Package design

How to use packaging design to address the evolving needs of today’s consumers

The definition of redesign, per the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is to revise in appearance, function or content. In packaging, that happens more frequently than one might imagine.

When brands are considering a new design, one question to answer is: Why? Is it for a more modern look, such as digital printing or other special graphics effects? Is it to revise the text placement? Change colors for an entire product line? Change to sustainable materials or another pack container?

While the answers may be apparent, make sure to do your due diligence — and check out “5-Step Guide to Rebuilding Your Brand” on page 13. Do your loyal followers recognize your brand’s colors, logo? For example, the yellow in McDonald’s arches, the M&M’s brown logo, Coca-Cola’s red and white, PepsiCo’s red, white and blue, and Hormel’s green and red.

Do consumers rely on your brand’s packaging structure for their needs, and if so what will consumers think if it changes? Have you conducted focus groups? Are you seeking a new design just because the company thinks it’s time?

Below are some prime examples of “before and after” designs that prevailed in recent design challenges. Perhaps it will help in your decision to do — or not to do — a redesign.

Before & After Packaging Designs

Nielsen recently honored the top packaging design innovations around the world. The 2019 Nielsen Design Impact Awards recognizes successful package redesigns for consumer packaged goods (CPG). Over the past three years, the award has gained distinction and prestige within the design community for underscoring the real and measurable business value of outstanding package design. For the first time, Nielsen included global submissions, netting 10 winning brands from around the world.

“Brands around the world are designing with change in mind. Across all 10 honorees, we saw common themes that bridged their redesign success. Brands who are winning with design are designing with a hyper-focus on the ebbs and flows occurring within the business and consumer landscape. They are leaning into design to stretch beyond a category norm, using design to address white space or leveraging design to respond to shifts in consumer preferences and behavior whether that’s the growth of health and wellness, increasing screen time or changing retail platforms. Ultimately, this year’s winners were best in class at creatively using their pack redesign as the vehicle to effectively address the evolving needs of today’s consumer,” said Kyle McKinley, VP of Nielsen BASES Design Solutions.

This year’s winners represent a wide range of business situations across food, beverage, personal and household care. Some transformed brands; others tacked challenges with competing in saturated categories; and some adapted heritage brands to stay relevant amid an evolving FMCG landscape.

Nielsen identified four lessons that this year’s winners learned, which each brand leveraged as they redesigned their product packaging. The need to:

• Design beyond category norms
• Design to promote health & wellness
• Design for white space
• Design for screen time and new purchase platforms

One award winner that recently went through a redesign is Mars Wrigley Confectionery’s M&M’s. The brand used the same iconic colors and redesigned the packaging in a “sharing size” stand up pouch, complete with a resealable closure. Mars, who was responsible for the design, also revamped the graphics. The new look and pack format is used for its milk chocolate, peanut and peanut butter products.

“We wanted to improve the shopper experience and enable consumers to identify our products faster and easier, and so began the M&M’s stand-up pouch aisle transformation,” said Allison Miazga-Bedrick, M&Ms brand director.

Skyr is becoming more popular for its high protein and unique taste. Icelandic Provisions moved from a tan-colored pack to a bright white, moving graphics around for more white space on its 5.3 oz. Skyr tubs. While the graphics are still there, they are used in a more eye-pleasing way. The design was created by Colorado-based creative agency Moxie Sozo.

The company and design agency knew the importance of conveying a premium product through refined fruit imagery. The matte label was created so the product could be photographed well by amateurs on social media. (That’s thinking ahead!)

Another Nielsen winner, South Africa’s Amka Products produces Playboy deodorant for men. The redesign captures the essence of each variant with a better use of colors to determine the different scents. The deodorant comes in 150 ml aluminum aerosol cans with creative design by Sainsbury Design.

The big challenge here was to balance creativity within a single brand identity. Also, instead of a cap that consumers frequently throw away or lose, the brand went with an actuator that could be twisted and locked into position.

Other winners include:

• Nice! (U.S.; Parent Company: Walgreens; Design Agency: Soulsight)
• Hess Select (U.S.; Parent Company: The Hess Collection Winery; Designer: Michael McDermott)
• Alpura (Mexico; Parent Company: Alpura; Design Agency: Foic Lecanda)
• Arawana Oil (China; Parent Company: Yihai Kerry; Design Agency: Dongdao Creative Branding Group and Posher Design)
• MAQ (South Africa; Parent Company: Bliss Brands; Design Agency: Fountainhead)
• Prestígio (Brazil; Parent Company: Nestlé; Design Agency: DBA B+G)
• Satis! (Brazil; Parent Company: Ajinomoto do Brazil; Design Agency: Arcwwbrasil)

Paperboard Design Trends Delivered

The Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) also just held its folding carton design competition, and shares trends seen from new designs.

PPC launched a digital printing and converting category in the 2018 competition, and this year’s event saw more digital entries than ever, showcasing the expanded use of digital technologies.

“Digital print and cutting is being used much more widely, and not just for personalization, but also to add speed and flexibility to the supply chain,” said Judge Tony Hitchin, general manager of Pro Carton.

Digital Print: Zumbiel Packaging submitted a digital print entry — folding carton sleeves for Home Chef’s fresh, refrigerated, ready-to-cook meal kits. Home Chef offers seasonal menu offerings, which means that exact ingredients and nutritional facts are not available well in advance.

Home Chef’s need for flexibility lent itself perfectly to Zumbiel’s digital printing and workflows. Zumbiel receives 24 new graphic files for various meal kits each week. They then print, cut, and glue those 24 unique SKUs in 24-48 hours. The filled cartons hit store shelves nationwide no later than two weeks after Zumbiel receives the art.

