"It looks good and sells quickly." Simple as that - that's what packaging is and should be.

Packaging functions differently for different products. Each product has a specific kind of packaging, and on some high end products that might just be as simple as a price tag.

Whether a box, a bottle, paper or plastic, packaging acts as a convenient way of stocking a product over time, allowing for easy handling and transportation of the item, and exhibiting or advertising the product inside.

It needs to be eye-catching in isolation as well as comfortable and attractive when displayed in bulk.

Product packaging design fulfills many roles in the sales process, from simply capturing the interest of a customer to fully conveying the key brand attributes.

The most noticeable way packaging contributes to branding is through the color. If used correctly colors with definite emotional or customer appeal will help to brand the product.

Symbols used on packaging also help to illustrate a brand. Packaging materials can carry a clear brand message through the use of images, icons and characters. The font choice is crucial here to attract the eyes of buyers.

Finally, shape can play an important role. Exceptionally formed and unique, custom packaging can set your product apart in a compressed market where competition is high.

Before considering the full guide to product packaging, let's look at on some important questions:

What's the product?

Simply put, a product is an article presented for sale. Knowing what this product is, its size, shape, form, purpose and audience will help dictate the sort of packaging that's required.

There will be unique requirements whether it's food or technology, solid or fragile. The value of the product and how it is presented relies on the marketplace, the popularity, the marketing and the demographic of customer being targeted. Every product has a shelf life by which time it needs to be replaced, and a product life cycle (PLC) after which it has to be re-developed.

Who's the target audience?

The target audience is the demographic of individuals who are in all likelihood going to be most interested in your product or service. Identifying and prioritizing the target audience groups at an early stage increases your chances of the packaging and all marketing activities reaching the most number of people.

How will the product be sold?

Try to understand the mindset of why someone would be buying your product or service. If you can come up with a logical answer to the question, the product is half sold. Now, for the other 50%, you must share the benefits of your product or service, and compare it to similar products available in the market.

You must make customers understand how your product fits their requirement. Make the packaging so clear and comfortable that customers can easily read the necessary information like manufacturing and expiry date, ingredients, storage instructions, benefits, how to use etc.

What content and brand requirements should packaging contain?

Product packaging must be attractive, simple, handy and informative.

It should have customized and suitable colors that catch the customers' attention at first glimpse. You must also understand the impact and meaning of a particular color in the targeted market.

Choose colors wisely for the packaging design as it shouldn't look dull when printed. If you are in doubt then check an online color palette generator tool which gives ideas about catchy combinations.

Next, the fonts. They must have style reflective of your brand, and be readable at various sizes on different devices. The text for a brand logo, for example, has to still be clearly visible on the packaging. This helps in recognizing the brand easily. The ingredients, manufacturing date, expiry date, how to use, weight, size, color, flavor, batch number, product number, manufactured at, registered office and much more all makes up the content on packages. There will probably also be some consideration around where and how to display the price.

What is packaging design?

A package is a self-confined, self-determining advertising mechanism. It has to be a marketing department, a company representative, salesman, radio jingle, newspaper full-page advertisement, and a 30 second television ad, all rolled into one. It must independently deliver its value and then close the sale. It must do this deprived of the benefits of movement, speech, and thoughts.

Good packaging design helps in branding and marketing and done right, can secure the success of a product or service.

Quality packaging isn't as simple as wrapping your product in a decorated piece of paper. First impressions are crucial, so remember customer will see packaging design as soon as a company launches a product. Countless customers may see the products on shopping mall shelves, on the internet, in newspapers, brochures, television, on YouTube, big billboards - in fact, almost anywhere they look.

The complete packaging design process

So now you have a good understanding of what packaging is, let's move on to how you might go about designing the said packaging. This is where it gets serious - you are about to design something which will beautifully display all the information available and convince the target audience to buy the contents.

1) Recognize packaging layers

Based on the attributes of your product, you need decide the number of packaging layers it should have. There are three types of packaging layers.

The inner packaging keeps the product safely nestled in the outer packaging, which provides the first impression. This could be a box, a shopping/carry bag, or a glass bottle. The Other Packaging includes elements such as labels, tags, wrapper, or gift box, all of which provide further opportunities to promote your brand's messaging.

2) Types of packaging

Selecting between a case or a bottle may not seem a difficult task, but sometimes it can be more complex than first appears. Before landing on the final packaging design, you must be sure of the type of package you want to use. The type of packaging depends upon a number of factors and the different attributes of each product. Keeping those attributes in mind is the first factor you must look for.

For example, fruit juice cannot be packed into boxes, and chocolates in bottles would not make for easy eating. The type also impacts the choice of the aforementioned additional layers. If you pick a cylindrical container, for instance, using the likes of the CoolJarz shrink sleeve machine makes sense, while an alternative approach is needed for boxed product labeling purposes.

The second factor you must consider is the budget, and how that looks based on the volume of packs you will need. Generally speaking, the packaging cost of the product must be lower than manufacturing cost.

Then you have to think about what different and attractive packaging design you can offer within that budget to distinguish yourself from the competitors and remain attractive to customers.

3) Designing the packaging

By now you have decided on the layers and the type of packaging, meaning you're all set to design it. Focus on the right color options and utlize the multiple color pallets available, as well as checking on the latest trends in the industry. You also need to be across the file format options for printing.

Make sure the message is not vaguely pasted on the label and you use high resolution images. If you are offering the product in various sizes and weights, there should be multiple designs for the whole range.

4) Assess the packaging design

Once you complete the sample packaging design it's important you test it in the market before getting it printed in bulk. You must check whether the packaging and messaging is received in the way you had hoped. The design must provide an honest depiction of product and not in anyway misguide the customer.

Further to the individual reception, check how your package appears alongside multiple brands in the context of a store or super/hypermarkets' shelves.

5) Feedback

When it comes to choosing the final design, be sure to accept feedback from the end-users, store managers, friends, family - just about anyone who sees it. The response from these stakeholders will ultimately help decide what to keep and what to avoid.

Involving the client in product packaging design process

Companies can be protective about their products and will want to be involved at every level of the process whether it's manufacturing, sales, product packaging material, and clearly the design stage. With all the associated online and offline hype around a product launch, it's important it gets the perfect packaging that provides the best first impression.

Check out our article for five top tips to help designers work well with clients to ensure you have the best working relationship possible.

Conclusion

A great packaging design is bang on trend and absolutely represents the product inside to the target audience. It's designer's job to analyze which packaging style will look best on a shelf and will have customers scrambling for it on first sight.

The design process should be done in such a way that the company can use it for a long term without making any further changes in it. It is imperative that designer must understand the utility and usability of the product packaging before launching it into the market.

Want more?

Finding the perfect packaging design can be difficult. Check these articles for great ideas for how DesignCrowd's creative community could help you.

25 Awesome Packaging Designs

10 Ways Quality Packaging Design Can Get People To Pick Up Your Product

10 DesignCrowd Packaging Designs Ready to Jump Off the Shelves

Need more inspiration? Try our gallery pages for further packaging and label design ideas. Need a logo design for your packaging business? Try BrandCrowd's packaging company logo maker.

Written by Jignesh Gohel on Monday, July 10, 2017

Jignesh Gohel is an entrepreneur based in Ahmedabad with over a decade of experience helping brands to promote their business online. He is a Google certified AdWords professional specializing in eCommerce and product marketing. Follow him on Twitter @jigneshgohel