When people talk about packaging, they usually talk about the form as well as the protective features of the packaging. However, there are many different types of packaging designs today. While many packaging designs follow the practical path of keeping items safe, others employ packaging to amuse and promote businesses in the eyes of the public.

The designs that consumers choose these days give a hint as to the significance of inventive packaging, from clean, muted colors to quirky accents that brighten the mood. Here are some packaging design tips and reasons why they're important, as well as tons of packaging inspiration!

What is packaging design?

The art of developing distinctive and useful product packages is known as packaging design. It involves the materials chosen as well as the font, color scheme, and artwork. You can try artwork proofing tools link font finder, color extractor, spell checker, online scale etc for proofing your artwork design. The branding strategy should be congruent with the design. Functional considerations, such as how to store products in a certain way, must be included in package designs.

Customers can evaluate visual appeal in as little as 50 milliseconds. Making a strong initial impression is crucial for this reason. Experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging demonstrate how visual cues affect human perception. For instance, only one part of the brain is physiologically activated when tea is tasted. But as soon as you recognize the brand, your entire brain becomes alert. Because of this, Coca-Cola tastes better when sipped from a cup bearing the company's emblem.

The technique of designing packaging is distinct from that of conventional 2D graphic design. Like everyone else, package designers utilize Adobe’s creative suite, but dieline designs must fold, labels must conform to the shape of the bottle, and so on. This also gives brands and designers the chance to get creative with their designs. Get inspired to elevate your brand's packaging with our latest label design Ideas.

Why creative packaging is crucial?

1. It helps your product stand out

As eCommerce sales grow, packaging plays a bigger role in the purchasing process. 52% of consumers claim that they would buy a product again if it was packaged luxuriously or in an interesting way.

In addition to being useful, creative packaging designs promote sales. They convert the hesitant into consumers and the occasional adopters into repeat customers. They keep people engaged with companies and fill the void left by a physical purchasing experience.

2. It makes products memorable

Customers get a positive unboxing experience when products have excellent packaging design. The act of opening the package becomes integral to the product experience. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that clients are more likely to remember your brand if the packaging design is memorable.

3. It showcases your brand

Your packaging is a powerful tool for promoting your brand. A surefire approach to ensure that your customer recognizes your brand, beliefs, and purpose is to maintain consistency in your design across your website, packaging, and logo, among other areas. Your goods will be more recognizable far beyond your area with the help of creative packaging design, attracting new clients you wouldn't otherwise be able to reach.

Creative product packaging examples

Whether you want to retain loyal customers, make a splash in the market with your new launch, or are just planning on a refresh, here are some of the best unique packaging ideas that will provide a memorable unboxing experience. 

Personalized packaging

Not every packaging needs to be an expensive design. With more brands, particularly smaller businesses, providing personalized solutions, personalized packaging is becoming one of the hottest trends. However, you need very little in terms of design to make personalized packaging stand out. By simply having the customer’s name printed on the product packaging, you are creating a personal and intimate connection with the customer. And if they like your product, they will become a long-term customer. 

Minimal packaging designs

With the current craze for retro shapes, the minimalist design seems to be a visual reprieve. Keeping designs straightforward could be a good strategy. There are other reasons to choose simplicity, though, and it's only because minimalism takes the safe route. One of the most effective methods to accurately polish your brand is to strip down a product's packaging design to its essential elements. The best way to establish a lasting, significant impact on buyers is to let your product do the talking. Your product stands out in the market and becomes unique with minimal packaging. You can even do this with transparent packaging. 

Consider a cosmetic or a personal hygiene product with a cluttered design with multiple visual elements, such as a large logo and a lot of text on the label. Now, think of the same product, but with a more sophisticated appearance. When you are thinking of a more sophisticated or a classy packaging, you will automatically remove a lot of the design elements, making the design more minimal. Minimal designs respect empty spaces, properly aligned content, and keep only the bare minimum. 

Minimal designs are cleaner. The end goal is to reduce the unnecessary visual elements, cut down the clutter, and let the product stand out by itself. 

Localized illustrations

The idea is to create a connection with customers of the region where you are operating. Localized drawings consistently make a big difference in grabbing clients' attention. Most consumers place their attention on goods that directly link the design of the packaging to the product's standard.

