrounded by competition, seen through peripheral vision and quick glances.

If a customer can’t read it in a few seconds, the design isn’t doing its job.

The whole experience has made me want to try something: a refresh of the label as a small passion project. Not because the brand necessarily needs saving, but because it’s a fascinating reminder of how easy it is for accessibility to slip when visual concepts take priority.

Sometimes the best design lessons happen in the grocery store aisle.