Design your way

Packaging design isn’t the easiest thing to do. And once you send the design to the client and he starts printing, you can’t CTRL+Z your errors.

Try to imagine a world without packaging.

You probably can’t, or at least you find that the result to be a disorganized mess.

It’s easy to underestimate the necessity of packaging. It is important to have cans for your soda, a wrapper for your candy, or even a hamper for your laundry.

Package design is not only practical but it forms so much of our visual world.

Good product package design is more than just a container; it tells a story. Packaging design engages the viewer through all the senses—sight, sound, touch, sometimes even taste and sound.

This engagement should help the viewer (your potential customer!) understand what the product is used for, how to use it, who might want to use it, and whether or not they should buy it at all.

Achieving this goal can be daunting. Product packaging design is the translation of 2D package designs into 3D packaging designs.

This is an intimidating task, but it doesn’t have to be as difficult as you fear. Here are some ideas for package design inspiration to help make the process easier.

You will learn how to get your 2D packaging design ideas ready for printing and we will offer you a look of some different print finishes you can use for your box package design.

Picking the Best Software for Your Packaging Design

You need to pick out the best program for designing packaging before you really start in on the design process. You will probably end up sending the finished design to the manufacturer in a vector format.

Vector files can be scaled easily. It is very easy to create a dieline templates with the line and shape tools in vector programs like Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator.

3D visualization is a bit harder. Vector software is normally designed for 2D images, though you can use plugins or even other programs to help you out.

It also allowed you to rotate the 3D version of your packaging design so you can work on it from different angles. These is also a toll called Cinema 4D which can render flat deisigns into 3D.

It’s fairly common to skip these plugin and programs, and simply opt to create a mockup a photorealistic design in Adobe Photoshop.

Three Important Questions

Before you even start on your custom package design, you need to ask yourself these three important questions:

What is your product?
Who is buying your product?
How are people buying your product?

These questions will help you find the right mindset to start out with your packaging design. Let’s look at them in more detail.

1. What is your product?

This is a simple one. What is the product you are trying to sell? How big is it? What is it made of? Is it fragile? Does it need to be kept at a certain temperature?

By answering this question, you will be able to determine the logistical requirements of your packaging design.

More fragile products require more secure and reinforced packaging. Large or weirdly shaped items will need custom packaging, made specifically for the product.

Items that need to be transported and sold cold will need to be made of materials that can handle the temperature without issue. If your product is going to microwaveable in the package, it needs to be designed accordingly.

2. Who is buying your product?

What is your target demographic? Is your product meant to be used by men, women, both? It is it for children? Is it meant for environmentally conscious customers? Is it being sold to people on a budget, or is it meant as a luxury item?

Awesome designs are geared towards the customer. It needs to appeals to its ideal customers. You will need to do some research before you begin your design. This can also be a good source of packaging design inspiration.

For instance, a product designed for older people may need to use large text, while medicine meant for children should have extensive safety features. Products meant for the budget-conscious customer should be simple and pragmatic. Packaging for luxury items should seem luxurious itself.

3. How are people buying your product?

How does your product get from the retailer’s store or warehouse to your customer? Is it being sold in a big box store? Will it be bought off the internet and shipped to customers, or will they go get it at a small boutique store?

The answers will affect your packaging. Items that will be shipped from a warehouse to a home address require a different kind of packaging than they would if they were being sold in a department store or supermarket.

Products sold online should have streamlined packaging without any extra space that will allow it to rattle around and possibly be damaged. Anything sold in smaller, boutique shops should have charming designs to catch the eye.

Research, Research, Research!

Information is key. It is the only way you will be able to answer those three key questions above. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by information as you do this. To help you with information overload, focus on these key areas as you do your research:

Brand Requirements

If a product is a part of an established brand, it will have certain aesthetic requirements to fit with the branding campaign. Every brand has its own aesthetic. You need to research these key components of it:

Color- the best way to get the correct colros is to find the brand’s chosen CMYK values or Pantone Matching Values (PMS). These are meant for printing, so should make your design easier to complete. If you cannot get these values, see if you can get a hex code.
Logo- Get the vector file of any logos you may need. Logos are often the core of a branding campaign. You can design a great package, but without the logo it will fail at one its core purposes and be rejected.
Font- Get the correct fonts for the brand. If there are any specific instructions about the kerning or weight, make sure you follow those. This is not only a part of branding, but also often something that has been researched for marketability and readability.

Content Requirements

Every product is going to have unique content requirements. Some of it is a part of the brand’s own standards, like a certain mission statement or part of an advertising campaign. Other requirements are legal obligations, like nutritional information, contents, and hazardous material warnings.

