Packaging selections are made based on various considerations, including cost-effectiveness, product protection, and even regulatory requirements. In many cases, products themselves dictate the best packaging methods, steering producers toward strategies that make the most sense for each type of merchandise.
One important facet of packaging, however, is limited only by the creativity and inventiveness of packaging industry professionals. Because they are unique to each package, design elements allow brands to make an impression and stand out among competitors.
Well-executed package design accomplishes several important functions. For starters, graphics and artwork play-up brand identity, using colors and proprietary imagery to support brand awareness. Depending upon what’s inside, a package may also convey important information about its contents. And since performance is just as important as appearance, the best designs enable enhanced functionality, like pour spouts, carry handles, and other helpful features.
Shape, materials, text, combinations, and custom merchandising features add further to the possibilities, giving designers the tools they need to continually reinvent modern packaging strategies. Regardless of what you sell, underestimating packaging potential leaves money on the table. To make the most of packaging design, share your vision with the right packager, and watch design dreams come true.
Creative Solutions Bring Packages to Life
Packaging designs are as diverse as the array of consumer packaged goods, so there is no “right” way to get the job done. On the contrary, there is always room for a fresh approach, giving progressive packaging companies an open canvas for creating custom designs. The multi-faceted industry blends art, performance, marketing, conservation, and innovation, solving packaging challenges for food companies and other producers. These forward-thinking approaches use modern materials and progressive thinking to keep consumer products in the spotlight:
Hand Drawn and Homespun
Modern consumers are tuned-in to organics, sustainability, and craft production. As a reflection of these values, producers are having success portraying goods as “homestyle,” using simple hand-lettered designs and basic fonts. Drawings are also popular among food producers, rather than photo imagery, reinforcing the small-batch quality customers like.
Social media, mobile communications, and other advertising channels expose shoppers to continuous static from marketers. As a result, cutting through the noise to make personal connections has become an important part of modern promotions. Taking impersonal campaigns offline, for instance, and reinforcing brand accessibility with hand-drawn labels is one-way producers are forming friendly images. The approachable strategy humanizes consumer goods following a long period during which anonymous mass production dominated the airwaves.
Clear Advantages
To support the public’s increased call for transparency, many producers are taking a literal approach. See-through packaging affords interaction that other types of containers do not, enabling consumers to inspect products closely before making purchases. Food freshness, in particular, is on display for shoppers when clear plastic containers are used.
Added Functional Value
The status quo often presents the easiest path forward, so adequate packaging solutions are slow to change. Until a better, more efficient, less expensive, or more functional solution comes along, consumers grow accustomed to particular types of containers. Technology creates new possibilities, however, so new materials and production capabilities often yield improved packages. The 21st century promises exciting tech advances, so evolving packaging will continue to speak to the needs of modern users.
In addition to protecting, housing, and facilitating product transportation, forward-thinking packages account for longer functional lives. Reusable, resalable, and repurposed packages are the future of design, so the latest innovations continue to push the envelope. A wine crate doubling as a rack or food packaging serving as plates and bowls are examples of the new thinking emerging in the packaging industry.
Subtlety Sells
Competitive consumer markets once pushed packaging design in an “in your face” direction, relying on powerful, attention-grabbing features to close sales. In a reversal, modern packaging design has taken on an understated tone, using genuine, subtle tactics to make an impression rather than knocking over shoppers with bold schemes. Although there is still an emphasis on quality and conveying the value of luxury products, soft color palettes, and reserved presentations are filling in for unapproachable exclusive branding strategies once favored.
Abstract Art and Geometric Patterns
While some luxury goods exude sophisticated minimalism, other brands find success using abstract patterns and geometric designs. In the crowded wine and beer verticals, for example, bottlers use stark geometric labels to stand out on store shelves.
Historical References
Style continually revolves, so historical imagery and retro scenes are once again finding their way to the forefront of the consumer packaging industry. Young shoppers and nostalgic buyers alike embrace old-fashioned photos, drawings, and slogans. Producers sometimes revive graphics and artwork from earlier days, incorporating vintage advertising art into modern packaging designs.
Black and White
Simplicity speaks to modern consumers, so stark black-and-white designs are appealing. White packaging with black text, for instance, is a classic approach that provides a familiar, traditional look. Black backgrounds with white cut-out letters, on the other hand, convey modern design ideals.
These are only a few of the design trends influencing consumer packaged goods. Producers seeking to maximize the impact of packaging design should consult with a well-established, turnkey contract packaging company. Their experience solving diverse packaging dilemmas helps dial-in workable solutions for your product line. With the help of seasoned packagers, your distinctive designs will make the right impression on discerning consumers.
Apparently my comment was too big to leave on Linkedin as it would not let me, so I will leave it here. One of the facets of your article hit upon a subject that is near and dear to my heart regarding organics.
Retro, Vintage, and hand drawn images speak to the consumer who is becoming more educated with respect how we are being bombarded on a daily basis with pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, insecticides, etc. Many of these consumers have a keen desire of going back to or at least the concept of the days when all food was organic and non-gmo. We want clean, we want green, we want simple, we want honesty, we want quality. Packaging and product that can incorporate these attributes will capture increasingly larger portions of the market for their segments as that consumer awareness grows with regards to what we are putting in and on our bodies. Organics and non-gmo’s are rapidly expanding and the marketing needs to stay grounded in how to best appeal to that market by keeping it simple and thus add to the differentiation from the less expensive mass produced alternatives.
This article is very useful. for all those looking for creative packaging designs, do read this!