Product Packaging Design Complete Guide

Last Updated on December 7, 2024 by DesignerPeople

We all are attracted towards attractive and beautiful packaging designs but have you ever wondered packaging is more than just a great design. We should understand that shoppers are not in the store looking for your product, but they are on their way to another area, as a brand we have only 3 seconds timeline to stop them and engage. Hence it requires ample of things going into the making of packaging as systematic process-oriented. There are no shortcuts on steps or ignoring steps might lead to product failure.

Developing a new product is a strategic investment, and hence packaging should be taken as a valuable investment. The packaging design is deciding factor of a product’s success or failure in the market. So make sure your packaging process is aligned correctly.

With 17+ years of experience, DesignerPeople has enriched with knowledge of specific steps involved in creating a unique packaging and process which tracks the progress.

WHAT IS PACKAGING PROCESS?

It involves a series of steps which will make the product ready for retail space. It refers to the creation of the exterior of a product which will consider the type of material, structure, shape, graphics, colours, fonts to entice the customer and lead towards purchase. It will include working with a printer to print the final package.

The set of procedures are essential for setting packaging up for a successful journey. The step by step process will enable to develop eye-catchy and practical designs with effective content which will move the product off the shelf and into the cart.

Check Successful Case Study of Crockery Packaging Design

A. RESEARCH PHASE 

1. PRODUCT TYPE 

It is a fundamental requirement as a seller should be aware of what type of product he/she is bringing into the market. There are few questions below which should be answered even before starting the actual process in the execution stage.

a. What is the size of the product? Is it big, small or medium along with crucial precise line dimensions?

b. What is the type of packaging? If it is standup pouches, pillow pouches or box type

c. What are the materials used? Is it eco-friendly, delicate or standard?

2. TARGET AUDIENCE 

The type of customers who will buy them should be studied. Such as if the product is male-oriented or female. Demographically and their buying status should be analyzed. Is it geared towards environmentally conscious people?

What will attract a teen does not work for a senior. Even the correct product can fail if it is not developing to appeal to the target group audience even though it wins numerous creative awards. And it will fail because of research on competitors and market demographics if they are not done.

3. TARGET MARKET

Is it a product which will be available in a hypermarket or convenience store or e-commerce product should be understood and studied. The packaging will be done differently if the product is going to get sold online and if it is kept in retail outlets. Each market is different, and hence its requirements and elements are also different.

4. COMPETITOR EVALUATION 

Research what your industry brands are doing and what strategies they are implying. Understanding competitors will always help you to be prepared and ready so that you can stand out and create your unique image, gaining a competitive advantage. One can conduct competitive evaluation through physically visiting stores, through the internet or even through being updated through books, newspapers and the latest news updates.

B. DESIGN PROCESS

1. COLLECT BASIC INFORMATION 

Communication plays an essential role in success; hence the more information, the better understanding of the project and options. The valuable information and direction align the design phase. Make sure to include everything on the packaging which is needed were in the basics, including the batch numbers and safety information. If you fail to align fundamentals in the first time around, you will then have to start from scratch, and this will also incur a cost.

(I). BRAND REQUIREMENT

Brand packaging should satisfy the packaging architecture and build brand identity. Your packaging needs to represent a particular brand and its reputation make sure you have gathered the following information before you start:

• FONTS

Fonts express the emotion and feel of the brand; hence the type of font should decide based on the personality of the company. The correct typeface is the key to strong brand identity consider visual and tonal direction. Before starting a project, make sure think and plan type accordingly to core values and words that justify the feeling of what you want to create.

• LOGO 

The logo acts as the brand face promoting its goodwill and goodwill the logo should communicate the brand story. Depending upon the type of industry the logotype is decided which can text, graphics-based or combination of both aiding to public identification.

• COLOURS

The comprehensive and effective brand strategy depends upon the type of colour. As it acts as the first perception of brand among customers, it is a significant element which impacts the emotional state of the audience. Each tone has its importance and meaning, such as you will see blue and green in the medical industry because it represents trust and faith. Purple and pink for feminine products and services same way each sector depends on distinct shades to express themselves.

(ii). CONTENT 

The packaging is the primary contact between a brand and its customers and hence content acts as a significant role of interacting with them. The correct form of information has an emotional feel which immediately connects with the cords of the audience. A brand message should communicate brand value, positioning statement and vision of the company.

• Product image 

A set of belief that is related to a specific product and signifies what the product currently stands for and its function.

Product image influences buying behaviour, will its removal from the package discourage consumers from purchasing that product. A well-represented product image is likely to create more enjoyable aesthetic experiences for the consumer evoking the significant and positive association with the product. It applies significant implications in terms of marketing.

