How to Design Product Packaging: 15+ Expert Product Packaging Design Tips

hanks to the increase in ecommerce driven by the COVID 19 pandemic, the product packaging industry is experiencing a creative boom. With today’s customization tools and digital printing solutions, brands now have endless product packaging options to choose from. And with packaging design trends including everything from gradients and holographic colors to pack-vertising and sustainable packaging, the sky’s the limit. But how do you choose the perfect packaging design for your product? 

With 70% of consumers forming their impression of a brand based on its packaging, there’s no denying that your product packaging choices can have a big impact on customer experience and satisfaction. Whether you’re designing your packaging for functionality and practicality or creativity and innovation, it’s super important to know your audience’s preferences, needs and values, and design your packaging accordingly. 

Ready to learn how to wrap your products up in the perfect package? We’ve called on a range of industry experts to share their top product packaging design tips, tricks and advice. Enjoy!

Great packaging design is about combining beautiful colors, typography and photography. When you’re creating packaging for a specific audience, everything needs to have a purpose. It’s also crucial to think about how that product will look on a shelf (if it’s being sold in store) or how it will look online and stand out from its competitors. Maybe it’s through the use of bold typography or daring color choices. Think, “Why am I making these choices and what’s their purpose?” 

This is KEY when it comes to packaging design. Before printing thousands, test the print, mock it up, and make sure all of your design choices are right, e.g. ensure the font size is correct, the colors are well thought-out, etc. Also think about additional printing techniques that could make the packaging come alive. Maybe it’s a holographic foil, embossed wording or spot UV –  this can make your design go from good to excellent.

There’s an expectation to come up with a packaging solution that is both unique and appeals to the market or category you’re designing for. This is also the most rewarding part – it’s satisfying finding the solution to the ‘problem’. Simply determine what problem you want the packaging to solve, then design it to execute this. 

I can’t stress enough how important it is to know the category you’re working in. Do an audit of your competitors to determine what they’re doing and why. What brand assets, such as colors, shapes, or image styles, do they use? This will help you understand what to stay away from and highlight opportunities not already being capitalized on within your category to ensure that the product stands out.

My top packaging design tip is to keep a tight brief. Whether it’s coming from a client or not, make sure you ask as many questions as you can to establish exactly what they want and make it more fun. At least for me, a tight brief is where the magic happens.

To catch your customers’ attention, you need to make sure that your packaging stands out against the rest. You have more than color schemes and a square box at your disposal – think about printing techniques, laminates, embossing, white print, and textures. If a competing product uses a glossy laminate, go for a matte laminate. These small things will differentiate your product and redirect your customer’s focus when shopping in highly saturated markets.

Packaging is more than a box – you can also use mailer bags, inserts, cardboard tubes, jiffy bags, stand up pouches, envelopes. Don’t default to a box. The type of packaging you use says as much about your brand as the design you put on it. 

Also, use all the surfaces of your packaging. When someone opens a box to see the product, that’s an intimate moment. Print info on the inside of your packaging to make your brand part of that initial experience between product and consumer. 

Consistency is key. Your packaging has to fit in the language of your website, stationery and branding – it’s simply another medium to help create a consistent branding experience. 

The thing that keeps me excited about packaging is how integrated it is with everyday life – you can see it in almost every aspect of peoples’ lives. With this in mind, it’s super important to think about how your design will look on the shelf. 

To me, successful packaging design should follow the three S’s – Succinct, Simple & Straightforward! It should be succinct in expressing an idea or emotion, simple in the execution of design and messaging, and straightforward in terms of delivering its core proposition.

A lot of us are rethinking the purpose of packaging. Now that e-commerce is king, customer-initiated touchpoints happen on the screen rather than on the shelf. Often, the first interaction a customer has with a brand’s packaging is after they’ve already made their purchase. 

Because of this we’re pivoting from a “pick me!” philosophy to a design approach that reassures clients that they’ve made the right choice. So, it’s important to ask where precisely on the customer journey your packaging enters the picture and what purpose it’s serving.

Your packaging has an intimate connection with the individuals handling it. It can offer moments of anticipation, surprise, and even stick around in consumers’ homes long after the product is out of the box (packaging is often repurposed for storing household supplies). Put yourself inside the mind of the consumer and think about how they’re going to interact with your packaging. 

One of the biggest mistakes I see companies make with their packaging is that they try to cram every selling point, piece of information, design trend and buzzword onto their box. This results in a jumbled message that doesn’t really say anything at all. 

When it comes to effective packaging, whittle your product or brand down to its essentials and showcase them front and center. That isn’t to say that your brand should embrace a minimalist design language, but rather that your messaging should remain focused and serve an actionable purpose. 

It’s crucial to consider how your packaging will be used. This will help guide what type of packaging your product will need. Ask yourself:

When making a design plan for your custom product packaging, consider the following:

Once you’ve determined your packaging’s initial requirements, you can then turn your focus to design ideas, such as patterns, colors, and typography that fit your brand and marketing strategy. Packaging design is a wonderful way to make a strong first impression. Ensure your packaging is consistent with your website, social media channels and other brand touchpoints to further build brand recognition. 

Quality product packaging should enhance the experience of using your product. Consider what your audience will value, and reflect on what your brand stands for. For example, eco-conscious customers might appreciate a 100% recyclable box, with an opportunity to engage in a larger conversation about your product’s mission to heal the environment. The details are everything.

And that’s a wrap! We hope you found some useful tips and advice for your next product packaging design. Don’t forget to check out our Product Packaging Design Trends for 2022, as well as our blogs on Illustration Trends, Graphic Design Trends, Branding Trends, and Web Design Trends for more great tips.