STRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Brand Packaging. Overall objectives: – Identify brand message – Convey descriptive & persuasive information – Facilitate product transport & protection – Assist at-home storage – Aid in product consumptionPackaging is an important element to help build brand equity and should embody several objectives to be successful. Packaging & Dielines is also available as a free downloadable resource to inspire new engaging structures with easy to follow dielines as you explore the possibilities of structural packaging design. Understand that the parameters set in Part 1 are guidelines that define a client’s needs, limitations, and comfort zone, being well informed of. Designing and building packaging that is attractive, durable, and engaging, all while remaining affordable and realistic, is a tall order. It is no secret that a brand’s packaging has the power to make or break its profits, which is why so much time, energy, and research is poured into the packaging development process. Billions of pounds are spent on packaging food and other items each year. Sixty percent of all packaging is for food products. At the beginning of the 20th century most food was sold loose. It was weighed and measured out and placed in bags or directly into the shoppers bag to carry home. Packaging and advertising were virtually unknown.
If you’re expecting beautifully printed graphics on packaging to differentiate your product from the competition, think again. Before visual design creates a need in the consumer to interact with your product, the consumer recognizes color and shape. Having defined the parameters within which you are able to create in Part 1 of this series, the focus now shifts to defining; white-space, user-experience, materials, shape, and structure. Packaging & Dielines is also available as a free downloadable resource to inspire new engaging structures with easy to follow dielines as you explore the possibilities of structural packaging design.
Understand that the parameters set in Part 1 are guidelines that define a client’s needs, limitations, and comfort zone, being well informed of the boundaries allow you to push beyond them. How far beyond those boundaries will depend on a risk reward trade-off, does ROI increase incrementally as you push beyond the established boundaries?
Here are 8 steps to get you started designing well informed packaging structures and change your packaging design process.
SKETCH
Start with broad strokes, never zero in on your first concept, it’s probably not as good as you think. Every project begins by having a clear understanding of the product/s to be packaged, that includes their weak points, weight distribution, product tolerances, and fulfillment method/s as defined in Part 1 of Packaging 101.
1) Create momentum in the ideation process by allowing yourself the creative freedom provided by sketching. There isn’t a specific number of sketches recommended, but you should strive for 20 – 30 concepts.
Each thumbnail sketch should address one or more of the goals set in Part 1. For example, mass market items with tight budget constraints require automation in production, as well as considering cost cutting materials, and processes. Streamlining assembly at fulfillment centers with pop-up features typical of auto-locking bases, simplex styled constructions, and built-in product inserts will also impact overall packaging budgets. Tight budgets do not mean that you overlook the end user experience, it simply means that understanding the end user will allow you to create an appropriate unveiling experience. Start exploring concepts with those cost cutting features, and evolve their unveiling processes until you have
On the other side of the spectrum, luxury packaging focuses less on automated processes and more on unveiling and creating a tactile user experience through structural design and material selection. The unveiling processes is defined by the delayed product reveal that heightens anticipation, and delivers key signature moments at every user interaction. Read Top Ten Luxury Packaging Cues to explore luxury packaging further.
2) Exhaust all possible directions and push the boundaries of your established parameters.
t is time to edit. Editing means reviewing the pros and cons of each packaging structure, and evolving designs by incorporating the pros of the strongest concepts and solving for the cons into five powerfully concise structures. Structural presentation must address a brand appropriate user-interaction process that includes the initial point of contact, unveiling, returns, reusability, and end of life.
RAPID PROTOTYPE
Where great ideas are sculpted by failure.
Working with paper prototypes allows you to ideate as you build, finding innovative answers to hurdles encountered in rapid prototyping. This is not entirely possible in the Working Model phase as focus tends to shift from innovation to production quality, this tunnel vision experienced in creating working models is the reason the rapid prototype phase is crucial to innovation.
