What makes good packaging?
Posted: June 9, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized 3 Comments »We’re about to start a large packaging project and thought it timely to revisit what makes good packaging. Ideally well-designed packaging will speak to the consumer, it will say pick me up, buy me, I look good and therefore will perform what I promise. It will align with what the consumer is looking for, distinguish you from your competitors and create brand recognition. There are many examples of amazing packaging design, but unfortunately there are more examples of mediocre design. In order to create original, beautiful, functional and appealing packaging design here are some things to consider.
Colour
Colour influences your mood – whether you’re aware of it or not. Some well known traditional colour responses are: blue = calm, yellow = uplifting, pink = frivolous, red = makes you hungry (macca’s and many food labels invest in red). Whilst colours per se are well known to give these responses – we like to approach colour in regards to “feel” so as not to discount unexpected colour combinations. I especially like surprising colour combinations that ensure the product stands out.
An example of an unexpected colourway is the reserved feel of the colour pallet for this gorgeous identity, designed by UK-based Studioh for the National Trust, and featured on Lovely Packaging here.
Its great to own a colour – Tiffany Blue, Cadbury Purple, Apple White/Silver – the brand names instantly conjure up their packaging design and colour, a win for brand recognition! So don’t discount unexpected colour combos, or define that packaging “must” be a certain colour too early on in the design process.
Greater than the sum of its part
Packs should look good on their own, but should look extra amazing when stacked on a shelf together. Consumers must be drawn to your display – and blocking through colour or other design elements to look consistent on a shelf is one way of doing this.
The identity for Japanese 100% Chocolate Cafe (wish I could read Japanese), commands attention on shelf through consistent design elements – it helps that the focus is on great typography and a complementary colour scheme. In Australia, Continental blocks through their “C” and the colour red – they even ran a consumer campaign telling us to look out for the new “C” on their packs (although personally I think their packaging is way to busy).
More info about this 100% Chocolate Cafe project can be found on Lovely Packaging.
Strategy
It goes without saying that your packaging should tie into your business strategy. Apple is a great example of ensuring their strategy of well designed, simple, good looking products is communicated right down to how their products look on shelf.
Apple packaging reflects its modern cutting edge approach.
I especially love products with a bit of humour… Dare you not to smile at these cute and quirky cows – the strategy here is to make you feel good, which in-turn applies to the “natural goodness” of the yoghurt inside. Again more brilliant work by Studioh.
Back in Oz, Nudie employs a similar strategy – humour to demonstrate authenticity and no BS – a core element of their identity – which is reflected in their all natural products.
Typography
Your choice of typography will say a lot about the brand. Old-school typefaces give a handmade, traditional feel. Organic, handwritten fonts say “natural”, “organic” and “additive-free” – I’m all handmade and all trustworthy (the new Be Natural range of cereal taps into this). Many cleaning products use bold uppercase sans serif fonts to shout out about their benefits (BAM - hmmm Bamersise – how did the ad agency get that one through?). And delicate, thin typefaces are found all over the beauty space.
This work by student Adam Gerstner showcases brilliant typography mixing an old world feel with a thoroughly modern aesthetic (view more about it here).
I’m dieing to get my hands on this beautiful Eleia olive oil – its simple, clean with absolutely beautiful typography. The idea “comes from the process of protecting olive trees from bugs by painting them on the bottom part with white protection paint” – so eloquently put by Greece based Bob Studio who is behind the work. It makes we want to pick up the bottle and slather it around Jamie Oliver style over anything that comes into view. More about the project can be found at DieLine here.
Tangible Feel
A product has to also feel nice to pick up, to touch and to use – does it feel as good as it looks and vice versa! Good design should go beyond just the graphics appearing on the pack.
Simplicity
Don’t feel the need to shout out every single positive benefit of your product – the design should speak for itself. Putting too many messages on a product makes it look cheap, and you run the risk of undermining what really does differentiate your product from the competitors. Don’t feel the need to cover every inch of space with imagery or words, a clean pack is often more compelling and interesting than one that is trying to do and say too much.
Case in point is the identity for 100% chocolate café – simple typography, bold use of single colour with a beautiful and very cool feel. The core product idea is simply and effectively tied to the packaging, and gives consumers a reason to come back for more – clear numbers are aligned to different chocolate mixes, inviting all chocoholics to discover what sweetner, country origin or flavour is best suited to their palette (I’m busy googling how I can get my hands on the whole range right now!).
Our identity design for Jasco art products shows a simple but bold design, with clean and simple typography and minimal messaging.
Research and Inspiration
It’s great seeing what appeals to consumers in other markets and countries, and there are many fantastic packaging compilation sites out there – many of the examples shown in the post are compiled from the following sites, which I highly recommend visiting. The differing packaging reflects local consumer tastes and can really make you rethink your approach to different design packaging projects.
http://lovelypackage.com/
http://www.thedieline.com/
