Packaging is no longer just about protecting an item. Brands have a story to tell and packaging has a role in communicating this message. But with so many companies operating in fast-moving markets, how can they make sure their products stand out?
For Phil Thomas, product designer at customised business cards company MOO, keeping ahead of the design curve is key.
“With more and more people having online stores, standing out on the shelf may soon become less of a factor,” says Thomas. “Instead, designing the experience of getting something through the post, and adding to that excitement, could become more important. If the packaging is designed to feel like a gift from the company to the consumer, it can instantly build brand loyalty.”
Packaging is the first impression a brand makes and designers have to make it count.
Think about the story you want to tell
For packaging to be successful, designers need to understand who the customer is, how a company wants to position its brand, and the story they are trying to tell.
For Peter Matthews, CEO of branding consultants Nucleus, distilling the consumer proposition – or what you’re promising to consumers – is vital to create a compelling brand.
He says: “Smaller brands won’t have that awareness that’s built through TV advertising, so they have to make sure their packaging is even more powerful and clearly communicates the value proposition. First consider how you express the brand name. Does it communicate the true values of the product? Is it right for its category? Does it feel like a small homemade brand or an alternative to a big brand?”
Matthews adds: “A small brand needs to punch above its weight and think about every aspect of the way it presents itself. They have to relentlessly focus on their core value proposition and design comes into that. The narrative, the words used, the visuals, the material, the shape, all need to be thought about very carefully.”
Strip away anything unnecessary that might confuse your message. “A business should have a clear idea of what it wants to be famous for. If it does, it can easily distil what the product should look like,” says Matthews.
For smaller brands, their size is an advantage, giving them freedom to be playful and individual in their design, engage with their customers directly and design on a trial and error basis.
Design packaging that stands out
Thomas, at MOO, says the company has recently designed something unique – business cards embedded with an NFC (near field communication) chip. “Inside each card is a Nano circuit which stores information and can be tacked onto an android phone, taking you to your LinkedIn profile, your website or online shop. To showcase this, the packaging had to really stand out.”
The team put their initial ideas onto a page without “being precious about how they looked”. This “frees you up” and allows you to explore many ideas in a short time, says Thomas. “Later you can take these sketches and develop them further. It’s always important to do iterations of your sketches, taking parts of your designs you like and pulling them together with other sketches.”
This approach can help you figure out what works and what doesn’t. “This is what we did with the NFC cards and we came up with a futuristic design that really reflected the product,” Thomas says.
Take it to the streets
For Zoe Wulfsohn-Dunkley, brand manager at Camden Town Brewery, being playful, keeping designs simple and trialling them with suppliers can lead to successful branding.
“Getting the right colour and typography is important, particularly for smaller brands. We modified our design to include more white. We found a white border made the words pop out. It’s simple and effective, especially if you don’t have a lot of resources. Another way to be eye-catching is to use handwritten words or drawings. People think packaging has to look formal but it can be fun and playful,” she says.
For Wulfsohn-Dunkley the importance of consistently representing the brand’s message cannot be overstated.
“A new consumer who has never encountered your brand will pick up everything from your packaging. Choose a few keys words and think about them every time you design something. Through rounds of designing, the original objective can get lost. Play with different formats and colours but be cohesive in your messaging. Using illustration to convey your message is very effective. Illustrators are often small businesses themselves so you can do a skill swap,” says Wulfsohn-Dunkley.
One of the benefits of being a small business is that designers can bring their product onto the street for opinion before finalising the packaging’s design.
“You can spend too much time at the design stage worrying, when the easiest thing to do is to design a rough version and take it out to see what people think. Ask friends and colleagues, even take it to suppliers themselves. If you don’t, you might think you’ve cracked it but when you take it to a supplier, for a reason you haven’t thought of, it doesn’t work,” she says.
Know your competitors
Modern day consumers are savvier about what they want and what they expect from products, so keeping retailers and the shopping experience in mind when conceptualising your packaging is important.
Bella Akroyd, designer for gourmet yogurt company The Collective, says it’s important to focus on standing out to your target audience, rather than trying to stand out to everyone.
“We want our consumers to see what makes us who we are, so they associate our product with a feeling that means something to them. Our packaging gives our customers great reason to trust us. Appearances mean a lot in fast moving consumer goods, so it pays to create a clean, well executed design with a strong visual brand that is flexible and can adapt quickly to ever-changing markets,” says Akroyd.
“By seeing what competitors have put on the market, you know what can be improved on. This is an era of super-quick shopper decisions and dwindling shelf space so if you want your product to be chosen, a crucial part of the design process is doing your homework and knowing your enemy.”
This advertisement feature is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with MOO, sponsor of the Guardian Small Business Network’s Branding hub.