Beverage Packaging Sustainability: Another reveal was the great strides in sustainability from the beverage space, specifically in replacing plastic with renewable paperboard. There was a significant move away from plastic hi-cones and shrink-wrap to highly decorated carton-based multipack solutions for both bottles and canned drinks. Not only is it a more environmentally friendly substrate, it also allows for the use of high-end finishings and design techniques unique to paperboard.

For example, Wicked Weed Brewing’s new carton-based multipacks in the main photo. They come in Garcon de Ferme (farmhouse ale fermented with peaches), La Bonté Pear (farmhouse ale with pear), La Bonté Rosé (farmhouse ale fermented with grapes) and Chien de Ferme (farmhouse ale fermented with cherries).

Virtual Window: One new design concept for 2019 was the ‘virtual window.’ PaperWorks Industries Inc. added this feature to a Tampax Pearl carton, substituting a plastic window for a descriptive graphic of the product inside. Designed to appear as a window on the pack, the graphics include appropriate shadowing and depth-of-field. As well, it is a more sustainable solution, cutting out the plastic.

Other interesting techniques included intricate laser die-cutting that eliminates the need for printing; gradient glitter that either changed in color or intensity from top to bottom of the carton; and innovative new tamper-resistant designs.

The Importance of Product Packaging Design

How many times did you stop to check out a product simply because the packaging caught your attention? When you had to choose between two similar products, did the way those products look influence your decision? While we should try our best to not judge things by appearance, the truth is, we care a lot about first impressions. And in a world like this, the way a product’s packaging looks matters just as much as the product itself. Because no matter how good your product is, poor packaging design is going to drag sales down.

There are a lot of things to take into consideration when choosing the packaging of a product. It needs to protect what’s inside, allow for easy storage, display information about the product and catch the attention of customers when displayed on a shelf. So how do you go on to create head-turning product packaging that is functional as well?

By learning more about product packaging and why it matters for the success of a product.

Main functions of product packaging

Design matters incredibly much, but packaging functionality is even more important. Here’s what good packaging should do for the product it contains:

• Protection: the main purpose of product packaging is to protect what’s inside from damage during transit, in storage rooms or while it sits on the shelf in stores. Thus, product packaging needs to be reliable and sturdy, to prevent tampering with the product.
• Attraction: when consumers see your products on the shelves, it needs to be attractive enough to get their attention. This can be done by using certain color schemes, intricate designs or custom boxes that are both functional and attractive.
• Information: packaging needs to also include information about the product, including how to use it, ingredients it contains or expiration dates. This information helps customers decide if they want to purchase your product or not, without the need to speak to a store assistant.
• Differentiation: packaging also helps brands differentiate their products from similar ones through logos, colors or shapes. Innovative designs will make your product stand out and attract customers.

Why does packaging design matter?

Product packaging is, above all, a practical tool, but it also means much more than that for the product and brand it represents. It is the packaging that, through its design, convinces a consumer to purchase a product or not.

Packaging design matters for many reasons, but here are those we believe to be the most important:

Gives a strong first impression

As we’ve already established, first impressions matter a lot, especially when your product needs to stand out in a sea of similar products. Eye-catching packaging design will differentiate your product from others on the market, be it on the shelves of stores or on the pages of an eCommerce website. This it you first chance to win consumers over and get them to know your brand, so take as much advantage of it as you can.

Creates and supports brand identity

Your brand has a story – an identity you have been working to create. What better way to emphasize on brand identity than packaging design? After all, it’s what consumers see first. To ensure packaging design tells an accurate story of your brand, make sure it clearly displays your company logo and makes use of fonts, colors and trademarks associated with your company. This way, consumers will be able to recognize your products anywhere.

Communicates with customers

No matter how much you play with packaging design, don’t forget that it must also be informative. It must communicate with customers and tell them everything they need to know to convince them of the product inside. Good packaging design needs to be able to answer the following questions:

• Who is this product created for?
• What is this product used for?
• Where can I learn more about the manufacturer?
• Does it expire? When?
• How will this product improve my life?

How to create attractive product packaging

In order to design good product packaging, you need to first determine a few aspects. These three questions will help the designer create something that speaks to the values and image of your brand:

• What product are you selling?

This is not supposed to be a difficult or tricky question, but one that helps you figure out the functionality of the packaging. The material, size and type of product you are selling are going to determine how sturdy and large the packaging needs to be.

• Who is going to buy your product?

Knowing your audience helps you learn how to appeal to them as well. When creating the product packaging, it should be done with your ideal customer in mind.

• What is my brand aesthetic?

Packaging design needs to represent your brand, so you need to tell the designer what aesthetics to use. This includes colors, fonts, logos and even imagery if that’s the case.

After determining the aspects above, it’s time to proceed to actually working on the packaging design. Here. The designer will take into consideration the product itself, the competition and your budget, to create a design that speaks to your audience, represents your brand and is functional.

After the design is ready, you need to evaluate it based on a few criteria:

• Easily understandable: By simply looking at your product, will consumers be able to tell what it is and what it does? The last thing you want to do is confuse customers.
• Honesty: Does your packaging honestly represent your product? Ensure that pictures or graphics used on the packaging are as realistic as possible. You should, of course, use your best images, but make sure they don’t make your product appear to be more than it is.
• Versatility: Even though you may only have a single product available for sale now, you may want to expand in the future. Make sure the packaging design is versatile enough to accommodate additional products when the time asks for it.