Certain products might need to have expiration dates or batch marks placed on the packaging. These will probably not be printed on the packaging (they will probably be stickers) but you should leave room for them and make sure it does not disrupt any other important elements of the design. You may need to include a barcode or association marks.

Any symbols or text, whether required by the industry, the company, or by law, will need to readable. Do not get so wrapped up in making your creative packaging that you forget the pragmatic requirements. It can be harder to pull off than you think.

Factor in Budget

Budget is one of the most important elements of product packaging design. The budgets for these box designs are broken into two categories:

One-time costs- These costs includes the payment for the original design, print plate setup for large offset print runs, or purchasing a stamp for the do-it-yourself path. These costs are paid up front and typically they are paid only once unless you change the design.
Per item costs- These costs include the payment for the labor and materials. Every box costs a set amount. So will any tissue paper you stuff in it and any tape you seal it with. You will also need to pay someone to put the product in the box unless you choose to do it yourself.

Get a general idea of how much you are willing to spend before you even begin the design process. Cheaper does not always work out better.

Paying a bit more for quality materials can make a big difference in the presentation of your design. It can make your work stand out from your competition and help you with your selling price.

Do Not Forget About Style

Style is a crucial element you need to research as well. The best way to get a sense of current, stylish box designs is to start collecting images of stylish packaging. Take photos when you are out shopping. Use a Pinterest board to collect interesting design you see online.

Style is a complex thing. The packaging design ideas you see might have elements you like, rather than the whole thing. You might like the shape of certain package or a certain color, or a print that you see on a friend’s furniture.

It’s important to remember here that you are not looking for yourself, but instead for your product’s target demographic. Your personal style might be slick and modern, but if you’re trying to sell vintage candy, that is probably not the best style use for the packaging.

You should also look into materials, an often forgotten element of style for packaging design. Innovative packaging, in particular, uses interesting and new materials.

Take a look around as you shop and visit friends, much as you do for all the other elements of design. It is not a decision you can really make now, but it should be a decision you keep in mind as you create your box design.

Once you finish all your research—brand requirements, content requirements, budget, and style— you can begin to get down to the hard and fun work of actually designing your product packaging.

A good tip for the actual design work is to have the packaging tell a story. The choices you make based on your research are going to help you tell that story.

Understand the Use of Packaging Layers

Product packaging consists of three layers: outer packaging, inner packaging, and product packaging. Your product may or may not need any or all of these, depending on many factors (which you’ve already researched).

The outer packaging layer is what customers will see first. It performs more than an aesthetic function. It also protects the product from the elements. Outer packaging could include the box the product will ship in or bag that will be used at the store.

The inner packaging layer keeps the product safe inside the outer packaging. It could be tissue paper, a foam cradle, or even packing peanuts, anything that keeps an item from being jostled, scuffed, or damaged. It could also be something that keeps a food item fresh, like a sealed bag.

The product packaging layer is what you probably think it is. This layer includes the box an item is in, the labelled bottle, a tag on a piece of clothing, or a wrapper for a chocolate bar.

Every one of these layers should be a consideration in your overall design, as they all play a part in the message and story it tells.

Pick the Right Kind of Packaging

There are a lot of packaging design ideas out there. Knowing the right one to use requires a bit of thought. It can typically be easy to choose between a bottle and box. On occasion—for instance, when your product is vitamin pills—it may require a bit more thought. It really all depends on your product.

Your product is the most important consideration in your packaging design. You want to showcase it and catch customers’ eyes. Your product seem may seem to limit you, but remember that unique packaging is a possibility.

Capri Sun and Go-Gurt both sell liquids, but they changed the way their product was perceived and even used by using unconventional packaging for their products.

This can help your product stand out from the competition. Selling fruit juice in something other than a typical jug can catch the eye and market it very well without any extra help. This can backfire, however. Customers used to seeing a certain type of product in a certain type of packaging can be thrown off when they see something different.

Even with clear labelling, they may not pick up on what you are selling. If you are going the unconventional route with your packaging design, think it though carefully.

Also think about your budget for every package. Unusually shaped boxes cost more to produce, for instance. Can your budget handle the extra cost? The customer is an important factor here. Knowing how much your product will be bought for means you can better evaluate how much money you have to spend on the packaging design.

Get a Color Guide

A good color guide is invaluable. Accuracy colors is important to branding and getting the most up-to-date color guide will help everyone involved achieve their goals. It will help you avoid any unpleasant surprises that might occur once the box design has been printed.

