2026 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Shine Foundation – a charity that brings dreams to life for youth with disabilities – was planning a makeover for Scarlette, a 14-year-old girl who was born blind.
But the makeover revealed a tension the beauty industry couldn’t see – a void of accessible products for the blind and low vision community. Shine could give Scarlette a dream makeover, but to give her the tools and confidence to express herself independently would mean fixing how the industry packages makeup for the blind and low vision community.
Makeup is frequently celebrated as a form of self-expression, but for the 1.5 million Canadians who are blind or have low vision, this world of personalization remains deeply inaccessible.
They created “Scarlette’s Palette”, the first tactile makeup palette designed specifically for those who are blind or have low vision, to fix how the beauty industry serves this community.
To create the palette, the agency had to completely rethink the makeup experience and ensure that accessibility was at the root of every design decision.
While braille is often used as an accessible packaging shortcut for blind and low-vision people, it’s estimated that only 10% of blind Canadians are actually able to read it. Younger generations especially have become more accustomed to audio support tools and simplified tactile navigation methods.
Through input from educators and consultations with the Canadian Institute for the Blind (CNIB), they designed Scarlette’s Palette with a tactile-led navigation system supported by a raised QR code-enabled audio guide.
Collaborating with Cheekbone Beauty, an Indigenous-owned makeup brand, to help bring the product to life in a limited run, they used easy-to-follow tactile arrows on the palette’s surface to indicate orientation and opening, and each makeup colour and compartment features a raised shape guide for easy identification.
The spacing between each colour pan was increased to prevent cross-contamination, and each compartment includes tactile raised edges to ensure precise selection. The audio guide talks users through the shape system and provides details on each makeup type, colour and recommended usage, using descriptive language recommended by the CNIB.
Launched on World Sight Day, “Scarlette’s Palette” made headlines across ELLE, CBC, The National Post, Etalk Daily and more, sparking a national conversation about accessibility in the beauty industry. But even more importantly, the palette was embraced by Scarlette and members of the blind and low vision community, receiving positive online reviews from legally blind influencers like Molly Burke and Oceanne Comtois – and on Reflections, a podcast produced by Accessible Media Inc.
Strategic planning transformed this project from a one-time ‘feel-good’ makeover into a long-term advocacy tool for the Shine Foundation. While the original intent was a charitable gift for one individual, strategic planning identified a much larger systemic barrier: the beauty industry’s assumption of sight at every stage of the user experience.
This contribution helped the team prioritize autonomy over assistance. Rather than simply "helping" a blind user, planning focused on agency – the fundamental right for a person to recreate a look independently and on their own terms.
By uncovering that a braille-centric solution would functionally exclude 90% of the target audience, strategic planning directed the team away from industry tropes toward a tactile-led navigation system. This allowed the Shine Foundation to differentiate itself in a crowded non-profit space by moving beyond traditional charity and instead championing Dignity by Design.
The campaign earned 120 pieces of press coverage, including major features in ELLE, CBC, and The National Post. This surge of interest generated over 34 million earned impressions – all achieved with $0 in media spend – effectively bridging the awareness gap between the Shine Foundation and larger, better-known non-profits.
More importantly, the project moved the needle on human agency, receiving heartfelt validation from the community and prominent legally blind influencers like Molly Burke. Site traffic soared to 458 times their benchmark, connecting them with an entirely new generation of donors and advocates. By prioritizing autonomy over assistance, they didn't just give Scarlette a dream; they provided a blueprint for a better, more inclusive beauty industry.
They needed to give Scarlette the best possible experience in realizing her dream, while simultaneously elevating the Shine Foundation’s mission to reach the brand’s key audiences – both prospective donors and the blind and low-vision community.
The agency realized that a one-time gift wasn’t enough; Scarlette and her community deserved the agency to recreate self-expression on their own terms. Their objective was to move beyond "performative inclusion" – like the industry’s reliance on braille, which only 10% of blind Canadians can actually read – and create a functional solution that provided true independence.
The strategy shifted the focus from "helping" to prioritizing autonomy over assistance. They bypassed the braille barrier by developing an intuitive language of touch, using easy-to-follow raised arrows for orientation and distinct shapes for color identification so that Scarlette could navigate the palette instinctively without a sighted person’s guide.
To ensure this independence reached the emotional experience of beauty, we integrated a raised QR code that triggered an audio guide. Using descriptive language recommended by the CNIB, the guide provides the same nuance and detail a sighted person gets from a mirror. By partnering with Indigenous-owned brand Cheekbone Beauty, that reflected a deliberate shift toward Dignity by Design, finally putting the Shine Foundation’s mission in the spotlight.

Credits

Founder & President: Samantha Margolis Fogle
EVP & Managing Partner: Tyler Robson
Partner & Executive Creative Director: Kim Tarlo
Senior Vice-President, Business Lead: Brian Flaman
Executive Creative Director: Patrice Pollack
VP, Strategy: Patrick Henderson
VP, Group Creative Director: Laura Rothstein
Associate Creative Director: Nicole Nyholt
Associate Creative Director: Aidan Johnston
Designer: Keenan Mathura
Designer: Garthikan Gobinathan
Head Of Production: Ben Sulzenko
Senior Producer: Samantha Fichtner
Offline Editor: Brett Erina
Account Supervisor: Camille Phillip
PR Associate Director: Gabrielle Lamy
PR Account Manager: Brigid Savage
Production: Partners Film
Executive Producer: Gigi Realini
Director: Paul Short
Photography: Roaming Focus
Photographer: Mike Palmer
Offline Editor: Brett Erina
Colour: Animal Chain
Colourist: Ana Escorse
Audio Mix + Sfx: Grayson Music
Described Audio: Inclusive Media
Online: Insiders Content
Makeup: Cheekbone Beauty @Cheekbonebeauty
3d Printing: Objex Unlimited @Objexunlimited

Client: Shine Foundation
Ceo: Tiffany Houston
Manager, Marketing & Communications: Jennifer Stead
Manager, Program: Marissa Izma
Program Coordinator: Claire Macpherson