Do you know it takes only 7 seconds for customers to make a purchase decision? And hence these seconds are the most critical time to attract customers and lead to sales. The competition level has enhanced the saturation level in the market, and thus it becomes essential for brands to speak loudly for themselves. It is possible only through the first point of interaction with a brand which takes place by packaging design.

61% say they are much more likely to repeat purchase of a luxury product if it came in premium packaging. 35% of consumers report they view unboxing videos. 50% of shoppers would recommend your product if it came in gift-like or branded packaging.

The retail stores have an enormous number of products and a lot of products fly from shelve due to its attractive and eye-catchy designing. How can we achieve this state, and what are fundamentals which should be taken care of while packaging design is discussed below?

Businesses build impactful first impressions with their customers through packaging and branding. Visit our website to get started and gain competitive advantage by telling their brand story through packaging design!

FEW ELEMENTS WHICH WILL ENSURE EFFECTIVE PACKAGING DESIGN

1. Clarity and Simplicity

The concept of “less is more” is in the boom when we talk about the packaging. Due to high competition, there are many products, and hence it is not easy to task to remember all the elements of various brands packaging design. Therefore to attract and sustain customers attention, make sure you do not include too many unnecessary items in the design which can mislead customers. The packaging design should communicate clarity in brand name and product.

Example: Apple is the best example which provides magical packaging with its simplistic nature. It believes in keeping things precise and elegant in and out.  The best quality box with single colour reflects just four things: the product name, a brand logo, a product beauty shot and content about the product.

2. Honesty

It is very subjective when we discuss honesty and realistic approach. Brands always make a mistake of over-promising the client in excitement. Packaging act as the primary point of communication between client and brand; hence it should act as a mirror image of your brand in the market. Your brand should commit what they can offer and should not disappoint customers by promising what they cannot. Use the Front of Pack, which is the central point of attention on the retail shelf to clearly express what the brand stands are offering and its benefits.

The motive should not be to display best, make sure your packaging is honest and communicating the reality.

3. Settle on a hierarchy

Designing has its architecture which each packaging designer should follow, which is a critical element of front-panel design. The hierarchy goes in below manner  1) brand name; 2) product; 3) variety; and 4) benefit/value proposition. Ensure all the messages you put should be as per the priority and importance that they will be placed in order, top to bottom, on the package, but it’s a good reference point to start with. Remember customer will always observe what you want them to see hence a systematic and consistent information hierarchy wise will always ensure your customer find what they desire and allow for a satisfying experience. Saving the shopper timing in picking out a product should always be an effective brands priority.

4. Who will act as “HERO”

Analyze and understand your brand, its vision and core values. Scrutinize yourself again and again with every time harder questions. You should have clarity about your brand USP. Is there a unique value proposition? What is the first product benefit product is rendering to customers, lifestyle advantage, or convenience gain? Based on this, determine what the most important single idea brand is will communicate about your product. Align secondary brand messages under the original roof message. If your brand is the hero, consider to highlight it by a tagline with the logo. Look for inspiration out of the category, which can often lead to breakout design. Then align the ancillary elements along with the hero, which can be colours, shapes, photography, illustrations to reinforce the hero of your brand story.

5. If no quality printing, design sucks

No matter how creative the packaging design is but if the quality of the printing stinks then your all efforts are drained, and you will end up losing sales.

Ensure your designs are feasible for printing and your printer is having the rich experience with package printing.

Hence should be taken into consideration near the start of the designing process to align all of the hard work which results in a great outcome.

Some printers are professionally specialized in printing packaging designs and contact them because they will ensure productive output as per the competitive market. If you do not have the proper elements in your vicinity, then do research and make sure that whichever place you choose specializes in package design printing or at least has some experience with it.

PACKAGING DESIGN PROCESS

TO GET AN SUCCESSFUL PACKAGING DESIGN STORY FOR YOUR BRAND ALONG WITH ABOVE ELEMENTS ENSURE YOU FOLLOW PACKAGING DESIGN PROCESS AS BELOW :

1. Understand packaging design layers  

There is always outer, inner packaging and leading product packaging so analyze which part of the packaging is to be required to be done so that accordingly we can align expertise.

2. Finalize the right type of packaging material

Determine your product packaging design layout and analyze competitive research, your product itself and your budget. Not only you want to stand out from the rest of the competition, but if your product is composed of a specific material, then ensure its availability and overall specifications.

For example, if you are into the business of selling organic foods, you will require BPA-free frozen meal packaging. Hence will have a significant impact on the manufacture and design of your final product packaging.

3. Plan design Architecture

There are various ways you can make your packaging stand out in the minds of your customers by creating productive, informative graphics on how to properly use your product, customer testimonials, colour combinations, typography and memorable tagline, jingle.

All these aspects of your package design are essential; shoppers are most likely to only remember one point of your packaging. Which is known as a hero in packaging design as discussed above. Hence choose a design which will stand out and focus on making that the highlight of your packaging?

4. Approach printer

By using the number of colours, type of materials, quantity and content will help to analyze costing details from printer.

During this stage, keep these considerations in mind:

  • Colour variation options
  • Digital vs offset printing
  • Die-lines
  • File-format requirements

5. Feedback phase

Before moving to the final stage of the launch, develop a product packaging design questionnaire that you can give to a test group so that you can collect essential feedback and get rectified as per requirements.

Here are a few essential questions which you should include in your questionnaire:

  • What is the key message you get when looking at this packaging?
  • What are the target customers for this packaging?
  • What does the product do?

The collective feedback you will receive helps to determine whether you should move forward with your package design, make a few modifications, or go back to the drawing board.

CONCLUSION

Always remember the cost of poor packaging design is much higher than the professional packaging agency. While inadequate packaging can also affect negatively on your brand goodwill and image in the market. If you want to create an impact in the minds of customers and not only on the shelves of retail but also in the minds of consumers then think about the best packaging design that shows honesty, eco-friendliness, usefulness, simplicity and everything discussed above. Now, if you are planning to create a WOW customer experience, then get started and contact DesignerPeople who will help you to grow your brand.