United States · Packaging

America's everyday cheese snack — now talking out loud too.

Cheez-It joins Kellanova's accessibility program: a NaviLens code is printed on Cheez-It Snap'd, Original and Puff'd packs so blind and low-vision shoppers can hear brand, flavour, allergens and nutrition from several metres away, with no need to aim and in their own language.

Cheez-It Snap'd Double Cheese box with a NaviLens code printed for blind and low-vision shoppers.

Kellanova: Better Days Promise™ · US accessible snacking
×12: Read distance vs. a standard QR code
12M+: US adults 40+ with vision impairment (CDC)
Battle Creek → Chicago: Designed inside Kellanova US

Cheez-It · Kellanova

Cheez-It has been one of America's most iconic cheese snacks since 1921. It now lives inside Kellanova, the global snacking company that spun off from Kellogg Company in 2023 to focus on brands like Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts and Rice Krispies Treats.

Kellanova had already paved the way with NaviLens on cereals (Special K, Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Crispix) in the US, and on Pringles in the UK. Cheez-It joins the same accessible-packaging program — aligned with the company's Better Days Promise™ ESG strategy — bringing brand and product info to blind and low-vision shoppers straight from the snack aisle.

01
A snack aisle that's visually overwhelming
Salty-snack boxes and bags stack together with very similar bold colours. Telling Cheez-It Snap'd from Cheez-It Original — or from a competitor — without sight is almost impossible.
02
Allergens (gluten, dairy) in tiny print
For shoppers avoiding allergens or watching sodium and fat, reading the side panel needs a magnifier or help — a daily barrier in the snacking section.
03
Protecting the iconic Cheez-It look
The packaging challenge was to add the NaviLens code without touching Cheez-It's signature red or the visual hierarchy of the pack, in a category where branding rules the shelf.

The NaviLens code is printed in a reserved high-contrast zone on the box without altering the Cheez-It red or logo. NaviLens and NaviLens GO detect it from several metres away — up to 12× further than a standard QR — with no aiming, and read brand (Cheez-It), variant (Snap'd Double Cheese, Original, Puff'd…), ingredients, allergens, per-serve nutrition and dates aloud in the user's language.

It's the same system Kellanova already uses on Pringles (UK) and on US cereals, giving consistency across the whole household basket: a blind or low-vision shopper repeats the exact same scan gesture from breakfast cereal to afternoon savoury snack.

“Accessibility isn't an afterthought — it's a core part of how we design packs. NaviLens lets us bring brand, allergens and nutrition to blind and low-vision shoppers without compromising the Cheez-It look.”

Pete Matthews · Sr. Director, Brand Design & Ops, Kellanova · Aire Global · Breaking Barriers podcast
Aire Global ↗

2021–2022
Pilot and cereals rollout
Kellogg (now Kellanova) trials NaviLens with RNIB on Coco Pops (UK, 2021) and in December 2022 announces the US rollout on Corn Flakes, Special K, Rice Krispies and Crispix.
Nov 2023
NaviLens on Pringles
Kellanova brings NaviLens to Pringles cans in the UK as the first jump from accessible cereals into the snacking portfolio.
2023–2024
Cheez-It and US snacking
Cheez-It joins Kellanova's accessible-packaging standard in the US, alongside other in-house snacking brands, under Better Days Promise™.
Ongoing
Live data, no reprint
SKU-level content (allergens, recipes, promos, flavours) is updated in the backend; pack artwork doesn't need to be reprinted to change what is spoken aloud.