With so many products out there to choose from, consumers are bombarded with packaging every day. So what will make your product packaging stand out from the crowd? We introduce the 5 P’s – the things we think can help give you some product packaging ideas that will make the best of your products.
- Plain – by plain product packaging we don’t mean boring but simply that sometimes it is the simple designs that stand out the most. Using a few bold colours, which customers may recognise as being part of your corporate branding, you can have a great impact even with a standard size and shape of box. Remember that it isn’t just the eye catching appeal of the outer packaging that counts but the inner packaging or wording on the packaging that provides added value in terms of how to use, store or display the product at home.
- Prominent – your product packaging needs to be eye-catching, whether this is through use of colour, image, text or simply the shape of the packaging. Some great ideas for luxury packaging design may incorporate embossing, pearlescent varnishes or even scented print. Whilst this sounds instantly like your product would stand out on the shelf you have to consider that if it will be placed next to other luxury products (which based on price it probably will) have you done enough to get your product noticed?
- Practical – there are many practical elements of product packaging design that you need to take into consideration right from the outset. Consider what size of packaging you will need, what materials suit your product best and how it will be stored or carried. Another practical consideration will be the environment. If you are under pressure to make your packaging biodegradable or recyclable this ought to form part of your design strategy. When you’re looking for product packaging ideas obviously you want it to look great, but you’ll also need to consider how easy it will be to store, transport and fit into the retail environment.
- Protective – one of the primary purposes of product packaging is to protect the product itself. This will be not only during its time on the shelf but also during transport to and from the retail store and from the store to the consumer’s home or place of work. It is more cost effective to plan for protective packaging from the outset rather than pay to replace damaged goods in the long run because your packaging design fails to properly protect the product.
- Personal – in today’s mass consumer age where the internet is revolutionising the way we shop and brand loyalty is often bottom of the list, personalising the experience can go a long way to getting you that sale. Whilst it is hard to personalise every piece of packaging (unless you have a very luxurious product and a large budget), you can make it special to your consumer. One trick is to think about your ideal consumer in terms of their age, lifestyle and likes and design your product packaging around them.
We hope the 5 P’s have given you some ideas for product packaging design, but just in case you still need some pointers here, in our experience, are a few things to avoid.
Product packaging design that puts retailers off:
Too bulky
Wrong shape
Takes up too much shelf space
Product packaging design that puts consumers off:
Too wordy or hard to understand
Difficult to carry
Pointless packaging – particularly if they are environmentally aware
Doesn’t tell you enough about what the product inside can do or how to use it
We hope you found the information in this blog post useful and good luck with designing your product packaging
