The first step of any packaging design project is to understand the context and the goals of the project. You need to research the target audience, the competitors, the product features and benefits, and the brand identity and values. You also need to analyze the market trends, the consumer preferences, and the legal and environmental requirements for the packaging. This will help you define the project brief, the design criteria, and the budget and timeline.
Often overlooked or its importance underestimated, an in-depth competitive analysis is an essential aspect of packaging research, providing critical insights into the market and identifying opportunities for differentiation. By evaluating competitors’ packaging designs, materials, messaging, and functionality, you can uncover strengths to emulate and weaknesses to avoid. This process highlights potential gaps your packaging can fill. Additionally, understanding competitors' approaches allows you find ways to stand out on the shelf and attract the target audience more effectively.
Evaluating the packaging use case and product ecosystem is key to understanding whether reusable packaging is feasible. When reusable packaging is not feasible, choosing materials that are compatible with the recycling infrastructure in the end market is key. We need to design with end of life in mind to close the loop and transition to a circular future.
Definitely research and analysis is the most important step before you start a package design. Everything like understanding your end user, legal and marketing requirements are crucial. This is also a good step to introduce sustainability initiatives, right at the beginning phase so that it can be incorporated through out the design. For example, conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA) baseline for some of the existing products in the same market. This will help you establish your sustainability goals that you want to meet with this new design that you are trying to build.
When designing a product, alongside mentioned external factors such as competitive landscape, consumer trends and legal requirements, careful consideration of internal aspects is equally essential. These include product protection (shelf life, transportation durability, tamper resistance), end-of-life strategy (disposable, recyclable, reusable, refillable or no packaging at all), and cost and capital investment constraints. This 360 degrees holistic assessment (external and internal limitations) will set a framework for material choices, consumer experience, structural and graphical design. Reversing this process sequence may lead to costly revisions and scale-up challenges, even product launch failures.
Approaching a new packaging design project involves several steps. -Start with a detailed design brief to understand objectives and target audience. -Conduct market research to gather insights and identify trends. -Develop initial concepts and create prototypes for review. -Refine designs based on feedback, ensuring they meet functional and aesthetic requirements. -Collaborate with stakeholders throughout the process to align with brand guidelines and regulatory standards. -Finalize the design with production-ready files, and oversee the production process to ensure quality and consistency. Continuous evaluation and iteration are key to successful packaging design.
The next step is to generate ideas and concepts for the packaging design, based on the research and analysis. You can use various methods, such as brainstorming, mind mapping, mood boards, and word associations, to explore different directions and themes. You can also sketch your ideas on paper or digitally, using tools like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, to visualize them and communicate them to the client or the team.
Always ensure that the design is rooted in a big idea. It’s not just about finding something on Pinterest and copying that. The idea needs to be big enough to work successfully off pack and on all brand collateral. If you can’t sum the idea up in a sentence, simply put, there isn’t an idea.
I usually go from rough sketches sometimes I can use up a whole wall if I have the surface to draw on. Then on to 3D renderings, I use a surface program to render the piece. I can show it from a variety of views.
Ideation and sketching infuse vitality into the insights obtained from research and analysis. They are the creative pulse that drives the design journey forward, allowing designers to craft packaging solutions that strike the perfect balance between creativity and strategic alignment. Methods like brainstorming, mind mapping, mood boards, and word associations provide designers with powerful tools to unlock their creative potential. They encourage out-of-the-box thinking and help explore a wide range of design directions. It's in this phase that we can truly push the boundaries of innovation. This phase is where ideas take flight, where concepts become reality, and where the art of packaging design truly comes to life.
When you are designing a new brand you have the unique opportunity to change the rules of the category. If everyone else uses different colors for different variants maybe you stick to 1 color and create the brand that gets seen first. It's harder to do that when redesigning an existing brand that has a certain legacy and equity in past elements used where changing these totally could be problematic and result in alienation. Consider layering in as many unique and distinctive assets into your design as it will help you turn your packaging design into the foundation of your visual identity system that can be reused across all your touchpoints
My approach has always been very simple. A few things must be considered. First, the Target Audience on the shelf. Second, is the process of the automated packing machine to be used. Third, comes the Volume of the initial/regular print RUNS to suit the auto-packing machine. Then, you consider to choose the print process. Finally, the graphic artists should go in for the layouts to suit the features to be considered as above. Feedbacks, as deduced from the above, are thus important to submit pack proposals to the client for finalization.
The third step is to develop and refine your selected concepts, and turn them into more detailed and realistic designs. You need to consider the shape, size, material, color, typography, graphics, and information of the packaging, and how they fit with the product and the brand. You also need to test your designs for functionality, usability, durability, and attractiveness, using tools like Adobe Dimension or InVision, or creating physical prototypes.
When taking feedback from a client and before you start making adjustments and optimizations it is important to understand the "why" behind the feedback. Instead of "making it bigger" like the client is asking for "increasing the contrast" might be a better way to emphasize something. Avoid art direction and embrace collaboration. Always keep the end in mind and try and stay true to the original idea you had as you adjust and make revisions to a concept.
