Never underestimate how powerful packaging design can be.
In today’s competitive market, custom packaging is a tool to shape how customers think, see and talk about your product and your brand.
This article is about “5 ideas for creative packaging design”, which have innovative ideas, inventive typography, beautiful illustrations, etc.
1. Minimalist design
In the chaotic new world, people have to deal with many things. Sometimes all they need is to release negative thoughts.
Take that point, many brands choose gentle, soft shades and clean lines for their packaging designs to deliver some soothing, feel-good moments to customers.
Products with a minimalist design tend to stand out from others because their appearances convey the brand message in an understandable way to customers.
Minimalist designers tend to choose basic or pastel colors instead of brighter neon colors. They use no more than 2 colors in their packaging to not irritate customers’ eyes, and they also prefer smooth, floral lines to jagged edges in their illustrations. These above-mentioned things can easily convey calm and softness.
Minimalism usually represents pure, simple and high-quality brands,….Does your brand love this kind of design?
Here is an example:
Apple is a minimalist brand, so its packaging should be designed as minimally as possible. With only a few small black details on a white background, customers certainly cannot deny the modern, streamlined feeling of the product in its packaging.
2. Color gradients
Gradients aren’t just popular online. Offline, packaging designers are using them to make products stand out in order to distract consumers. Gradients, especially with bright colors, fill shelves everywhere.
Gradient colors are the fabulous element of the design with simple typography to balance the overall aesthetic. Think of the combination of pastel colors like pink, blue, and purple. The effects come from these combinations which are very smooth and eye-catching.
This type of packaging design actually can be used for many kinds of brands. However, it is easily fitted with brands which are cosmetics, fashion, and perfume brands for women because the pastel colors can effectively show the feminine, dreamy, and melodious side of women.
You can see a typical example below:
Colourpop® was born, raised and made with love in California – the City of Angels. It has created amazing pigmented products in a variety of colors to appeal to millennials, who want high-quality pieces without the luxury brand prices.
Consumers no longer have to choose and use a color; now they can buy all colors for a fraction of the cost. With this orientation, Colourpop successfully demonstrates through product gradient packaging – both showing multi-color elements and brand personality – a lover.
3. Unconventional
Flip the script and present your product in surprising, unpredictable ways!
Today, packaging ideas are implemented all over the world and are constantly modified to meet the demanding needs of customers.
Some product packaging ideas can take the experience to a whole new level. Creative, unpredictable packaging ideas will make customers curious and raise curiosity more, increasing the release of dopamine — the hormone that creates excitement for customers.
A design with an unusual packaging shape that surprises the receiver with what is really inside which helps you enhance the great experience of both sides.
Let’s take a look through a real case:
The glasses collection of Gentle Monster Brand, in collaboration with Jennie (BlackPink) , has very unique packaging. With the shape of a large gift box, opened inside is a colorful flower basket, no one can guess that inside the pastel purple sedge bags are dynamic, youthful glasses.
If your brand is driven by the desire to create exceptional experiences and does not want to “stand in the crowd”, make a unique packaging to “stand out from it”.
4. The unboxing experience
For eCommerce and retail brands, there’s more to packaging than just a box!
If your brand is a retailer, the packaging is the first physical touchpoint between you and your customers and makes your product stand out. Pay attention to those things!
The unboxing experience can also be the difference. The unboxing experience makes your customers think, “Wohh, I really have more than I thought”.
By leveraging the unboxing experience, your brand can transform this feeling into customer retention, loyalty, and satisfaction – 3 key metrics for brand success.
Like Google – an advanced technology brand with innovative ideas, this brand promotes itself as a means to help others experience the new and unknown. Let’s see an example!
With the unboxing experience which is simulated like the above image, many more people will want to have this box.
Consider this idea if you want to inspire customers to explore life full of freedom, individuality, and experience.
5. Sustainability
Sustainable packaging is now the norm, not a “nice to have”.
Over 67% of millennials say they prefer to use sustainable brands.
Many ‘sustainable brands’ use brown as one of main colors in packaging because it delivers the “eco-friendly” keyword which represents sustainable.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that eco-friendly paper packaging is only suitable for normal brands or brands that sell organic products. Here is a very famous example:
Burberry is one of the world’s well-known luxury brands – leading and setting an example for business sustainability through eco-friendly packaging.
Burberry reduces the plastic footprint by making packaging from 100% recycled polyester. Using an innovative manufacturing technique, the retail bags and boxes are made from recycled materials such as: upcycled coffee cups.
Burberry has recycled 66 million coffee cups into packaging up to now.
All retail bags and gift boxes, although made of eco-friendly materials, still create a beautiful, luxurious feeling.
From this famous case, here is the thing: Sustainable packaging is always a trend, no matter what values or personalities you code for your brand.
Conclusions
Trends can change over time, following trends is also necessary for your brand to improve sales.
However, it’s important to find the value that the brand wants to pursue, then design the packaging that matches that value in combination with the market trend. That’s a really valuable packaging!
What are you waiting for? Come and discover the power of your packaging design with us – how powerful can a package that embodies the brand’s values? Let’s see!
