Why do packaging need to be designed? Packaging helps us to carry what we bought from the store to our house. Like every components of our daily life, it’s need to be designed to gain efficiency.
Brand identity. The role of packaging is simple. It’s need to sell and protect the product. But achieving them is not an easy tasks. They have to work together. At the supermarket, 70 percent of the of purchasing decisions are made at the shelf. No wonder why having thoughtful designed packaging can help your business. Designers, like us at George Pericles, have a large range of tools to make your product visible in the white noise of the supermarket : shapes, graphics and materials. With the rise of environmental concerns, the design of packaging has evolved.
Over-packaging are slowly disappearing and the quality of a design work is judged on this factor. The most amazing thing about packaging, and why it should be cleverly designed, is that your customer will bring with them a part of your brand inside their house. They will spend more time looking at your packages that they will spend at your store. How many times a month are you looking at this cereal box or this milk bottle ? They are part of your morning routine, they are impacting your life. They are telling you, by how they are designed, their brand story. One of the best example, that can be applied to any sectors, is Ladurée. Ladurée is a famous parisian pastry. They are know for their macaroons and their art-déco interior design. When you shop, what you buy is carefully packaged. But it’s not in any type of Box. Ladurée packaging is the extension of the shop atmosphere. You take with you a small part of Ladurée, and each time you look at the carefully crafted box, you will think about the shop and you will be wanting to come back there ! On a different market area, you have Ikea, the Swedish massmarket furniture manufacturer. If you are familiar with the brand, you could have thought that Ikea don’t really design their packaging. It’s the complete opposite, those overly simple boxes and instructions are designed down to every details. All the products you buy at Ikea are telling the same story : Ikea is accessible and easy to use, from the batteries from the couch, when you open an Ikea product, you feel this Scandinavian spirit of simplicity.
Apple, the computer company, has spent a lot of effort into their packaging. The unwrapping of a new product is designed as an intimate and almost mystical experience. In the end, packaging is part of your relationship with your clients. Some brands around the world used, with the help of designers, packaging as a tool to expand their brand experience. Far from superfluous, packaging design is a complex process involving many professionals from the designer to the printer. It’s a powerful media to make your voice heard, and do it well you need us, designers !
The author is the Co founder of George Pericles, a design creative think-tank in Rwanda. [email protected]
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