Powerful Product Packaging: 7 Tips to Get it Right!

Miriam Hara

Powerful product packaging. It’s not just about the product experience anymore. Today, even the packaging needs to be an experience. Powerful packaging requires more than a basic understanding of packaging fundamentals. It’s not just about being pretty and persuasive with packaging, it’s also about being practical.

… powerful product packaging design can be likened to a powerful social media initiative

As you may have guessed from previous posts, packaging design is one of my favourite aspects of marketing. I’ve written about it often. In an earlier post, Package Design: Think of it as Social Media on a shelf I spoke about how a good package design compares to a good social media initiative: it’s inherently social, stands out from its neighbours, starts a conversation and gets people to connect with it. I promised a follow-up to that post with 7 quick tips for creating better package design. Here goes …

Product Packaging: 7 tips to get it right!

Want powerful product packaging? Here are 7 things you need to know before you even begin to design:

1. Know your market. Who are you designing for? Research is the foundation for all successful marketing and advertising and that includes packaging design.
   
2. Know your competition. Take a walk down those crowded store aisles and see what your competition is doing, then do it better! Be original.
   
3. Know your story. Every brand has (or should have!) a story. Packaging tells your brand story but in a thoughtfully scaled down version that fits the physical format.
   
4. Know your product. Packaging copy must tell your customers what you want them to know as well as what they need to know. These two things are not necessarily the same.
   
5. Know your personality. Is your brand/product personality serious or fun? Your packaging design (i.e. shape, size, colours, textures, imagery and type fonts) must work together to reflect that personality. Don’t be afraid to use humour!
   
6. Know your materials. Can the design be reproduced effectively in mass and is it cost effective to reproduce? Will your materials stand up well in the retail landscape … from initial transport to life on the shelf.
   
7. Know your responsibilities. Brands have a responsibility to be environmentally conscious. Packaging should be eco-friendly.

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