UAE Product Packaging Design: Complete Guide

Last Updated on August 1, 2023 by DesignerPeople

Did you know that the packaging industry of the United Arab Emirates is expected to USD 8.87 billion in 2023?

Every Brand manager knows that packaging design is the fundamental aspect that will differentiate your brand from the rest. It will consist of all your branding elements, such as your company logo, name, tagline, brand colour, message and more. Your packaging design makes your brand details appealing to the target audiences, resulting in increased attention and excitement about your products.

Ultimately, your packaging design contributes to every successful sale you make in your business. This explains the growing demand for appealing packaging designs in Arabic countries.

In this blog, we will take you through all the essentials of creating a successful product packaging design for your company and excelling in the Arabic market in 2023. Let’s get started.

Trends in Product Packaging Design in Dubai UAE

If you want to transform your packaging design and surpass your competitors this year, refer to the latest trends below. These trends in product packaging design in UAE will ensure that your product packaging designs remain relevant and appealing to Emirates local audiences. Let’s check them out.

• Arabic Calligraphy

Arabic calligraphy can instantly make your product attractive and captivating in the eyes of Emiratis. Arabic calligraphy can transform standard brand messages into aesthetically appealing forms. It helps the consumers connect with your brand packaging design effectively by emphasising more on their cultural identities. Hence, when your brand packaging design features the ethnicity and cultural aspects of the Emiratis, they are more likely to be drawn to your brand over the others, resulting in better brand recall and increased successful sales!

• Luxury Packaging Material

Luxury packaging materials are all about evoking sensory emotions and feelings within the consumers to make them perceive your products as unique and inimitable. You can also enhance the customers’ overall experience with the best quality materials. For example, MAKAW fine chocolate ( Dubai Luxury Chocolate brand) improved the unboxing experience of the consumers. Evoking a multi-sensory experience through the best luxury packaging materials will give your brand a more significant edge over the other companies in the market.

• Cultural Design Patterns

Cultural patterns and design elements connect with them through their cultural and ethnic values. If you want to target a specific audience segment, it is always preferable to personalise the local cultured artwork. Your packaging design must function as an effective tool to communicate and combine varied cultural backgrounds and values. Hence, emphasising the cultural design style in your packaging designs can significantly influence the consumer’s purchasing decisions.

• Royal Colours

The right choice of colours also plays a significant role in your consumer’s purchasing decisions. This is because different colours evoke different emotions and senses. For example, gold and cream depict luxury, while royal green and blue are great for bringing a sense of immediacy. Royal blues are great for a serene and calming vibe, while a mix of white and pastels brings a sensual essence. Choosing a suitable set of colours is essential, depending on the quality and product type. These colours will help get the right reactions from your potential consumers and encourage them to try your products!

• Minimalist and Clean Designs

Minimalist packaging designs have been quite the hype for the past few years. Here you use the least amount of materials and design elements in your packaging design. There are numerous benefits to minimalist and clean designs.

For starters, minimalist packaging designs are incredibly cost-effective. The fewer materials and design elements you add, the lower your design expenses.

You may have observed that most luxury brands follow this minimalist packaging design rule! Hence, such designs increase the perceived value of your products significantly. It will instantly make your product stand out from the crowd and capture the maximum attention of the consumers.

Furthermore, the more minimalist your packaging gets, the easier to unbox or unpack. This significantly contributes to the unboxing experience of the consumers.

Lastly, minimalist packaging designs give you enough space to emphasise more on the brand message and convey it to the consumers. This is because the more design elements you include in your packaging design, the higher the chances of your potential consumers getting distracted or overwhelmed!

Hence, limit the number of design elements in your brand packaging design and focus on communicating your brand message and values, resulting in fostering a strong brand identity within your target audiences.

• Interactive and Augmented Reality Packaging

With the advent of technology, companies are striving hard to bring better unboxing experiences for consumers. Companies are readily capitalising on the unboxing trend in this era. Hence, interactive and augmented reality packaging designs are definitely on the rise.

For starters, it will help educate the consumers about the product and the brand innovatively, unlike the other brands. Your consumers can utilise their devices to know more about the other products available in your brand.

Similarly, it also contributes to compelling storytelling, another excellent way to increase customer conversions.

