5 top tips for perfect packaging design
Design Pit
Packaging sells. It is a fact.
We all buy with our eyes and packaging plays a major part in our buying decisions and habits.
In recent studies by BusinessInsider.com, BrandPackaging.com and The PaperWorker.com, it was found that 70% of purchase decisions are made in store; so shelf presence is key.
Over a third of purchases are based on packaging; think about how you choose your bottle of wine in Tesco or Asda?
And 66% of consumers have tried a new product based on the packaging.
Based on these three stats, it is clear to see that designing product packaging is a crucial factor in getting noticed, being remembered and demanding purchase.
Here are our Top Five Tips for Perfect Packaging Design…
1) Positioning of your Product Where is your product positioned in terms of brand and place within the market?
Is your product a premium product or a lower end product?
Knowing and understanding this will help form the brief for your packaging, a more high end product will command more input to layout, balance, shape, form, functionality and production values of the pack.
A premium product should be reflected in high quality packaging, just think about Apple’s packaging for example.
Lower end products don’t necessarily require as much input as higher end alternatives but that doesn’t mean care and consideration should not be taken when designing the packaging.
2) Inclusion of Mandatory Items A lot of products out there will have elements that must be included and displayed clearly on the packaging that delivers them to market.
Think about alcohol products, they must include alcohol by volume measures and volume within bottle.
All food products are required to display whether nuts are present within the ingredients. What fundamental, mandatory information must be included on your packaging and how will that affect layout and design.
3) Be Bold and Make an Impression Design your packaging to reflect the environment where it will be sold most – in a shop or online.
Look to design something that will stand out on a shelf or screen, think about what appeals to your target demographic and how your packaging will arrest their attention?
Being bold and getting creative with wording, messages, colour, layout and typography will set your product apart from the chasing pack; but ensure you’ve done your research and know what competitors are doing so you can improve on what is already out there.
4) Understand Production Techniques and Capabilities How and what your packaging is made with or from, the shape and form of it and how the production process starts, runs and ends is incredibly important.
How many colours of ink can you use? What materials will work best to protect the contents?
Will any inks affect the contents? How big or small is the packaging?
How does the product sit within the packaging and how is the fulfilment carried out?
There are so many factors to fully understand how a package is formed and produced, and these elements are a big part of the design equation.
5) Impact on our Environment With the move against use of plastic in general day to day life gathering pace in recent times, having eco-friendly packaging is a very good way of spinning some positive PR when launching or relaunching a product.
Think about environmental impact in terms of carbon footprint as well, how are component parts or materials shipped from source to production, this is an area where companies have come unstuck when making claims of eco-friendly packaged goods.
Having eco-friendly packaging can impact on how a design is executed and can be made into a prominent feature on pack; this feature will also enhance the company brand in the eyes of consumers.