Such illustrations may be based on a region's history, tribal arts, or even a narrative outlining how the creation of the product relates to any artwork. Such graphics have the potential to stand out from the competition and be distinctive.

Interactive or smart packaging

Interactive or smart packaging includes modern technologies such as QR codes or embedded circuits. Customers can interact with the brand using QR codes or get supplementary information regarding the product, which can be facilitated by advanced label design software. It significantly improves brand perception while bolstering trust.

In addition to QR Codes, NFC and RFID technologies have also been shown to have a significant future in the field of smart packaging. Without even opening the package, these technologies assist clients to learn more about the goods. For instance, you can tell if a pizza box is hot or not by visualizing its color. Similarly, you can see if a bottle of beer is chilled or not. Interactivity is therefore crucial for fresh innovation and the development of packaging designs in the future.

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Neutral tones

The tones that go well with an exquisite design are those that are earthy and neutral. Additionally, thought to be more enticing, useful, and functional, earthy and neutral colors give the packaging a cozy, comforting vibe. The best niches for embracing this packaging idea are industries like pharmaceuticals or organic goods brands. 

Vintage designs

The incorporation of vintage charm aesthetics into packaging design is one of the popular strategies for grabbing consumers' attention. The entire design, including the layout, color scheme, and even the box, is infused with a vintage look. Although these are frequently utilized in food and drink products, practically any product can employ this type of historical packaging.

Vintage appeals mostly because it conveys authenticity. It does mirror the product's look and feel. Aside from the use of vintage-style fonts, artwork, script characters, and color schemes all add to the impression of antiquity and ancestry. Despite the vintage design, brands can still make innovative packaging. 

Gradients

Before flat and minimal designs became popular, packaging often used gradients. They added an additional depth to the packaging. A great example is the old packaging of Pringles. The old design had a backdrop where the designers implemented gradients. However, the new design uses a flat and minimal color scheme.

However, gradients in packaging designs are coming back as designers are now combining minimal designs with energizing color schemes. Gradients add a degree of depth and sophistication to the design. They also make minimal design schemes less boring with the bright color schemes. 

Textured packaging

Have you as a business owner given any thought to how the buyer will handle your goods when they pick it up when choosing the packaging material or the design? Touch contributes a significant sensory experience when it comes to unboxing. It plays a significant role in evoking emotional bonds since people thrive on them. Therefore, most packaging designs emphasize textured packaging to enhance the product's struggle, story, or encourage the sense of touch.

For instance, even when you are holding a luxury product for the first time, you can feel the smoothness or the superior quality of the product when you touch the box. You may not always understand anything clearly; sometimes, our subconscious is at work. With textured packaging, you can leverage this to create an unique unboxing experience. 

Loud typography

People seek to complete their shopping more swiftly or efficiently in the modern era. Customers can quickly recognize the product thanks to the design and the best font. Future design trends will see more use of bold, contemporary typefaces than traditional typographies.

Loud and current typefaces make it simple for competitors to notice the product title when combined with contemporary color schemes and other design elements. Make sure not to select typefaces that are hard to visualize and require more effort to recognize while choosing them. If your design is excellent but your font is subpar, the product may languish on the shelf for longer.

Geometric designs

One of the key packaging design ideas for the upcoming years is the use of simple yet geometric elements. The next level format for packaging designs will be one with geometric lines and shapes. These simple designs are minimal, but also have enough visual elements allowing the product to stand out. The patterns and graphics may or may not depict what is inside the packaging.

In addition to being straightforward, these designs are an effective way for businesses to establish their presence and leave a lasting impression.

Closing thoughts

There is no hard and fast rule for what makes the best packaging design. You can have creative product packaging ideas other than the ones listed. Product packaging development is a journey that requires extensive collaborative effort. From ensuring consistency in every design to combing through the nitty-gritty of regulatory compliance, your teams will inevitably be stretched thin during the course of your project. If you'd like to avoid the delays this would cause and enhance efficiency for your teams, it is best to support your projects with workflow management software solution & brand asset management software like Artwork Flow. Not only will your teams work with a more robust and flexible workflow, they will also find it much easier to collaborate, fewer errors will be missed, and your design output will improve significantly as your teams get more time to focus on the creative part of the job.

To know how Artwork Flow can help your business, book a demo with our experts or start your free trial today.