Brands that Move: Coral transforms its colors into experiences accessible to blind people

What if blind people could also explore colors when choosing the decor for their homes? This question is at the origin of Colors That Touch, an initiative by Coral that made 70 colors from its portfolio accessible to people with visual impairments. The proposal is to broaden the ways of perceiving and imagining colors through poetic texts available in Braille and in audio versions, called Chromopoems.

(Divulgação)

Launched in April 2025, the project was developed by Coral in partnership with VML Brasil, with technical support from the Fundação Dorina Nowill para Cegos. The initiative marked the brand's 70 years in Brazil and proposed a new way to approach inclusion in the universe of colors: instead of restricting the experience to sight, it explores the emotions, memories, and sensations that each shade can awaken.

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Colors That Touch was one of the initiatives selected for Marcas que Movem, the annual selection by CASACOR and Casa e Jardim that recognizes brands and projects that contribute to transforming contemporary life. Coral's case shows how inclusion can guide the development of new experiences and expand a brand's relationship with its audience.

How Colors That Touch came to be

The idea was born from the desire to make the brand more inclusive. "We had already been studying for some time how to make our content and products more accessible," says Juliana Zaponi, head of Marketing and Communication for Latin America at AkzoNobel, the company responsible for Coral.

Cores que Tocam, Coral (Divulgação)

To turn this intention into a concrete experience, the team reached out to the Fundação Dorina Nowill para Cegos, a reference in work with blind and low-vision people in Brazil. The partnership made it possible to technically validate the solutions and to investigate how to translate the perception of colors beyond visual stimulus.

Cores que Tocam, Coral (Divulgação)

The team considered different access formats, from a physical color fan to digital content, until arriving at the Chromopoems. "The main challenge was explaining to the consumer what that project was," Juliana says. The choice of format was decisive in transforming an abstract idea — perceiving colors without resorting to sight — into an experience that could be explored autonomously.

From chromatic codes to Chromopoems

The creation was based on neuroscience studies that investigate how colors can be associated with emotions, memories, and sensations also by blind people. With this principle as a starting point, 70 shades were selected, distributed across nine chromatic scales from Coral's portfolio.

Cores que Tocam, Coral (Divulgação)

The colors received representations in Braille, which became part of the project's graphic language. The next step was to develop the Chromopoems: short texts that associate chromatic codes from the RGB, CMYK, and HEX systems with images, feelings, and narratives capable of evoking each shade.

The construction of these texts had the consultancy of the Fundação Dorina Nowill. Luiza Fassarella, senior Marketing and Communication analyst at AkzoNobel, explains that one of the central concerns was to prioritize the sensations related to color, rather than focusing only on naming it. "One care we took was to talk more about what the color represents than about the name of the color itself," she clarifies.

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The result is a language that brings color closer to everyday experiences. The Citrus Orange tone, for example, is described as "that urge to bite into a fresh fruit at recess. To let the juice run down your chin and spend the day with its scent on your hands." Identification does not depend on a visual reference: it draws on taste, touch, smell, and memory to build a sensorial image of the shade.

The role of sound in the experience

The sonic dimension broadened the reach of the Chromopoems. In partnership with the production company Vox Haus, Coral transformed the texts into spoken narratives, gathered on the Touching Colors website and in a digital gallery on the brand's YouTube channel.

The sound direction was developed considering the auditory sensitivity of blind and low-vision people. Instead of resorting to an aesthetic close to ASMR, the proposal sought to build a sound experience suited to the audience for which the project was conceived.

The choice makes it clear that accessibility is not limited to adapting already existing content. It also involves thinking from the outset about how different people will receive, interpret and experience something — and about which resources can make it more welcoming and accessible.

An impact that goes beyond sales

After the launch, Coral received positive feedback from consumers, the press and companies from different segments. According to Juliana Zaponi, the initiative was not developed with specific sales targets, although it generated recognition and broadened the debate on inclusion in the market.

“The most important thing is to have represented a population that is so often so underrepresented. Coral understands that people with visual impairments are also our consumers, they are also part of our audience. And we want to offer them the possibility of experiencing color as well,” she states.

The project's outreach gained spontaneous repercussion and took the initiative to the Cannes Lions 2025 shortlist, in the Industry Craft: Copywriting category. The international recognition adds to the feedback received by the brand and reinforced the visibility of a pioneering proposal that started from a matter of access to rethink the very experience with colors.

About Marcas que Movem

Marcas que Movem is an annual selection carried out by CASACOR and Casa e Jardim, which brings together the trajectories, audiences and experiences of the two platforms to recognize brands and initiatives that are transforming contemporary life. The proposal is to identify, contextualize and amplify projects that promote relevant movements in society and in ways of living.

(Reprodução/Divulgação)

The selected cases are organized into six categories — Product that Moves, Space that Moves, Experience that Moves, Technology that Moves, Behavior that Moves and Culture that Moves. Together, they present a diverse overview of initiatives that are producing changes in products, spaces, experiences, relationships and ways of living.