What Makes Your Food Brand Stand Out?
The taste, branding, quality, and unique recipe. But what if you packaged it in a dull, unappealing way?
You can’t overstate the packaging.
Eye-catching and creative packaging can grab customers' attention and simultaneously make them excited and hungry. You can effectively convey the right brand message using the right elements.
30% of businesses see increased sales and consumer interest when brands strongly invest in packaging. And 72% of consumers get influenced by packaging design.
But what are those right elements? What do you need to consider? This article gives a step-by-step guide to food packaging design that helps you stand out in the growing competitive market.
Let’s dive in.
When we talk about packaging, it’s the first thing your target audience sees that draws their attention and makes them familiar with your brand.
But it’s not the only thing good packaging does. Here are some more reasons to have a good packaging design:
Capturing a customer's attention doesn’t happen by chance. It all starts with an eye-catching packaging design. Your packaging is the first thing that customer notice, even before the product.
So, give it the time it deserves! Don’t rush the process of designing and creating the packaging design in a short period; it’s best to start working on it at least a month before launching a product.
The more time you give to designing your food packaging, the more you can think about unique packaging ideas for your product.
Now, let’s dive into designing an eye-catching food package.
Before diving into the steps of designing the food package, ask these questions to get clarity -
Now that you have all the answers, some essential stages encompass best practices to translate your vision into your creative output.
While designing your food packages, the main focus is understanding your target audience. Whom are you trying to sell? Who wants to buy your food product? When do they buy the product? These target audiences are most likely to purchase your products and can bring value to your brand.
For example, if your brand makes chocolates for children, you must design packages that attract children. Consumers can understand it is specially made for children when it is kept along with other chocolate products.
Here are a few steps to understand your target audience-
Here’s an example from Kellogg’s, which uses vibrant colors to grab the attention of their target audience, who are growing Indian children, teenagers, and adults. The design grabs attention and makes a perfect balance to grab the audience's attention.
Undoubtedly, color plays a psychological role in influencing consumers to purchase; each color evokes different emotions. Color psychology can help you understand whether you want to use bright, punchy, contemporary or minimal, calm, and sleek packaging colors.
For example, if we talk about the color green is associated with freshness and healthy food, while red is associated with bold and flavored foods. Here are a few steps to understand color psychology:
Here’s an example from Green & Black, the design made up of white background with a cascading watercolor pattern. The bold colors give users authentic and authoritative information with a modern touch to it.
While color palettes and fonts play a key role in food packaging design, the packaging shapes and forms are extremely important too. But, it is optional to have the same form and structure your competitors have; you can think of out-of-box ideas to give it a unique and outstanding look.
For example, soups can be packed in plastic-lined cardboard, a plastic pouch, or a classic tin container. There are endless ideas for a packaging design for your food, and each offers a different message about your brand.
Here are a few ways to find the right structure for your food package-
Some common food packaging structures are used, like pouches, jars, containers, paperboard boxes, food wrapping papers, corrugated cardboard boxes, clamshells, coffee bags, and endless others.
By considering the type of food, convenience, simplicity, and branding, you can select the right food packaging shapes and forms that will enhance the functionality of the packaging.
Here’s an example from Kinder Joy, unlike the usual trend of going for a rectangular or square shape, the brand chose to go with an extreme shape of an egg.
They say you got three seconds to grab customers' attention. The time is shorter, and capturing your consumers' interest has become an important brand factor. But not only do you need to stop them, you also need to get that product in their hands.
Graphics, visual designs, and illustrations are great ways to add style and personality to your food packaging. You can review the latest trends to send customers the right message about your brand.
For example, you might want to appeal to a young audience or the child in every adult. Use 90s cartoons and bright colors to reach them that exude an innocent and joyful message.
For example, Gobble is one of the original meal kit companies that help working families prepare meals within 15 minutes. Gobble wanted to stand out with the sea of brown boxes used for packaging. They wanted to add fun and excitement among the customers with their packaging boxes.
Now that you have decided on all the elements of your food package design select the right material that maintains product quality and freshness during distribution and storage.
Various materials have been traditionally used, from classic glass to versatile plastics, including aluminum foils, tinplate, tin-free steel, and paperboards. But, with the growing trends of eco-friendly and sustainable materials, choosing the right material has an increasing demand.
Here are a few factors to consider while choosing the right material:
As consumers grow more eco-conscious, you must keep an eye on eco-friendly packaging trends and materials.
Designing effective food packaging is critical to promoting your product and attracting customers. By following the step-by-step guide we've provided, you can create packaging that makes your customers hungry and excited to try your food product.
And if you need help creating the perfect packaging for your product, don't hesitate to contact us. Our team of experts is always here to help you design packaging that stands out on the shelves and makes your customers eager to take a bite.
Contact us today, and let's get started!