Packaging Essentials

100 Design Principles for Creating Packages

Candace Ellicott, Sarah Roncarelli

• Publisher: Rockport Publishers
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781610580670
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Product Design

This book outlines and demonstrates basic package design guidelines and rules through 100 principles in the areas of research, planning, and execution. This book is a quick reference and primer on package design, and the principles that make design projects successful. Highly visual and appealing to beginning designers, students, and working designers as a resource. The content helps to establish the rules and guides designers in knowing when and where to bend them. Visual examples demonstrate each principle so readers can see the principle at work in applied design.

THE DESIGN PROCESS
58 Create an Emotional Connection

Today’s consumers are less interested in purchasing products to meet their basic needs and more interested in engaging with brands whose values satisfy them emotionally. Consumers want to be entertained or engaged on an emotional level. They don’t want to be spoken to; they want to be spoken with. If the designer is intent on delivering an effective brand experience, packaging can be the centerpiece of his or her efforts. The package designer has the opportunity to deliver the ultimate emotional experience, to excite the senses and deliver anticipation of emotions such as contentment, pride, happiness, pleasure, trust, and excitement.

Project
Product package design
Firm
Internal Design
Design Team
Diana Burmas, Deon St. Mor
Client
Mor Cosmetics

Inspired by Scandinavian design and folk art, this design approach pays homage to handcrafted lace doilies. Lavish use of inks and textural representations on the box indicates the extravagance and sensuality of the Nordic body oils within. The inner package combines a silk-screened glass bottle with an elegant wood cap. As a result, consumers link the body oil with a pampered and sumptuous lifestyle and enhanced sense of self.

Project
Product package design
Firm
Hattomonkey
Designer
Alexey Kurchin
Client
Concept piece

Cross-stitching is an embroidery style used for samplers with messages such as “Home sweet home.” Consequently, the familiar, simple pattern reminds people of childhood and perhaps a simpler time in their lives. Adding to the warmth of the package experience, the flaps on the side of this milk package stand up like cows’ ears. These simple and engaging visual ideas help the product stand out on the shelf.

Project
Product package design
Firm
Hattomonkey
Design Team
Alexey Kurchin
Client
Interra Ltd.

Fittingly, expletives adorn this line of hot sauces, helping the consumer to imagine the intensity of the heat. The idea came from the designer who tested the sauces in his studio as part of his research for the design. The comic book speech bubbles contain symbols that spell the product name and engage the consumer in the playful delivery of important information.

THE DESIGN PROCESS
59 Tell a Story

Stories engage audiences by pulling them into a reality other than their own. A good story builds atmosphere, creates depth, and involves the reader. A story on a package is a stage in the consumer’s imagination on which the product performs. A good story drives the consumer to seek out the next installment of his or her next product purchase.

Project
Product line package design
Firm
The Grateful Palate/R Wines
Design Team
Beth Elliott, James Jean, Mr. Keedy
Client
The Grateful Palate/R Wines

The illustrated characters on the wine bottles are inspired by a rough-and-ready, individualistic music style called Gut Bucket Blues. When the bottle is turned, the label tells the story of the character portrayed on the front. The acidic yellows, reds, and bruised purples evoke the music style.

Project
Product package design
Firm
The Creative Method
Design Team
Tony Ibbotson
Client
Diageo

Diageo wanted to increase its presence in the competitive bourbon marketplace without changing the shape of the bottle for its Real McCoy product. The solution was to create a new personality with a history of bootlegging and attribute it to the brand. Many visual elements were used in the design approach to emphasize the smuggling story, from the cratelike box to the bold branded type and faded distressed printing style. The placement of the label on an angle creates a more memorable experience while reflecting the immediacy and often shady nature of contraband goods. A seal and stamp were developed to further enhance the appearance of an authentic premium product.

Project
Product label design
Firm
Braincells
Design Team
Steve Boros, Brett Layton
Client
Harvey River Bridge Wines

The concept of the name for this wine product line comes from the board game Clue. The concept revolves around Miss Scarlet, a fictional character in the game. Consumers will want to buy the whole range of wines in this product line as each label reveals a new aspect of Miss Scarlet’s personality.

THE DESIGN PROCESS
60 Setting the Right Tone

A design that lacks a marketing or communications purpose is doomed to fail. Consumers will walk past a product that doesn’t express what’s in it for them. Conversely, the package that is all business with no wit or imagination will bore consumers senseless and collect dust on the shelf. Design must engage consumers’ emotions by filling their imagination with ideas, color, shape, and an artful presentation. For a truly effective package design solution, a balance of practical and emotional forces must be achieved.

Project
Product package design
Firm
Public Creative
Designer
Peter ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• The Design Challenge
• Design Considerations: Materials
• Design Considerations: Form and Shape
• Design Considerations: Labels
• Design Considerations: Printing
• Marketing and Brand Considerations
• Sustainable Design
• The Design Process
• Access and Review
• Contributors
• About the Authors
• Copyright Page