Packaging Design
Packaging design is the process that allows your packaging to fulfil a wide range of functions. It has to be functional, holding your product, enabling it to be transported and stored. It needs to stand out from your competitors' packaging in some way, as well as appeal to customers in-store and online.
Packaging design is the connection of form, structure, materials, color, imagery, typography, and regulatory information with ancillary design elements to make a product suitable for marketing. We aim with clear design understanding of your goals, trends and carefully crafting all the aspects of your brand, which involves the strategizing smallest detail to the most significant statement.
Rules of Packaging Design
Know your customer
Before anything, know that the customer is of utmost importance. The customer is the one making the ultimate decision and will be the person to choose between your product and your competitors. Prior to designing, know the customer profile.
Form follows function
Once you have an understanding of who it is you’re designing for, it’s time to know what you’re designing around. You may have some really neat ideas, but do they make sense for the product you’re designing around?
Simplicity Sells
We like it when something works on the first try, when website URLs are easy to remember, and just a plain ol’ PB&J instead of an extravagant meal. In a world as complex as ours, simplicity is a joy. So, to attract customers to a product, show them how simple it is with a simple package design. Minimal design comes off as attractive, elegant, and inviting.
Think of the Brand
Whether you’re creating a design for one product, or several, it’s vital to let shoppers know where the product is coming from. Packaging design is a great way to radiate the company’s brand.
Test
There are an infinite amount of ways to display the information you’re providing consumers with on a package. Mockup several different ideas and look at them yourself. Which option stands out the most to you and your friends? It’s important to get the opinions of others here - you’re a little biased.
Take a peek at your Competitors
You may have some really original ideas, but it’s always a good idea to study the ideas of the competition. Visit the stores at which your product will be sold and look at where it will be displayed. Know whether the product will be hanging from something, standing on a shelf, or on display in a checkout line.
Stay in Line
If you’re designing packaging for multiple products in the same line, it’s crucial to make it look like they’re related. They don’t have to be twins or triplets but make them family. If the color isn’t consistent, keep the pattern there. Your packaging should allow for variation without straying too far from the fact that these products belong together.
Prime Printing
It doesn’t matter how great the design is; if the quality of the package stinks, you’re not going to sell. Once you choose the design you feel most comfortable with finalizing, make sure you have a printer that has experience with package printing. Now is not the time to guess around with the printer - if you don’t have the experience, don’t be shy about it.