4 Tips for Creating Packaging Designs That Delight Your Customers
Great packaging design can make or break your product.
In a market saturated with competitors fighting for customers, an eye-catching design truly matters for making the perfect first impression. Not only does your packaging design contribute to your product aesthetics brand equity, but it’s also a practical way to protect your product.
A compelling written description of the product is helpful, but a good designer knows the font, graphics, colors, and even the material further communicates to the consumer why they should buy it.
Here are four creative best practices that can help make your product packaging designs stand out and delight customers.
1. Give It a Visually Appealing Color Palette
Human eyes are sensitive to color, which can represent or evoke emotions.
In packaging color psychology, black may convey elegance. When it is combined with popular metals such as gold or silver on matte black, it creates a feeling of luxury.
Shades of a particular color also have an effect. For example, green is for organic and eco-friendly products. Lighter shades of green often mean affordable, while the darker end of the spectrum means high-end.
Brands with an existing color palette should be consistent when it comes to product packaging. You can’t stray too much from the brand’s visuals except when the products are meant to target different markets. However, visual appeal is only half the battle; packaging design should be simple and clear.
2. Make Your Packaging Design Tell a Story
You should be aware of the content that needs to go on the container.
Customers scanning the aisles may pick up the product because it is appealing, but they may not buy it when they don’t find the information they need. It should include content that answers the what, who, and how.
What the product and whom it is for should be clearly stated in the label. As for the how, it should fit the circumstance of where it is sold. This factor should be taken into consideration especially in the age of e-commerce. Products typically have layers, including the outer layer, inner layer, and the product itself. Depending on what you have, some items may need more layers than others do.
Products that are sold online should have a more secure packaging to include branded cushioning materials such as foam, bubble wrap, or tissue paper. The outer packaging helps protect the product from the external elements. The inner packaging will increase the chances of the product being shipped safely without damages. The last one is for the label.
3. Make Your Packaging Functional
Practicality is a design aspect that is, unfortunately, passed over in favor of adding more emphasis on aesthetics.
Functional packaging is helpful for consumers who may be young, persons with disabilities, or seniors. For example, ketchup that comes in ordinary bottles is easy to use, but for those with limited mobility or dexterity, it can be a chore to get the product out. Therefore, not only are squeeze bottles more practical, but they also function better that way.
4. Add Versatility and Reusability
The design should be versatile to easily accommodate new changes.
Product formulas are improved all the time, or variations are added to offer more options, and the design should be modified to signify those changes.
Consumerism is one of the biggest contributors to the world’s trash. While packaging is necessary to sell, businesses need to be conscious of how it affects the planet in the long run.
Packaging should be reusable for other purposes. For example, boxes from clothing companies can be transformed into a clothes hanger. If it cannot be repurposed for other things, packaging can be more eco-friendly if they’re made with biodegradable materials to decrease plastic waste.
Get Creative and Make Your Packaging Designs Stand Out
Creative packaging should be bold enough to stand out in a saturated market with an interesting color palette on its labels.
Products sold in physical and online stores should be packaged using practical and eco-friendly materials without sacrificing quality.
There are no limits to creativity, and those that utilize innovative packaging are celebrated for it.
This post was authored by Kayla Bennet, Content Relationship Manager at Packlane.
You Might Be Interested In