In the rapid prototype phase your goal is to push structure to support the product using a minimal amount of material, and create an intuitive unveiling experience for the consumer. The reason for minimizing the amount of material is that it allows you to design efficiencies in the process that yield less cumbersome structures. Structure has to follow function first by simplifying the needs of the pack, then you can begin altering your structure to create brand appropriate interactions in the design of the packaging.
3) Layout rough pencil dielines from which to build you paper mock-ups. These paper mock-ups allow weaknesses in the structure not visible in the sketch phase to present themselves and allow you to address them before you get too far in the design process. This phase also allows you to chip away at any excess material, create folds that interact with in-store lighting, or discover simple interactions that support the brand promise.
4) The benefit of rapid prototyping is how quickly structures reveal their weaknesses at this stage. Knowing the structure’s weaknesses you are able to sketch solutions to those hurdles presented by paper mock-ups, build new prototypes, and repeat as often as necessary. The goal of this iterative rapid prototype process is to pare your five structural directions down to two structural concepts that can be further refined into working models. Always test structures with a broad demographic to provide insight into how consumers will view, interact, and handle your structural design. Never work in a vacuum.
5) Take final measurements of products, paper mock-ups, shelving, and create your vector dielines. You can do this in your preferred software by scanning in your unfolded mock-up and applying measurements from fold to fold. Always work and label dielines based on internal dimensions, should materials change throughout the process it will only impact outer dimensions. Internal dimensions influence product fit and function, external dimensions do not.
WORKING MODELS
Review the two selected directions with the brand, fulfillment, and production to further refine the design into working models that can be tested for strength, interaction, and usability. Working models are representative of structure and define production specs that include materials and processes. Not everyone can envision your 3D concepts without having a fully working proto in hand, a working model also sets expectations from fulfillment to the final unveiling. The goal of this collaborative review of structure can be used to define key messaging opportunities in the consumer’s unveiling process as well as any production streamlining methods. Changes that happen often in this stage focus on fit, function, materials, and fine tuning interactions.
The Seven Elements Of Packaging Industry
6) Build your working models in final production materials through the specified manufacturing procese in order to properly test strength, fulfillment, hand-feel, and the unveiling process. Work closely with your production team at this stage to confirm you are within production capabilities that meet budget, timeline, and quantity requirements previously set in Part 1.
7) Photograph and compare your structures under various lighting condition to replicate on-line, in-store, and at home experiences. Check structures in the shadows cast by shelves, or at the angled distances packaging structures present themselves in store aisles. Studying the packaging under various lights, angles, and distances may reveal flaws, or opportunities that can be exploited in the visual design phase. Lighting variations will also highlight how your package will look in different environments from boutiques to big box stores.
8) Incorporate test results into final structural drafts, update dielines, material selection, grain direction, and repeat the working model phase as needed.
In an effort to shed light on the subject of structure, I asked 2 packaging structural designers to share their process as well.
Bolu, Mat Bogust
Mat Bogust of Think Packaging outlines his process:
1. Ask & Probe, where will it be sold? Retail/online/supermarket? what types of quantities?
2. Familiarize yourself with the product, hold the product, feel the product.
3. Ideate/Sketch/Visualize how it can be packaged, creating a 3D form and unfolding it in my mind then sketching the layout onto paper.
4. CAD! Starting with fittings and product protection, then working outwards to the panels based on how I wanted it to look and feel in step three.
5. Sample. Hand cut and crease the proper materials to feel as if they are coming off of the production line, and editing along the way.
Clifton Ring Case, Andrew Zo
Andrew Zo the mind behind the Clifton ring case outlines his process:
1. Research
Look through the current packaging designs that are on the market. When I see a unique packaging, I will try to get a hold of it and tear the packaging apart to examine the dieline and learn how the unique structure is formed.
2. Ideation
After doing the initial research, I begin to brainstorm some possible ideas on paper.
3. Prototype
I prototype with paper and make quick models to test out my sketches. What I had learned in the research phase often informs me in this part as well.
