PROJECT II: Package Design
Objective: To develop four package designs representing the four seasons in four different parts of the world, and another package that will bring your four individual packages together as a set.
Upon receiving the brief for this project and being informed of the more delicate details, I was excited to move forward. Package design has been a personal interest of mine and something I wanted to consider for a future graphic design career.
Research: Package Design
Below is a discussion post that has some general information regarding package design:
There are three main questions to ask before designing packaging for a product. Firstly, what is the product? For this project specifically, I already had my eyes set on tea. Whether it be tea bags or packaging for loose tea leaves, is something to decide later. The second question to ask is who is buying the product. And lastly, how people are buying the product. All of these questions have the potential to hold different answers, and because of those different answers, we come out with different strategies and plans for package design. It’s why designs for children’s products are different than products for adults. Why alcohol has a different aesthetical value than candy bars.
In doing my research on package design, I have come to learn some truths and formed somewhat of a guide for myself while navigating this project. One of the first things that stuck out to me, as it does with every single design project we’ve done over time, is that every single thing needs to be intentional. But that’s something I feel is going to apply to everything that we design in the near future. There can’t be anything that’s placed for mere decoration or making things pretty. Everything must be intentional. For package design specifically, it’s a few things that one should be aware of:
1. Like any design, package design is made with the intention of telling a story
2. It must be engaging to the senses, drawing the consumer in while helping them understand what the product is
3. The designer must create an information architecture. Separating the most important elements from the least important elements and making sure that they’re showcased in a hierarchy that is evident in the design.
4. Keeping an eye out for competition. What they do, what they don’t do, and where the designer can slip in and change the game.
I made a note of taking my own experiences when picking up compelling packages into consideration. Sources I read through informed me that making sure the customer knows what they’re buying from the moment they look at the package, but part of me has always enjoyed the mystery of figuring out what was inside of a package. It’s a personal anecdote, but one I do want to consider and incorporate in my design process, even if it’s on a small scale. I just feel like this isn’t a feeling that only I have if the package is compelling enough. What I mean, for example, is a design that has a subtle or small way of telling the customer what the actual product is, versus something that’s more obvious. A tea box with an intricate design and a minimalist text that states what it is, vs something that (hypothetically) has literal tea bags on it.
For this specific product that I want to sell (tea), I know I will need to focus on a more general design that suits all audiences, because tea is, well, for everyone. That, and I feel that when considering we have to create for different countries and their seasons, some really beautiful ideas can come from it, and I’m excited to see where I am able to take it. That and tea leave a lot of room for experimental packaging. There’s many ways to go about it and an endless amount of possibilities to explore. The packaging designs for the tea I have listed below have extremely unique ways of going about things, which makes the “competition” aspect of it difficult and a challenge to navigate, as well, considering they all rest in leagues of their own. Each brand has its own different approach to capturing what they feel should be depicted about the tea they’re promoting. There are a thousand different ways to promote peppermint tea. It’s just a matter of whose design stands out the most to consumers.
To answer the questions listed above more clearly (for what I hypothetically want to do, since I kind of already committed in my head), here is an example:
What is the product?
The product is: Tea
Who is the product for?
The product is for: (marketed towards) adults/young adults/teens for purchase, but the product itself can be consumed by children despite it not being meant for them.
How are people buying the product?
People are buying the product at the grocery store, right off the shelves.
With some basics down, I then looked to different types of package designs out there. And by types, I mean boxes, bags, totes, carriers, and more.
Types of package design:
Plastic covering
Plastic covering and partial covering, in general, is a useful and creative way to go about package design that gives more room for, I’d say, creating designs without having to imply what the item is in big bold strokes on the actual design, versus letting the design be subtle while the product shines through.
Wooden Containers
Wooden containers are also a unique way to package things, but with wood, I believe it depends on the product. The change in material can tell a different story about the product being sold, or surround with a connotation or expectation that shouldn’t be connected. This is a simple reminder that the type of packaging you choose tells someone about what your product is just like the design of the packaging does.
Glass Container
I think that think kind of packaging is the most efficient for liquids, or products that one would want to be visible through the packaging itself. It, believe it or not, leaves a lot of room for experimentation and working with the color of the product itself as an element in one’s design.
Bags
Bagged packaging is a useful way to go about this, but it also, like wood, depends on the specific product. Bagged products usually only apply when it comes to food items because it’s a convenient way to store the food with a unique type of packaging. It also could work if the product needs to be stored a specific way. For example, coffee bags are common for packaging coffee because it needs to be in very specific conditions in order to be stored properly.
Cardboard Packaging
Cardboard packaging is the safest, as well as the most common means of packaging a product. It’s what we see everywhere, from grocery stores to shopping malls with an endless amount of products. Again, like most products, there are an endless amount of possibilities available to us with this method of packaging.
Other Research
This video goes through the process of making a package for a snack, while also listing some design and typography tips. Hearing him go through his thought process was more than helpful when thinking about how I could potentially approach my own project.
This video was another good one that walked through the process of creating a package design, with a full-blown designer’s process that’s very similar to the one we presently follow. To see it full out in a professional sense, versus the other video, where he just started in Photoshop, was a different perspective I feel like I definitely needed.
Inspirational and Related Imagery
Additional Links:
