5 Essential Steps for Effective Packaging Design

 The process is a very necessary feature in success of anything and more so when it involves many minds. At this point, it becomes even more important in packaging design, as many departments have to be involved in developing the right design.

A good design is one that makes the product look great on screens and also looks great on shelves.

Packaging design is an essential marketing tool, which can make or break a product’s success. Follow these 5 steps to create packaging that sells:

Define Goals and Strategy

Firstly, you should consider starting by assessing your current situation and addressing any fixes needed before going ahead with the designing process. This will ensure smoother, more effective process of designing. Start with clarifying what packaging is meant to do. Factors such as;

  • Target audience and buyer personas
  • Product details and unique selling proposition
  • Brand messaging and visual identity
  • Sales channels (retail, e-commerce etc.)
  • Shelf stand-out and visibility needs
  • Legal and regulatory requirements


Articulating strategic goals at the beginning ensures that your designs are on brief for your target buyers.

Planning & Researching Phase:

What are the activities involved at this stage? Planning enables branding teams as well as designers understand the steps that they will take toward achieving their project goals; they need to decide how much money they will spend, who should do it on their behalf? And what kind of projects they want.

In preparation for planning, you may first research about what is happening in the industry regarding package trends analysis. You can seek inspiration from other sources but remember you need to plug gaps through your own design.

Understand who you are targeting; talk about colors, shapes, textures or typography that attract them then what feeling would like them feel? This information contextualizes aesthetics as well as UX decision-making.

Concept & Design Stage:

Time to have some fun: ideating and designing! Brainstorm creative concepts around typography, color, materials, shapes, imagery and textures. And design with different ideas in mind several options.

Work through a lot of iterations on graphics refinement, product visualization, copy writing as well as information hierarchy and structural details; make sure that it is consistent with your brand style though. It must also be shelf appealing.

Review & Refine Stage:

Take comments from your stakeholders and testers regarding packaging designs. Find room for optimization based on suggestions made.

  • Further attention to the following should happen:
  • Brand consistency and visual identity
  • Legibility and information hierarchy
  • Structural functionality and durability
  • Emotional impact and aesthetics

Keep refining until you have an awesome design which is surprising others.

Prototype & Test Phase:

To determine whether the pudding has been cooked properly or not one needs to make prototypes then test them! Look at things such as;

  • Appearance, feel and quality perception
  • Structural integrity/performance
  • Simple shipment stacking opening accessibility
  • Shelf presence/visual impact

Real users should give their responses thereby identifying any usability issues; iterate further in order to refine. This fine tuning should go on till your packaging meets business as well as user needs.

A strategic yet creative process of building standout packaging designs involves defining goals, researching extensively, ideating freely, refining meticulously, prototyping rigorously; this will definitely bring great results by making your packaging attractive enough to investment seekers.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

5 Things to Look for When You Need a Graphic Designer

Understanding the Vital Role of Print Advertisements