Colors might fade over time, especially with heavy usage. In fact, you should expect them to do so. Update you color guides at the end of every year.

Line Up a Good Printer

As with many other kinds of design, packaging designs can be thrown off by the simplest oversights. You won’t start printing until you are done with design phase of your project. It should be in your mind long before you get to this point, however.

Connecting with a good printer will help you on a lot of levels. It will save you on the costs of printing. Giving the printer a call or sending them an email can get you some more specific information that will help you with your overall design.

Make sure you ask the printer about:

File format requirements- the printer will need a vector file. It might need to be a layered file, or you may need to include cut-lines. Make sure to supply a print-ready file, normally an Adobe Illustrator file (.ai) Photoshop file (.psd), PDF, or EPS. If you do not have the right software this can be a problem since you won’t be able open the files. You should always supply everyone involved PNG or JPG visual mockups that can be easily opened by anyone with a computer. Always double check your file types before you send them out.
Dielines- A printer should be capable of providing you dieline templates for standard size box or label sizes.
Color options- Occasionally printers can color-match any Pantone color. Less expensive printers tend to have a much more limited color palette available.
Offset printing vs. digital printing- Make sure you know which kind of printing your printer uses. If they use offset printing, find out their minimum order number. Learn how the costs scale.

Create Your Information Architecture

Customers will look at will remember one thing when seeing your packaging design. You can put an immense amount of effort into every element of your box design, from your color, to your materials, to the copy. All of that does matter, but the customer will still only remember one part of the design.

Decide early on in the design phase what you want that one thing to be. It should be the most appealing and important thing about product (hazard warnings are probably not a good choice, for instance). It needs to be the centerpiece of your design.

Everything else should complement it. You should only add in two or three more things you want to show about product. This keeps the important information front and center, not overwhelmed in extraneous info or too small to find.

Remember, your packaging design is about selling a product to customer. The customer should be the focus of your entire design process.

Evaluating Your Packaging Design

Once you have some designs, you can evaluate them. This can be hard to do, especially if you’ve created multiple iterations. They can blur together and be hard to differentiate.

Is it clear what the product is?

The packaging should let customers know what the product is, what it does, and who it is for. People will only buy something which has a purpose they can quickly understand. You need to make certain that your box design does not look like it belongs to something else, unless that is the intention. The last thing you want to do is confuse your customers.

Is the packaging honest in its representation of the product?

Almost as bad as confusing consumers is misleading them. You need to make sure any images on the packaging are actually images of your product. You could of course try to make a good impression and put your best face forward, but do not lie.

Especially with the advent of internet reviews, the truth will come out to the public very quickly. Make sure your customers do not feel cheated.

What will the packaging design look like in 3D?

You should make two mockups: one in 2D, your flat print design, and another in 3D. The 3D mockup will give everyone, including yourself, a clear idea of what the completed project will look like. You can create this mockup by printing the design out on white paper and assembling it into the correct shape.

You will notice things on this 3D mockup you wouldn’t on a 2D version. Occasionally flat images will look very good, but the 3D mockup will not look good at all.

How will the package look in stores?

How much of the packaging will be visible in the store? The product will probably be displayed in a line next to similar product. Only one side will be immediately visible. You should make sure the most important information is going to be front and center for possible customers to see.

You should also think of what the box design will look like when a bunch of these boxes are stacked together. They may create a distinctive pattern. You need to figure out if you want that pattern or not.

Next, think about how the product will look when it is sitting next to your competition, as it very well might. Do some scouting and go to stores where the product could be sold. See how the competition looks. What will it take to get your packaging design noticed? Bear in mind that the purpose and nature of your product should remain clear to your target demographic.

Is this packaging design versatile?

While your product may only have one variation right now, that may not remain the case. You could end up with multiple flavors of a product, for instance, or similar items belonging to same brand. Your packaging design should be easy to modify for these variations. You should be able to keep the branding the same while conveying the nature of this different product.

Is the packaging reusable?

Figure out if the packaging design is reusable. If it is, decide if you want it to be. You may not be able to reuse the packaging for every product. However, for those that you can reuse, think of it as free marketing. Clever use of reuse might even be used a selling point.

Collect Feedback

After you complete your initial design phase, it’s time to collect feedback. Don’t get your heart set on a certain design. You should run your concept(s) through your stakeholders and customers (or potential customers). You should even try asking people who have never heard of the product what they think of the design, to see if it could help grow the customer base.

These people will probably notice elements of the packaging design that you never would notice. Ask if they know from your box design what the product does, who is supposed to buy it, and what is the single key message they receive from the packaging.

