When Microsoft revealed the Adaptive Controller a few months ago for those who had issues with the standard controller for the console, the community response was overwhelmingly positive, and exactly the kind of inclusion our industry needed.
After spending some time reading up about it and watching available videos showcasing the controller, I’m excited to see it go into the wild and hear how it does in the hands of those it was made for. It’s great to see Xbox is extending its accessibility to the packaging, something you wouldn’t normally think about because of how often we take the ease of opening our new toys, but here we are, Xbox really thought of everything here.
The packaging was designed with physical touchpoints that will lead the customer through unboxing their new Adaptive Controller, this was designed for those with limited mobility, so in lieu of standard packaging, Microsoft designed something to come right out of the box.
Microsoft throughout the process kept beta testing packaging requirements, with crucial beta testers playing a significant part in the overall process and final packging. This helped Microsoft figure out what was important and useful on the packaging, what should be avoided and so on.
Mark Weiser and Kevin Marshall took on the dauting task and came up with what I think is wondeful packaging. To start, they decided on the no teeth principle. Often, I’ve found myself having to use my teeth to open subpar packaging and this isn’t what good package design is. These two wanted to ensure that the Adaptive Controller could easily be opened without the use of twist ties, zip cords, and paper – things that could harm you.
From there, each step of unboxing the controller was well thought out, every step of unboxing the controller contains loops. Loops are “highly proven lever to assist in accessibility.” Essentially, this allows the owner to tear open packing in one move, seamlessly. Retail boxes will feature a “breal-the-seal” label with two loops, both with multi-directional removal. In total, there are five loops to get the controller out of the box.
With the Adaptive Controller set to launch in September for $129 CAD, Xbox wants to find a way to include the lessons they learned on package design into their other products.
Read more about the Adaptive Controller here.
