The packaging of a product is an essential tool for communicating with its customers, or potential consumers. It’s what conveys a brand’s message and features and helps it stand out on the shelf. It protects the product and extends the shelf life. But new challenges and opportunities continually arise in business and packaging should shift and adapt to these, and the needs and shopping habits of customers.
Here are three ways to keep your brand ahead of the game:
- Less Is More
There’s more noise and clutter on the supermarket shelf every day. Advances in the technology and software available to packaging designers mean that they can fine-tune their design solutions better than ever before. Cutting down on unnecessary design elements such as labels or materials is becoming a popular solution.
We’re seeing a move towards streamlined labeling, minimalist imagery and the use of bold graphics to create retail impact. It’s a shift towards more minimalist graphics treatments such as white space and design clarity. This doesn’t mean the task can be handed to less experienced designers, it requires design discipline and skill. It’s about clarifying your brand message, not just simplifying the design.
- Go big with typography
A more straightforward design approach has also increased the scope for smarter use of typography in packaging design. With consumers’ attention spans shrinking it’s become more important to communicate brand messaging quickly and clearly. This means we’ll be seeing the use of bolder fonts and fewer words in packaging.
Designers are comfortable with choosing fonts that work in a retail environment, but by considering the customer, and what typography speaks to them, they need to include these factors as part of the decision process going forward. What font is appropriate for your target market’s generation, their gender identity, and other shifting factors?
While minimalism is a trend is packaging design, variation in upper and lowercase letter use is being used more and more. The combination of the lettering styles makes it easier for customers to read and digest the wording.
New packaging solutions are also expanding the choices open to designers when choosing colour combinations. Variations in the size and shape of packaging entering the market mean they can coordinate the colours used for maximum impact.
- Be kind to the planet
Sustainability is a buzzword, but it’s one that no brand can ignore. The packaging world has come under particular scrutiny from consumers, and they want the brands that they support to care about the planet as much as they do.
Packaging design is adapting to a need to minimise the ecological footprint of the materials with a move towards biodegradable or recyclable materials. Non-plastic materials like starch, cellulose, paper, hemp, bamboo, and glass are coming through as packaging alternatives. Biodegradable flexible films and dual-purpose designs are also solutions being used by brands wanting to make greener choices.
Brands that adopt a more sustainable packaging trend can:
- Cut down their carbon footprint with a reduction in the amount of packaging used with their products. This will limit the brand’s associated CO2 emissions. A reduction in the weight of packaging also reduces the energy needed to produce and transport it.
- Sustainable packaging can help cut costs by reducing solid waste, water usage, and electricity consumption.
- Using biodegradable packaging options that are non-toxic and allergy free will encourage new customers to try your product. It can improve a brand’s credibility, image, and sales.
Sustainable packaging is also coming under pressure from legislation that’s driving a shift in this field. Pollution and waste disposal are never going to go away as issues on top of everyone’s agenda. This trend is here to stay.
For manufactures this means changes in the production, processing and more importantly, equipment and manufacturing. If you’re searching for the best packaging equipment for your business then Melbourne Packaging Supplies can help.
