Things to consider before designing your product package

Introduction

When designing your product package, consider different elements to ensure it catches the attention of probable customers and effectively communicates the product’s advantages.

This article will cover crucial considerations to ensure your product package designing stands out on store shelves and appeals to your target audience.

What are the factors to consider when designing your product package?

The primary purpose of a package is unquestionably to safeguard the product contained within. Additionally, it is essential for making a good first impression. Since most people judge products based on how they look, you should use designs that grab attention. A well-designed package enhances the product’s value by making it more appealing; whereas a poor package design may reduce a product’s perceived value and ultimately prevent sales.

1. Create a brand identity

Producing packaging that reinforces your brand identity or closely aligns with the business’s values is one of the fundamental tenets of product packaging. For example, high-end foods like expensive chocolates typically come packaged in ornate boxes with images that exude luxury, whether the containers have a satin veneer or are wrapped in fancy ribbons. This packaging aims to reassure its intended audience—luxury lovers—that they share its values.

Take any green product to see how consumers are presented with the brand’s identity. You will see that the products are natural or organic related. Also, more often than not, the packaging is made of recycled materials, and the pictures are easy to mirror the brand’s straightforward qualities.

Brand identity is about communicating your values to customers in a way that encourages them to invest in your product, whether you sell expensive candy or organic fruit juice. Always try to research the company and the market when creating a product’s brand identity, set important goals, find customers, and give the product personality.

You will need to conduct an inventory of your company as part of this procedure before coming up with realistic goals and objectives, including locating your target consumer market. However, once the majority of the tedious work has been completed, you can have fun and promote your brand by giving it a personality through innovative marketing strategies and campaigns.

2. Functionality 

Here are a few things to keep in mind when thinking about functionality: 

• Protection: Product damage should be prevented during transportation and storage by the package. For example, extra padding should be added to a glassware package to keep it from breaking.
• Convenience: The package should be easy to open and close. Also, the product should be easy to access.
• Reusability: The package ought to be simple to store and reusable. To keep food fresh, a package for snacks or other food items should be resealable.
• Durability: The package ought to be able to withstand the rigors of daily use. A toy’s packaging, for instance, should be made of sturdy materials that can withstand children’s rough play.
• User-friendly: Labels, warnings, and instructions that are easy to understand should be on the package.
• Ergonomics: Handling and holding the package should be simple. A shampoo bottle’s packaging, for instance, should have a handle to make pouring it simple.
• Efficient: The package should be efficient in terms of size and weight to make it easy to transport and store.

When creating a package, it is essential to keep the end user in mind. The package ought to be designed in such a way that it makes their experience as easy and convenient as it can be. In addition to protecting the product, a well-designed package improves the user experience and makes the product more appealing to customers.

3. Sustainability

The design of product packaging increasingly places an emphasis on sustainability. Making use of environmentally friendly materials and methods are everything.

There are a few easy ways to make your product packaging last longer:

• Instead of using regular materials like plastic, go for biodegradable or recycled materials that can be easily broken down and won’t harm the environment.
• Check to see if your packaging can be recycled easily. This means using materials that local recycling programs typically accept and clearly labeling the package with information about recycling.
• By designing the packaging to be multifunctional or to serve as a storage container after the product has been used, for instance, you can encourage customers to reuse the packaging.
• Take into account the entire lifecycle of the package, from where the raw materials come from to how it is made, distributed, used, and disposed of.

You can lessen your impact on the environment and make your product packaging more appealing to eco-conscious customers by incorporating these straightforward sustainability measures.

4. Product size and shape

When designing your package, the size and shape of the product should be taken into consideration. The product it contains ought to complement the packaging well. For example, the packaging should be as small and light as the product itself to reduce waste and shipping costs. However, the package must be sturdy enough to safeguard the item during shipping if it is large or heavy.

5. Compliance 

Compliance is adhering to regulations and standards established by industry and government organizations. It is essential to check that your product package complies with all applicable laws and regulations when designing it. Environmental regulations, safety standards, and labeling requirements are all examples of this.

The name of the product, its ingredients, its net weight, and the contact information of the manufacturer or distributor are all required to be included on labels, although the requirements vary by country and industry. It is essential to check that the package design makes it possible to clearly and prominently display all necessary information.

Safety regulations protect customers from the product’s potential hazards. Warnings and precautions, as well as guidelines for safe handling and storage, may be included in these. It is critical to ensure that the package design incorporates all required safety information.

To guarantee that the product is safe and legal for customers to use, compliance should be taken into consideration all through the design process.

6. Competitive landscape

It is essential to investigate and evaluate the packaging of comparable products on the market when taking into consideration the competitive landscape. This may provide insight into what has already been done and what has worked well for other businesses. Additionally, it may assist in identifying market voids that could be filled by an original or creative packaging design.

Understanding the key advantages and features of the competitor’s packaging, including the materials used, shape and size, colors and graphics, and messaging, is crucial. It is possible to determine what is already being done and what can be done differently to distinguish the product by analyzing these aspects.

The production and cost of the packaging materials should also be taken into account. Finding a balance between cost-effectiveness and creating a unique design that stands out is crucial. After all, nobody wants to spend more money than necessary on packaging!

Conclusion 

In conclusion, branding, functionality, sustainability, compliance, and competitive landscape all need to be carefully considered when designing your product package.

Companies can design a package that not only stands out in the market-place but also actually promotes and protects their product.

Frequently Asked Questions