Their answers will help you figure out if your packaging design is communicating what you want and need it to. With any issues identified, you can go back and make any modifications you need to.

Create a Dieline

A dieline will be the flat template of your packaging design. Is it normally created in a vector program using simple liens and shaped. The dieline should inform the printer where the packaging should be cut and perforated. The cutting, or trim, lines and perforation, or fold, lines should be placed in separate layers in spot colors. The cutting and trimming will happen at different stages.

Rename the dieline layers in your vector document as ‘DO NOT PRINT’. This makes it clear to the manufacturer that those layers are meant for post-print processing.

Creating dielines can be a bit awkward and difficult at first. It is one of those things that gets easier with practice. A nice form of practice is to find a box with similar dimensions as you packaging design. Take it apart and measure it. These measurements will be the basis of your dieline creation.

A Box is Not Just a Box

It is a mistake to think of a box as a simple box. Take a look at the packaging you see in your home or office. Many of them are probably some kind of box, varying in size, shape, and depth. They might have flaps integrated into the sign, or they could have a separate lid.

There are, functionally, two kinds of boxes: setup boxes and folding carton. Setup boxes are more expensive to produce and are typically used for high-end products. These are the kinds of box designs you see for retail packaging and gift boxes.

They normally have two parts: a top tray and a bottom tray. These kinds of boxes are what you should order if you want a very special box and do not mind spending more to have it made.

Folding cartons are used for many, many products. You see them for household goods to food products. They usually consist of a single template. It is created as a fold-out 2D design, printed on a card, then laminated, folded, cut, and glued together.

With this format, you can choose a box design that fits for your product and your retail price point. There is really no reason to package a product in an expensive box if it is being sold for a fairly low price.

Options for Closing the Box

Now you have a box format type chosen, next you need to pick out how to close it. It isn’t as simple as you might think. There are a dozens of options for box closure. Most are designed to work as sturdy seal for the bob while being easy to open when needed. The various types if box closures include (but are not limited to):

Standard Tuck End
Reverse Tuck End
Full Overlap Seal End

Do some research on the boxes at your home. Identify what kind of closure is what and how it works. There is no right or wrong kind of box closure. However, some types of closures are easier to design and some of the more complex ones work well without needing to be glued. This can save you time and money when you hit the production stage.

Styles of Boxes

There are a few styles of boxes that have industry standard formats and closure typed. A few of these more common styles of boxes are:

Pillow box— These have simple curved box shapes. They have curved closures to match and are normally used to package candy or cosmetics.
Display box— These are normally used for displaying point-of-purchase items on shelves and counters.
Edge-locked sleeve—These are the card covering ready meals and other food items.
Book style box— These are boxes in a book-like shape, with a hinged lid. You usually fine these used to package custom software and medical or cosmetic items.

Think Out of the Box

Boxes might be the most common type of packaging, but they are not your only option for packaging design. There are a lot more options! Boxes have the advantage of being easy to design as 2D templates. You might find your product is not going to work in a box however, as it is not that angular.

Tubes, pouches, and wraparound bottles might be a better fit. These are going to be harder to design. Good 3D modeling and accurate measurements are key to these sort of packaging designs. With these things, you can more accurately see how the design will look even on curved surfaces.

As it turns out, some kinds of packaging are even easier to produce than boxes. Nothing can be easier to make than labels, which are just a 2D sticker that needs only length and width measurements. Bags are also easy to create designs for, typically needing only a logo that will be repeated across a solid colored bag.

Working with Bottles and Other Curved Surfaces

The thing about curved surfaces is that the technical drawing rarely communicate the effect of the curve of the bottle or other container. The curvature can make the design take up more space than it would on a flat surface. See if you can get a print guide from the manufacturer for accurate measurements.

Think carefully about the layout of your marketing copy. It should not be difficult for a consumer to read the information of the bottle. Think of how difficult it is to read a bottle when you have to keep turning it around to follow the text. Remember, you can compensate for conical distortion in your design using the ‘wrap’ command in Adobe Illustrator.

Mockups are particularly important for curved packaging designs. You will be able to get a better sense of the way your design looks with a truly three dimensional images that you can turn every which way.

You’ll be able to see for yourself how easy and legible any text is, or if the curvature warps any images or other graphics in a weird (or even inappropriate) way. You can also make sure the label fits properly, if that is what you are designing, and is neither too long not too short.

Spot Checking

Both you and you client should check to see if the finished printed batches of the design are right. Look for plate slippage, which occurs when there are slight changes in batch in what should be straightened artwork. Inconsistent color is another issue that crops up.

