What is packaging design?
Packaging design can be viewed in four different ways:
a means of protecting the contents of a package
a contributor to the cost of the end product
a sales canvas on which to promote the product's attributes and benefits
a part of the product experience itself
The role of packaging
Packaging plays many functional roles from protecting contents to helping the user employ the product but perhaps its main job is still seen as one to help sell the product at the point of purchase. Most products are meaningless (or at least undifferentiated) without their packaging - just take a look at any shampoo fixture and think about how you'd chose one from another. So, once functional considerations are completed the most important design consideration is how best to create and tell a story that stands out from the crowd.
Packaging design can be viewed in four different ways:
a means of protecting the contents of a packagea contributor to the cost of the end product
a sales canvas on which to promote the product's attributes and benefits
a part of the product experience itself
The role of packaging
Packaging plays many functional roles from protecting contents to helping the user employ the product but perhaps its main job is still seen as one to help sell the product at the point of purchase. Most products are meaningless (or at least undifferentiated) without their packaging - just take a look at any shampoo fixture and think about how you'd chose one from another. So, once functional considerations are completed the most important design consideration is how best to create and tell a story that stands out from the crowd.
From aesthetics...
In the 80s and 90s it could be argued that packaging designers concerned themselves mostly with how their craft could help add value in terms of improving aesthetic appeal, to then improve sales. The use of foil bags, embossed and etched bottles, textured papers and wax seals, latest print techniques and new materials were options endlessly considered as designers tried to enhance product perception and standout.
...To ethics
More recently there has been a marked shift in focus towards environmental issues and the role of packaging. Design pundits often quote the egg carton as being a design classic. It is somewhat ironic therefore that this simple eco-friendly, yet beautifully functional design is perhaps also a contemporary benchmark for environmentally sustainable packaging. While the repackaging of many grocery items in foil wrap may still be wholly appropriate in many instances to improve shelf life and product perception, the rise of the 'savvy shopper' in the last few years has forced packaging professionals to look at alternatives. The growth of retailer 'basics' brands and a growing awareness of the impact on the environment of excessive packaging have driven a desire for packs to be wholly recyclable.
The rise of green packaging
But 'green' packaging isn't just about recycling. We now also live in the world of food miles where we measure the distance a product has to travel from source to point of purchase. Therefore truly green packaging needs to consider more issues than recyclability. We need to consider palette maximisation too. In other words how can we design our packs to minimise the amount of air that is shipped during transportation.
Companies like Tesco, Wal-Mart and Ikea can make savings of millions of pounds on fast moving consumer goods by maximising the number of products they can ship per pallet and thus saving greenhouse emissions too. So, in the modern day we need packaging to drive top line sales and drive down waste and bottom line cost.
A well designed pack must also address the needs of its life cycle. This life cycle runs from the
moment it is used to wrap its product (whether this is by hand or in a factory), to the point of sale, to the point of use, and finally - with current tough environmental laws - to its after-use.
Article Source Cited From http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Design-Disciplines/Packaging-design/
About Author
Jonathan Sands is chairman of Elmwood Design, a brand design consultancy. He is a current council member of the Design Council.UK.
In the 80s and 90s it could be argued that packaging designers concerned themselves mostly with how their craft could help add value in terms of improving aesthetic appeal, to then improve sales. The use of foil bags, embossed and etched bottles, textured papers and wax seals, latest print techniques and new materials were options endlessly considered as designers tried to enhance product perception and standout.
...To ethics
More recently there has been a marked shift in focus towards environmental issues and the role of packaging. Design pundits often quote the egg carton as being a design classic. It is somewhat ironic therefore that this simple eco-friendly, yet beautifully functional design is perhaps also a contemporary benchmark for environmentally sustainable packaging. While the repackaging of many grocery items in foil wrap may still be wholly appropriate in many instances to improve shelf life and product perception, the rise of the 'savvy shopper' in the last few years has forced packaging professionals to look at alternatives. The growth of retailer 'basics' brands and a growing awareness of the impact on the environment of excessive packaging have driven a desire for packs to be wholly recyclable.
The rise of green packaging
But 'green' packaging isn't just about recycling. We now also live in the world of food miles where we measure the distance a product has to travel from source to point of purchase. Therefore truly green packaging needs to consider more issues than recyclability. We need to consider palette maximisation too. In other words how can we design our packs to minimise the amount of air that is shipped during transportation.
Companies like Tesco, Wal-Mart and Ikea can make savings of millions of pounds on fast moving consumer goods by maximising the number of products they can ship per pallet and thus saving greenhouse emissions too. So, in the modern day we need packaging to drive top line sales and drive down waste and bottom line cost.
A well designed pack must also address the needs of its life cycle. This life cycle runs from the
moment it is used to wrap its product (whether this is by hand or in a factory), to the point of sale, to the point of use, and finally - with current tough environmental laws - to its after-use.Article Source Cited From http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Design-Disciplines/Packaging-design/
About Author
Jonathan Sands is chairman of Elmwood Design, a brand design consultancy. He is a current council member of the Design Council.UK.
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