Packaging on a supermarket shelf has less than three seconds to grab the attention of a consumer.
Those three seconds are exceedingly important when you consider that more than 70% of purchasing decisions are made at the shelf. Add to this the fact that supermarkets can contain on average 40,000 packs to choose from, then that pack has got to work hard.
Packaging’s role is threefold:
- To sell the product
- To protect the product
- To facilitate the use of the product
Designing packaging graphics
Designers have two key tools to grab the consumers’ attention, graphics and structure.
Packaging graphics must do more than simply look pretty. They must work to cut through the white noise that is the crowded supermarket shelf, and attract a potential buyer. Once they attract a buyer's attention, packs don't stop working. Designers have to make sure they convey information, about how much they and their contents cost to buy, the ingredients they contain, and whether or not they can be recycled.
Packaging is also the medium many businesses exploit to convey their brand.
Colour
The first thing you remember about a brand may well be its colour. Think Cadbury's Dairy Milk purple, Coca-Cola's red or Guinness's black and cream. Colour makes your product recognisable and its important that any packaging designer's response to a brief conveys understanding on what the colours they use will convey, and whether they are going to sit with or challenge convention.
Sometimes the most-effective packs are the most simple. Multiple colours on a pack can be both distracting to the customer and costly to produce, which is why colour rationalisation is becoming increasingly popular.
Story
Building a story into the packaging of a product is becoming increasingly popular way to convey provenance and brand essence. Doing so allows consumers to connect with the product on an emotional level.
Premium sausage brand Debbie & Andrew's has successfully been able to build a strong back-story into its brand via its packaging design. Sales of its sausages increased 100.7% in 2008 after design agency Elmwood overhauled its packaging and helped the Yorkshire-based sausage company tell customers about it's history and ethos. The front of the packs display pictures of the couple's wellies to show the product comes fresh from their farm, and on the back there is a profile and picture of Debbie and Andrew which helps consumers connect with the brand on an emotional level.
Cultural issues
When designing for different cultures, language, colour, texture, and sensitivity to visual imagery have to be considered. For instance, in some countries picturse animals on packs are consider unlucky or disrespectful.
Birmingham-based design agency Boxer had to consider how different cultures would respond when it helped Brazilian beer Brahma move into different markets. “A market leader in Brazil, we successfully addressed the cultural differences of how Brazil’s number one beer was used and celebrated in Brazil and compared this with our knowledge of the cultural differences in the UK market where a greater standout and greater celebration was expected of the product,” said Boxer business development director Julian Glyn-Owen.
Illustration
When designing pictures onto a piece of packaging, the feel and tone of illustration and photography should be clearly outlined in the brief from the brand.
Practical considerations like the printing process and substrate onto which the image is going to be printed will also affect how illustrations or photographs are designed onto a pack.
McDonald’s scope spans 58 million customers a day, 31,000 restaurants across 118 countries. Boxer was required to manage the redesign of the fast food chain’s packaging. Food photography was a key part of this process and so the agency had to clearly brief photographers as to the exact mood they were looking for in the shots. Boxer won bronze at the 2008 DBA awards in the design management category for its work with McDonald’s.
Matt Leese, Director of colour management film Tag, believes it is important to engage consumers "through many channels with one clear message". He explains using the Apple example:
Though the example is used to death – Apple products embody this view perfectly. Jonathan Ive, their product designer, has as much of a handle on the packaging as the products. One could almost say that the packaging forms part of the product. The campaigns are entirely product led and therefore shows a great joined up story.
Matt Leese, Tag
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