We focus on three pillars: understand, create, and refine. First, we understand the brand, target audience, and product. Think of it like the calming bath soak you love – knowing the ingredients ensures a perfect experience. Then, we create a range of design concepts, exploring color palettes and visuals that resonate with the target market. Imagine brainstorming bath bomb designs – playful or luxurious? Finally, we refine through feedback and prototyping, ensuring the design pops on shelves and functions well. Like perfecting that bath bomb recipe, this iterative process leads to a design that truly wows.
When rolling the design out, it's incredibly important to define a robust brand architecture that maintains strong recognition to the parent brand, but allows the flexibility for differentiation and navigation across the whole portfolio.
Beyond looking good on paper or a screen, packaging must perform well in the real world. This phase involves rigorous testing for functionality, usability, durability, and visual appeal. Tools like Adobe Dimension and InVision offer a digital perspective, while physical prototypes provide a tactile understanding of how the design will interact with users. Designers should be prepared to refine and fine-tune their designs based on feedback and insights gained during testing. This iterative approach ensures that the final design is not only visually appealing but also functional and user-centric.
Generative AI can also support for shopability and instore attractiveness so testing should be done in early design stages, too.
The fourth step is to present your designs to the client or the team, and get feedback and approval. You need to prepare a clear and convincing presentation, that showcases your design solutions and how they meet the project objectives. You also need to be ready to explain your design decisions, answer questions, and handle criticism. You can use tools like PowerPoint, Keynote, or Prezi, or create mockups or videos, to enhance your presentation.
Presenting the idea is simply storytelling. The more entertaining and 'multimedia' you can make the presentation, the more engaging and compelling it will be for the client. Start with the idea, and then explain the execution, not the other way round.
Beyond presenting visuals, consider weaving a compelling narrative around your designs—the story of how your designs evolved from initial concepts to final designs and how they align with the brand's journey and consumer needs. Consider going beyond traditional presentations by creating interactive prototypes—tools like Adobe XD or Figma allow you to showcase not only static visuals but also how the packaging unfolds, opens, and engages the user. View feedback as a catalyst for improvement rather than criticism. While being open to feedback, also assertively communicate the design principles and vision that underpin your work. This ensures that your creative integrity remains intact while incorporating valuable insights.
Let the product do the talking. At the end of the day the packaging needs to convince the shopper while browsing through the aisle or an online shop. A good packaging can tell the story while passing by.
Create and present as the customer would view and/or receive the item, everything matters. If you need to tell a story to convince the client, team or audience, chances are you did not accomplish your goals, and no pitch deck will help you at this point. The digital presentation is just to iterate how you met or exceeded all the goals that are not visible, such as sustainable materials, budgets, production specs, timelines and so on...
The final step is to prepare your designs for production and delivery, and ensure that they meet the technical and quality standards. You need to finalize the artwork, the specifications, and the files, and check them for errors and consistency. You also need to communicate and collaborate with the printers, the manufacturers, and the distributors, and oversee the production process and the quality control. You can use tools like Adobe Acrobat or InDesign, or online platforms like Dropbox or Google Drive, to manage your files and documents.
In my experience, engaging with the printer should be done much earlier in the process to help level set expectations with the client of what can actually be produced. If the brand is printing across multiple substrates, print methods, and printers, I feel like step 3 would be the best time to gather feedback from the different manufacturers to help guide decisions for more stable brand management and reduce rework down the road.
It's always advantageous to set up a preproduction meeting well in advance of this final stage with the printer. This is the opportunity to capture any concerns that they may have so this can be built into the artwork set up. It also gives the team an opportunity to chat the printers through how exactly you're going to supply the files and how they are set up so that everyone is clear on expectations.
Design for production is one of the first things to consider if you want to save time, money and resources. For this reason packaging manufacturers should even been involved in the final product development process.
The production/operations team, material manufacturers/printers and distribution need to be involved much earlier, stage 3 or earlier. To often I have seen designs signed off by clients/marketing/senior teams that have then suffered with additional costs/design changes or delays due to incompatibilities that should have been raised and eliminated during the design phase.
Lo que me ha funcionado a mi como parte del equipo de dise?o de empaque es realizar una junta previa a la primera corrida del nuevo número de parte, con todas las personas lideres involucradas en la fabricación para informar de manera correcta la información del nuevo número y resolver las dudas que cualquier integrante del equipo pueda presentar y así evitar una mala entrega al cliente.
In my experience, when new packaging design is implemented start with a team approach. Team players to include: Brand owner- key decision maker(s) Marketing- understanding consumer profile, trends, objectives Pkg Engineer- to ensure structural integrity Pkg & graphic design - ensure components flow / look great Printer/Converters- supplier expertise to ensure smooth implementation through production QUOTE FROM- Labels and Labeling, “When we create a label from scratch, it normally starts with design agencies and then brand managers or marketing get involved. What I see quite often is that the technical knowledge is not there” Having a team approach from the beginning will fill the technical gaps, reduce risk and heighten success!
Speaking on behalf of packaging suppliers, our collective knowledge can be engaged with Brand to Develop and Build technical value as part of the team. Be prepared with critical tools and steps in order to make timely and successful launches. Also very important; highlighting featured dynamic topics such as Sustainability & Compliance. Help Brand out; they need us but may not know it.
100%. Often working with packaging suppliers &/or copackers early in the innovation phase can increase speed to market & reduce hiccups down the road, by leveraging their experiences and developing products/packaging around the manufacturer's capabilities.