4. Refine
After all the various testings, I will make a polished prototype. This prototype gives me a good understanding of what the final design could look like. It will also allow me to test out the unboxing experience now that I have a close to finish structure.
5. Dieline creation
Once I am satisfied with the prototype then I can translate it into a dieline.
The Seven Elements Of Packaging Labeling
Structural design is one of the least utilized tools today, regardless of being able to deliver powerful brand defining signature moments. These 8 steps, are meant to serve as a starting point to develop your own method of structural concept development. The steps outlined by Mat & Andrew are examples of how personal these processes can be. There is no right way, only what works for you. The goal is to push structures beyond generic forms, as away to support and convey the brand promise and not fade into a shelf of sameness.
Let me know how you have developed your process in the comment section below.
Learning Objectives
- Discuss the role of packaging in the brand-building process
Creating the Perfect Package
Bigelow Tea Rebrand Tea Gift Set by Brielle Wilson. 2015 A’Design Award Winner for packaging design. Source: https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=36627
Product packaging is an underappreciated hero in the marketing world. Packaging is supremely functional: it protects the product. It contains the product. It displays the product. It promotes the product. Its design and labeling communicate about the product. And the package itself can even increase the product’s utility, making it better suited to however the customer wants to use it.
If packaging does all these things, why is it undervalued? As a marketing tool, packaging often feels low-tech and old-school in the information age. It’s just not as sexy as Web sites, events, or social media—and yet, it remains a staple of the purchasing environment.
With the increased emphasis on self-service marketing at supermarkets, drugstores, and even department stores, the role of packaging is significant. For example, in a typical supermarket a shopper passes about six hundred items per minute—or one item every tenth of a second. Thus, the only way to get some consumers to notice a product is by in-store displays, shelf hangers, tear-off coupon blocks, other point-of-purchase devices, or, last but not least, effective packages.[1]
Packaging provides an opportunity for a product to jump out and differentiate itself on the crowded, viciously competitive shelves of supermarkets, drugstores, department stores, and other retailers. Every single customer who buys a product inevitably interacts with the packaging, which is what makes it such a potentially powerful touch point.
Clarifying the Role(s) Packaging Can Play
Marketers invest a great deal on motivational research, color testing, psychological manipulation, and so on in order to learn how the majority of consumers will react to a new package. Based on the results of this research, past experience, and the current and anticipated decisions of competitors, marketers determine what primary role the package will play relative to the product. They determine which of the following needs to be included:
- Quality
Royal Fruitmasters Holland box. Source: http://www.dssmith.com/packaging/about/media/news-press-releases/2014/6/communicating-quality-through-packaging/
Example: One Dutch packaging company developed a cardboard package design for fresh produce sold in the Netherlands and exported to other countries. The decorative elements were based on world-famous, collectible Delft blue porcelain, to convey high quality and desirability.[2]
- Safety
Example: Product protection and child-proofing are standard features in the packaging of Tylenol, Benadryl, Children’s Motrin, and other over-the-counter drugs. - Instruction
Example: Dosage information for drugs and “how to use this product” information for a variety of appliances, devices, and other products helps ensure that consumers use products responsibly and as intended. - Legal compliance
Example: The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) maintains strict regulations about the types of information food companies must disclose on their product labels: ingredients, calorie counts, nutritional information, serving size and servings per container, and so forth. - Distinction
Example: Packaging can be distinctive as a familiar, favored brand: the Coca-Cola or Heinz Ketchup bottles, the Campbell’s Soup can, the Kleenex tissue box. Alternatively, designers may use color, shape, materials, labeling and other packaging features to convey something is new, different or improved. - Affordability
Example: In packaged goods, packaging simplicity and plainness—for generic and store-brand products—often suggests greater affordability in the minds of consumers. - Convenience
Example: Resealable packages have been a welcome, convenient packaging innovation for a variety of products, from baby wipes to sliced bologna to snack foods. - Aesthetic beauty
Source: https://www.tripleclicks.com/detail.php?item=404322
Example: Perfume manufacturers devote extensive time and attention to making beautiful, distinctive designs for perfume bottles and packaging. One recent estimate suggests that for each $100 bottle of perfume, the manufacturer’s expense for the bottle and packaging is $10. Meanwhile, their expense for the bottle’s contents is only about $2.[3]
- Improved utility
Example: Packaging single-serving yogurt or applesauce in tubes rather than traditional packages makes them usable in more settings and circumstances because they are less messy and no longer require spoons or a table-top to be able to eat them effectively. - Sustainability
Example: Environmentally-friendly packaging can create brand preference from consumers who are conscious about their carbon footprints. Using fewer chemical-based inks and dyes, less wasteful packaging design, and preference for recycled and recyclable materials all set products apart as “green” and eco-friendly.
