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If you’re reading this, chances are you’ll understand as well as us that packaging design is an essential ingredient in any customer-brand relationship.

Core criteria such as consistency, customer experience, and competitiveness all come into play when considering the success of a product based on its packaging design. In this blog, we’ll be revisiting the fundamentals of packaging design to reinforce their importance, while holding up these principles to the ever-growing demands of an increasingly globalised market. 

Just how must packaging design principles respond to an international market? Read on to find out.

1. Evoke a memorable experience 

One of the most important principles of packaging design is, of course,  the impression it leaves behind — its legacy and memorability.

Increasingly, the impression that brand packaging leaves behind is owing to its OOBE (or ‘Out Of Box Experience’). This phrase refers to the period of unpackaging and engaging with product packaging that a customer must undertake before encountering the actual product inside. 

Consider packaging the introduction of the actual product to the customer, like a physical greeting. Packaging design can convey a lot about its contents; certain textures and colour combinations can evoke a sense of luxury, for example. Other things such as fonts and icons are loaded with non-verbal associations that can trigger assumptions about a product even before it is unveiled. Even minor things such as vacuum sealed boxes or packaging that tells a story as it is unwrapped governs the initial interaction between a consumer and the product, shaping their experience of it.

So, to make sure your product is well-received by the consumer, memorable and engaging packaging design should be a prerequisite. 

2. Deliver a message

More directly, the messaging written on product packaging is another fundamental principle of packaging design, even if only to speak straight to your customers and convince them of purchase.

The messaging on product packaging has some heavy lifting to do (especially when global contexts are considered — but more on this later). Not only must the wording work with the design to betray the general feel of the product, but it must also establish a sense of consistency across all product variations. 

The phrasing, tone of voice, and any idiomatic language must be true to the brand and kept consistent across different product types, sub-brands, and countries. That being said, as we will see in point 4, it is far easier said than done to keep your packaging design consistent across regions.

3. Compete with other brands 

Supermarket aisles and eCommerce product pages alike can be overwhelming to customers trying to make a decision. With swathes of colour and slogans all trying to grab consumer attention, it is essential to make sure your product packaging stands out. And, when considering the global market, the number of competitors is even higher.

Due to this steep competition, the quality of your product packaging needs to be excellent and your designs should be versatile. As an example, designs should be able to adapt to different styles of packaging, which is where services such as 3D & CGI visualisation are so useful in picturing the design on the product. 

Another, more pressing, way in which packaging design can be competitive is through cost-effectiveness. It is hardly sustainable to exceed your budget for packaging design that you don’t feel gives your product an edge over its competitors. 

This is where solutions such as Smartshoring come in. Companies are under increasing pressure to produce competitive product packaging designs with smaller budgets, giving rise to a need to invest in smarter models of working. The answer? 

An enhancing of a company’s competitive edge by twinning offshore locations and in-country teams to capture ongoing value for low cost production. Thanks to this model, your brand can benefit from high quality, flexibility, and speed at a lower cost. Find out more about Smartshoring here.

4. Packaging design must work globally

Above all other principles, however, comes the global element of packaging design. How well does brand messaging and meaning translate into other cultural contexts? How suitable is the product packaging for a global audience? Will the design and wording resonate with the audience in the target country?

The design of a product’s packaging is never a static, finished product. It must be attuned to the sensitivities, customs, and values of the cultures it is being marketed to. Hence the need for culturally-attuned services such as transcreation and localisation.

These services should be applied to packaging design to not only make sure there are no mistranslations and errors but to make the target audience feel that this is a product designed especially for them — not just redirected from overseas. 

For example, when delivering our packaging design services to beauty industry giant, Avon, we rendered packaging design for 32 different language variations and created multiple different pack formats and print finishes. You can read the case study in more detail here.

Enjoy effective packaging design today 

Here at We Are Amnet, we are pioneers in packaging premedia. We pride ourselves on our ability to create high-quality consistent design for every brand and product we work with across the globe. Thanks to our unique Smartshoring method, our globally agile packaging solutions can always deliver, regardless of whether the content, budget, or deadlines change. 

Get in touch with our team of experts today to find out more about our packaging design services. 

 

Saskia Johnson

Author Saskia Johnson

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