Out of two products that are exactly the same, which one is the first to trigger your purchasing intent? Is it the one in bold colors? Perhaps it’s practicality that you value the most? Though it’s different for every consumer, certain aspects of packaging design always subconsciously influence our decisions. This is why marketing and sales both depend on this effective graphic design discipline.
So, what are the exact features that attract the attention of modern-day consumers?
Which colors, shapes, and unique attributes make a product irresistible?
Going Back to Basics: Simplicity
Think simplicity cannot be creative? Google minimalism and think twice.
When it comes to product packaging, the simple approach can go two equally effective ways. In the first variant, a simple packaging aims to satisfy the basic needs of an average consumer – to provide pleasant visuals that serve to accentuate functionality. In its second, more stylistic variant, the practice taps into post-modernism to promote luxury through clean, sleek, and mysterious patterns.
Both approaches help nudge buyers’ decisions by introducing a much-needed break from the patchwork of today’s consumerism. On shelves stacked with attention-grabbing shapes and patterns, the simplicity that relies on negative space and cool topography often speaks the loudest message.
Building Trust: Transparency
While simplicity strives to provide visual relief from today’s overwhelming marketing concepts, transparency aims to provide reassurance. As user-generated pictures of fast food products that look nothing like their polished photographs on packaging continue to circle the internet, smart brands are instituting a different version of packaging design: minimalist, completely transparent containers.
As a tool for building trust, transparency helps boost sales and increase customer loyalty.
Packaging as a KSP: Authenticity
Simplicity and transparency both play an important role in modern-day branding. But there is one small problem with these two effective approaches – they don’t exactly offer much room for differentiation. Though these designs can be wildly creative, they are original only to a certain extent.
The fiercer the competition, the greater the need for authenticity.
It takes a special kind of creativity for a packaging design to serve as a brand’s key selling point. These are bold and never-to-be-seen before designs that not only look nothing like their competitors’ but also redefine packaging design trends as we know them. Needless to say, these designs are very rare.
Making a Shelf Impact: Visual Trickery
Every packaging is expected to be unique in at least one or two aspects of its design. Take this approach to the supermarket, where hundreds of products are stacked in a neat vertical or horizontal order, and you’ll come to realize that being creatively unique is not always the same as being visually striking. The two are equally important, but the second is absolutely paramount in the retail context.
To make a shelf impact, designers are using abstract patterns and geometric designs.
These designs help increase supermarket sales by making the product stand out from the crowd.
Reducing the Effort: Practicality
It’s been said and proven that modern-day consumers expect their favorite brands to make their customer journeys frictionless. Its why user experience is a number one priority of successful brands. In packaging design, great UX translates to ease-of-use and practicality.
Here at Fapco, Inc, we create designs that are both visually appealing and highly functional.
As a leading contract packaging vendor, our company offers innovative packaging solutions that are authentic and memorable. Expect unique and visually striking designs even if you opt for simplicity, and rest assured that our packaging will help you build trust even if they are not fully transparent.
Let’s start grabbing attention today. Reach out to us today for more information on how you can transform your brand through creative contract packaging design!