This paper reports on the findings of an ongoing study investigating design requirements and the older adult. It is well recognised that many products do not meet the requirements of the rapidly growing older adult population. A number of reasons exist for this including a mismatch between the data produced by biomechanical testing and the requirements of the design community. A methodology is described which closes the loop between these disciplines ensuring that designers have relevant and useable data with which they can design for the ageing population. This particular study focuses on the design of everyday consumer packaging. The paper describes, in detail, a survey which clearly identifies the types of packaging that older adults struggle with most together with coping strategies commonly employed. Initial findings of an ongoing ”study of practicing designers‘ and an ”observational video study‘ are also presented.