Lastly, it is a great way to connect with your audience. Such interactive packaging designs are more likely to evoke the curiosity of your consumers resulting in improved brand reputation in the industry.

Cost of Packaging Design for Dubai, Arabic Brands

Now that we know the ongoing trends in packaging design for Dubai Arabic brands, let’s quickly see how much it can cost to create your first packaging design this year!

• Freelancer Level (1000 – 1500 AED)

Numerous crowd-sourcing platforms, like Fiverr, Upwork, etc., can quickly create packaging designs under an affordable budget. While you can get many talented freelancers. Copyright infringement is always a significant risk here. Many freelancers impose copyright infringement cases on companies that can penalise you for a considerable amount. Hence, when hiring a freelancer, ensure to follow these three simple steps:

● Industry Knowledge

● Check Credentials and take references

● Cross-check their portfolio

• Agency Level (2000 AED – 3000 AED)

Most companies prefer to hire creative agencies for their packaging design requirements. Packaging agencies usually have a team of creative experts with a decent understanding of the industry. Furthermore, you get exposed to a diverse range of professionals who can help create unique and appealing product designs! Depending on your requirements, you can always customise the expenses with the agency to suit your budget.

Advantages of Hiring Creative Agency

● Dedicated Project Manager to communicate

● Years of Industrial Experience

● Experienced Designers

• Global Ad Agency (5000 – 20000 AED)

Lastly, global ad agencies offer a wide range of services under varied expenses. If you are looking to make a good investment in your packaging design, look no further. Global ad agencies are great for all-rounder packaging design and branding services. Again, they also have a vast range of professionals who are always ready to create the most appealing packaging design for your brand!

Case Studies of Successful Product Packaging Designs in Dubai UAE

At DesignerPeople, we have helped numerous brands in the UAE to expand their brand and make their products the bestseller in the market. Here are the top two case studies to help you understand how the packaging design industry works in UAE and how we can help you create the next best-selling packaging design for your brand!

• Ettara Essential Oil – How its Packaging Led to Increased Sales

Ettara is an essential oil brand in the UAE that offers 100% natural essential oils to Emiratis. All of their products are cruelty-free and sustainable, making them the ideal brand for the citizens of the UAE. However, they needed help with enhancing their presence in the UAE market. Considering the number of essential oil brands growing in the UAE, they faced a major challenge in making their presence prominent within Middle Eastern audiences. They wanted a text-based design over conventional product packaging designs. They also preferred transparency within all of their products.

When the agency started creating their product packaging designs, They incorporated the pure and authentic vibe of organic essential oils in the packaging design—focused on bringing a premium and high-end look to the containers. The design agency also followed the Emiratis’ cultural aspects by keeping the design’s base colour emerald green. This way, consumers can easily connect with the brand. Lastly, Packaging designers highlighted all the product benefits, advantages and other prime aspects in a vector form paired with suitable colours to bring contrast and make it more prominent and eye-catching!

• Tanoush GRM Basmati Rice – A Brand’s Journey Through Packaging Redesign

GRM Basmati Rice has been a leading brand exporting rice since 1978. Even though they had a prominent stand in the global market, they wanted to upgrade their packaging designs to match national and international markets. They were also looking for a customised brand strategy and value proposition for their new range, “Tanoush”, while keeping the authenticity of the GRM brand.

The agency started with a very innovative approach by depicting the entire process of the GRM, starting from harvesting to processing and reaching the market. Through natural and subtle colours, Designers ensured that the Emiratis get a profound insight into the quality of Basmati Rice they will get from the GRM.

DesignerPeople, as a creative agency, created their packaging designs keeping the mythological Indian stories the highest priority. We chose premium colours like black that enhanced the bold and elite nature of the products. These steps gave a significant competitive edge to the brand and helped its products succeed globally!

Some of the Inspiration Dubai UAE Packaging Design Trends

Conclusion

The best packaging designs are the ones that can effectively make the consumers connect and relate with your brand. They must feel a sense of reliability and trust whenever they see your packaging design. While this can get challenging to implement, you can always succeed by hiring the best packaging designer around you.

Professional packaging designers can easily help bring your brand’s truest personality to life through the packaging design via enhancing colours, typography, illustrations and more. Hence, when you hire packaging designers, you can remain assured about the quality of packaging designs you will receive that will instantly upgrade the quality and perception of your brand in the UAE market.

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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.