• Nutritional Value 

Type of product and industry profile, the barcode, nutrition information, allergic warnings, safety label and associated marks are mentioned. Some industries and locations have particular requirements for data, depending on what you are selling in the market. Ensure the recheck and see what you need to be placing on your packaging. Consumers today are very health conscious and pay even more attention to information on labels, as they are more concerned with their health and nutrition. Hence it can pay more if the brand is precise with its nutritional benefits and information statistically.

• Company Information

Mention company information on packaging as it acts as a crucial role in brand building programs.

The company name, business location, address, official website URL, contact details, company history and each unique element of the brand should be mentioned and highlighted on packaging design.

• Product Information 

What is the actual product inside packaging should give a glimpse with the information mentioning on the packaging? The product positioning should render through creative tagline such as if the product is organic, then the nutritional value, category and its type should be mentioned. The usage, recycle or dispose of, way of storage and transport instructions should communicate the relevant point of the message.

• Barcode

When designing product packaging, your barcode must comply with predetermined specifications so that it has the best chance of scanning the first time, every time. Barcode has machine-readable data on them which stores the information about the product details, including price and many other things. There are various different types of barcodes, including Universal Product Code and the International Article Number.

You should apply for these before you get your packaging designed. They help to manage the supply chain when various food items are distributed, such as for single fruits, such as apples, bananas, melons and oranges. Barcodes are a great way which tracks things such as the supply line and how many have to distribute. While most retailers and distributors requires this to have one for inventory and sales records purposes.

(iii). CUSTOMERS LIKES AND DISLIKES

With changing technology and modernization, the taste and preferences of clients are also changing.

Make sure your product type, its brand story is aligned with its packaging design. Consumers perceive intrinsic product cues like aroma, flavour, texture, and the way they see towards extrinsic product cues like packaging material, information and brand name. If the expectations are meeting and confirm by the sensory perception, then they are likely to get a repeat.

2. CHOOSE RIGHT MATERIAL AND TYPE 

Now you need to start packaging material to go along with the type of product and its brand story. What equipment do you select? There are several other elements which are to be considered when selecting the proper material.

Is your product inexpensive or affordable?

Is it already packaged or wrapped?

Is it Dusky? Is it a liquid or solid? Packaging material is divided into two categories.

It is supported and Unsupported while Supported material is typically a laminated structure containing two or more materials, such as Polyethylene/ Polyester. Unsupported material is usually Polyethylene and consists of a single material.

Unsupported material are least expensive but is limited in barrier properties, and dust tolerance. Supported structures are costly but will give you Barrier Properties and Dust Tolerance. DesignerPeople can help you to lead in the right direction depending upon your brand strategy.

The brand personality also plays a significant role when deciding the type of materials because if the brand is organic and eco-friendly, then it should motivate sustainable material elements for packaging.

3. COLLABORATE WITH THE PRINTER 

Understand and align with the printer so that there will be an idea of cost, which will keep you in track with other processes. Designers should provide the print-ready file in AI, PDF and JPG.

If you are going with a standard-sized label or box, printers should provide Dieline templates that can be shared with a designer. Lot of them only prepare a PDF proof from the artwork that was created for you and supplied to them.

But if colour is critical, which it usually is, a colour accurate print proof or a print proof on the actual stock will be created to show how your package colour will look.

Your printer will require files such as vector file, layered file and make sure they are able to colour-match to any Pantone colours, type of printer is being used.

4. ROUGH SKETCH 

Rough sketching has always been an important part of the design process. That role will differ depending upon the end-product being developed, the scope of the project and size, the individual designer’s style, experience, customer expectation and workflow.

The role of effective sketching in digital art varies depending on creating Web sites, identities, illustrations, product concepts, or other designs. An illustration or logo is likely to need more sketching than website designing.

Rough sketches always leverage the idea of imagination and generate a multitude of ideas in a relatively short period of time.

5. DESIGN ARCHITECTURE

Design architecture is on priority what consumers identify on packaging from a distance. Package design architecture usually encompasses the brand’s signature colour. And it embodies something emotive about the brand that is unique to it. You may have beautiful and attractive photos of your product in action, a witty tagline that explains how you’re awesome, a brilliant testimonial from a customer, and a great graphic showing customers how to use your product.

Ensure adding 2-3 things on the central placement of packaging design which will highlight the USP once they have picked up your product or clicked on your link that will close the deal. Analyze the competitor’s design architecture so that you can plan strategy not similar to them and gain competitive advantage.

