Packaging, branding and vice- versa; make your brand storytelling work on all mediums.
Once you’ve defined your brand, brand strategy respectively, it should be relatively easy to identify what your brand stands for and in what way this can be represented via packaging. Of course, this also works vice-versa, because how much you invest in your packaging reflects on your brand as well. Cohesiveness is probably one of the most important keywords here.
First impressions matter
First impressions generally take only a few seconds, therefore effective packaging is important to:
- grab the (potential) consumer’s attention
- convince him of the product (which he might not even know) or
- make him consider/take a closer look at it and
- ultimately make him decide to chose your product over the competition
Design that stands out
Your packaging represents your brand and consequently it’s promise to deliver a quality product and experience. There are multiple factors given the design that can make a difference and create an impact or not.
Aesthetics
As mentioned before, stick to your overall brand style and transfer your art of storytelling onto your packaging. Keep in mind that your choice of packaging material can have a huge impact regarding quality.
Color
Color is an important aspect when designing your packaging. It’s one of the first things that can grab your customers attention. However, when choosing colors consider whether it fits to your brand, as well as the psychology and cultural usage of it, to make sure you’re sending the right message.
Icons
In our age of digitization emojis and icons have become a crucial element, and are often even understood internationally. Such icons can come very handy as they not only have a specific meaning, but also are connected to memories and feelings.
Emotions
All of the above definitely contribute to create a certain feel, and consequently trigger specific emotions within your customer. Therefore, it’s important to know your target group and build a connection with them. Such emotions can lead to long-term relationships between the customer and the product (brand), which is the ultimate goal.
Depending on the product you’re trying to sell, envision how it might look like on a shelf next to each other and/or surrounded by competitors.
Unpacking the Design
So far you put all consideration into account given the design aspect. However the process does not stop here. I’m pretty sure you once bought a product that was shrink-wrapped in plastic and you had to work your way around with scissors to finally hold the product in your hands…
This is an example of bad user experience and could lead to the consumer, as satisfied as he might be with the product, next time standing in front of the shelf consider grabbing the competitor, because he remembered the struggle of opening.
It is utterly important to think about the whole user experience when unpacking, so the customer will be instantly confirmed to have bought something of good quality, and has a great first impression.