Matching the Package to the Product . . . and the Consumer
Clearly delineating the role of the product should lead to the actual design of the package: its color, size, texture, location of trademark, name, product information, and promotional materials. Market leaders in the dry food area, such as cake mixes, have established a tradition of recipes on the package. However, there are many package-related questions. Do the colors complement one another? Are you taking advantage of consumer confusion by using a package design similar to that of the market leader? Can the product be made for an acceptable cost? Can it be transported, stored, and shelved properly? Is there space for special promotional deals? Finally, various versions of the product will be tested in the market. How recognizable is the package? Is it distinctive? Aesthetically pleasing? Acceptable by dealers?
Packaging designers can be extremely creative when it comes to incorporating multiple requirements into the container design. The key is to understand what factors most influence customer decisions about what to buy. For a given purchase situation, any of the factors above–or a combination of them–might help a consumer settle on which product to buy.
In some product categories, the promoting the package has become almost as important, if not more important, than promoting product performance. This is true for products as diverse as powdered and soft drinks, margarine, perfumes, and pet foods. In the case of Pringles, the stacked potato chip made by Procter & Gamble, a package had to be designed that would protect a very delicate product. Hence the Pringles can. When it introduced Pringles to the market, Procter & Gamble took a risk that retailers and consumers would be open to something new.
Packaging and Brand Loyalty
Packaging is one dimension of a brand that can contribute to customer loyalty. Familiar or aesthetically pleasing packaging can simplify the buying process in customers’ minds. The package is a clear extension of the brand, and brands with strongly loyal fans (or “tribes,” as they are sometimes called) may create significant brand equity associated with the package.
An interesting example of this phenomenon is actually a brand misstep on the part of clothing manufacturer Gap. In “Amanda Sibley describes what happened when Gap introduced a new logo in October 2010. The company was trying to make its image more contemporary and hip. How long did the logo last?
A whopping two days.
Gap quickly put the old logo back into place after unbelievable backlash from the public. Gap, known for everyday basics, tried to redo their image to appeal to a more hip crowd. Unfortunately, they didn’t understand who their target market is—people who want the basics and aren’t interested in trendy styles. Their loyal customers felt that Gap was changing their image for the worse and lost a connection with the brand. Gap was also unsuccessful at attracting the younger, trendy generation with the redesign (albeit only a two-day redesign), resulting in a failure on two fronts with this new logo.
It wasn’t so awful for Gap to pursue a logo redesign, the lesson is simply to stay in touch with your buyer personas so you can ensure your new design reflects them. Marketers focus a lot on metrics—for good reasons—but never underestimate your audience’s feelings toward your brand. They’re harder to quantify, sure, but boy will people speak out when their sensibilities are offended.[4]
Check Your Understanding
Answer the question(s) below to see how well you understand the topics covered in this outcome. This short quiz does not count toward your grade in the class, and you can retake it an unlimited number of times.
Use this quiz to check your understanding and decide whether to (1) study the previous section further or (2) move on to the next section.
- William O. Bearden and Michael G. Etzel, 'Reference Group Influence on Product and Brand Choice,'Journal of Consumer Research, September 1982, pp. 183–194 ↵
- Amanda Sibley, '↵