6. EVALUATE DESIGN INTERNALLY

Once the designs are aligned and ready evaluate your design internally checking out below points:

Make sure after looking at packaging design; it should be clear that what the product is, and it should not mislead the audience, they should give what they are promising to provide. Check the packaging visibility at retail stores, will it stand out when placed beside the competitor’s product packaging? Is design versatile enough to give tough competition to others? How will the product look in 3D form and analyze its digital visibility to get an idea about overall mediums? These questions should be answered positively to lead forward.

7. PROOF-READING AND PRINT-READY FILES

Small oversights, such as grammatical errors and typos, can lead to closing a sale and a customer choosing the competition. Types and grammatical errors will cause a major segment of a company’s potential customers to have a negative experience on its website. Collect the right files from designers Dieline vector form and colour codes.

Once your designs are with the consumers, there’s no way to update it in real-time hence make sure everything is aligned and tracked. There are two types of proofreading Linguistic and graphical proofreading. Linguistic will covers what most people associate with editing, checking of grammar mistakes, spelling typos, and the massive overall flow of the language used in the ad.

Graphic proofreading is the visual appeal of the text from a graphics standpoint. Analyze splitting words at the end of line breaks, the length of lines themselves and even text spacing. Consistent line lengths, spacing and general uniformity, will lead towards effective outcomes.

Also Read : The 8 Steps in Packaging Design Process

C. REVIEW PROCESS

1. EVALUATE MOCKUP EXTERNALLY 

The best way to evaluate the packaging in real-time would be to display them in the real-time supermarket or any market which it is crafted. Then analyze the look and feel of the product and test designs to evaluate the performance of the packaging. The visibility of packaging should render engagement and eye-catching attraction. The testing of the product is done by pilot testing or even sampling, which will help to understand the accurate experience and real-time customer feedback.

2. COLLECT FEEDBACK

Meet customers, stakeholders, partners or even random people who have never heard or seen anything of your product packaging. Ask them what is the type of product when you look at its packaging? What message are you getting when you look at the packaging design at a single glance? Will you buy this product? Who you think are audience type for this product? What are the things you would like to change in its packaging?

These questions will not only help to understand the overall product experience but also gives the rich information on what to change and get modified. In this way, the revised and final packaging is decided after the final feedback is taken and brought into execution.

PACKAGING DESIGN CHECKLIST:

You will find a checklist which can aid you in the process of making the best packaging design ever!

Packaging Design Checklist pdf

✔️ NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION 

If it belongs to any food or beverage industry, then nutritional details, company identifiers such as an address, brand name, contact should be aligned all together as per FDA guidelines.

✔️ INGREDIENTS 

Make sure your ingredient list is accurately mentioned and keep the audience informed about the allergic oriented information through icons oriented designs.

✔️ BARCODE 

The most crucial aspect of barcodes on the packaging is that they can help manage the supply chain when various food items are distributed.

✔️ UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITIONS 

Ensure to convince the audience to switch towards your brand through a display of USP. Make sure your brand provides of something that the other brands don’t. It would be essential to resonate that.

✔️ TAGLINE 

Implementing a tagline TEXT on a product package design can help push a product further and also into memory.

✔️ PRODUCT NAME 

The product name should clear, and without any error, should display on the front-side of the packaging. The colours and font should be use effcetively.

✔️ IMAGES

Graphics and illustration should be a review just as precisely as the format of text. Make sure to identify and sort if any copyright concerns. You need to verify logotype, colours and dimensions.

✔️ PROMOTIONS

Marketers should ensure to check whether offers, discounts, coupons, or vouchers are present on the front of the packaging.

Each packaging comes in different shapes, styles, and sizes. Relevant information on the packaging helps consumers make an informed decision.

Maintaining a pre-launch checklist for packaging design ensures all parameters are up to the mark. Moreover, proofing artwork packaging can eliminate any post-release hassles.

Conclusion:

Packaging design is one of the success pillars of any product. With our step-by-step guide and inspirational images, you’ll learn how to create attractive, user-friendly packaging that standout your product.

We understand how important it is for your product to look good and feel good when it’s handled and used. That’s why we, as a branding & packaging design agency, take the time to understand your product, your target market, and the packaging format that will work best for your product.

Get a free consultation today to see how our team of professionals can help you with your next project!

Author: Anush Malik

Being a strategist’s head and a long term visionary personality aims to achieve excellence in branding, packaging and digital marketing field. My 15 years of design experience and masters degree ais my strength which keeps me motivated and keep me going positively. I have participated in extensive branding design conquests in India, USA, Australia and New Zealand with winning zeal. My objective is to encourage start-ups and hence involves actively in the articles which will act as a productive intake of knowledge for them. Do connect me personally via my LinkedIn and I love to share my expertise with you.