Color consistency can change across separate print runs when ink batches or changed or even when ink runs low during a single print run. It is also sometimes a mistake that happens made by your printer. There is also a rather shady move to hide defective or less-than-ideal pieces under perfect copies.

You should be thorough with your check and look throughout the batches. Don’t just glance at the ones displayed up front.

If you find any issues, talk with the printer to clear them up. This can be a difficult task, as money might be involved. At the end of the day, however, resolving these problems will be worth the hassle, as it will mean an accurate representation of your carefully planned packaging design is out there for the customer to see, rather than a warped version.

Terminology

Packaging design and creation is its own field in many ways. It gets far more technical than a new designer might think. Because of this, it has its own complex set of acronyms, blending the world of graphic design, computer programming, and even simple materials engineering.

Below we have assembled a set of references to help you understand the lingo used in packaging design. This will be especially helpful when you work with your printer, who will know these terms and their uses inside and out.

Packaging Design Terms

Adobe Illustrator (AI) file — Adobe Illustrator is a design program used to create the vector images needed for printing. Adobe Illustrator files us an .ai extension. To open these files, you will need Adobe Illustrator. If the program cannot be found on your computer, your printer will have it.

Barcodes (UPC and EAN) — Barcodes are the groups of lines found on just about every package. They store information abotut he product in a machine-readable data format. That product information includes price, quantity, and many other things. There are many different types of barcodes. The most predominantly used one in North America is the UPC (Universal Product Code) format. The commonly globally used format is the EAN (International Article Number). The acronym originally meant “European Article Number”, which is why there is an E still in its current version. You may choose to apply for these before you finish the packaging design. You should plan on a spot for it even if you do not apply it.

Bleed — In printing, a bleed is the term used when your design goes to the edge of your paper, box, or wrapper. Because of this, designers will actually add a little extra design to the edges. When the design is printed and cut to the correct size, this additional bit of design work allows a bit of room for error if the cuts are a little bit off.

Canister — A cylindrical or round container, often made of metal, used for storing things like food and chemicals.

CMYK — This common printing acronym stands for cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow, and key (black). These four colors are the four colors used in printing. Every color has a CYMK code that a printer will can to help color match between your design and the finished package design.

Dielines —This is the flattened pattern of the product packaging. Designers and printers use them to create the correct layout for a package.

EPS — This stands for encapsulated postscript. The encapsulated postscript is a file extension for vector-based images. EPs is generally only opened in specialized graphic design programs.

Digital printing —Digital printing air a modern printing method that consist of sending information about the file to a printer digitally. After that is done, every piece of packaging is run individually through that printer. Digital printing works very well for small-runs and short turnaround times. The more traditional offset printing is usually much cheaper for larger print runs.

Offset printing — This is a printing technique using plates of your design are created in the four colors of CMYK. After they are created, these plates are run through a large industrial printer. Offset printing has high setup costs because the plates need to be custom created. In large volumes– typically over 1,000 or more units– it works much better for the price point

Pantone — Pantone is the company that created the Pantone Matching System (PMS). The PMS is a catalogue of standardized printing colors. Every color has an assigned number so that they can be reproduced nearly identically by any printer.

PDF — PDF is a widely recognized file format that means portable document format. It’s a versatile file format that be either a vector or raster. Remember vector files are what you want for your packaging design. PDF can support both text and images. PDFs can be opened on nearly any computer, as the Adobe PDF Viewer is free and normally standard on business computers.

Raster file type — Raster images are images made up of thousands of tiny dots, also known as pixels. Because of this, they are difficult to resize and are not what you want to use for your packaging design.

RGB — This widely used acronym stands for red, green and blue. These are the three primary colors that can be combined to create all other colors in visible light. The term is often used in reference to digital screens. RGB or hex codes are used to identify colors in a digital context. RGB codes can be converted into Pantone color and CMYK for printing.

Vector file type — Vector images are made up of lines. Because of this makeup, they are very easy to resize.

Common Back of Box Terms and Symbols

RoHS Compliant – Restriction of the use of Hazardous Substances. The materials this box is made of do not pose a health risk.

CE Mark – European Conformity. The product meets legislative regulations created out by the European Union. The term allows customers to know that the product meets a basic level of quality.

Green Dot – The Green Dot is a symbol lets consumers know that the manufacturer has covered the recovery and the recycling cost of a product. This cost is often a license fee that differs between various countries. It is also highly dependent on the materials used in the making of a product.

On opening; use by – This brief, often mechanically stamped words indicate the month and date a product will remain effective for before it is opened.

Recycling symbol (three arrows twisting and pointing to each other) – This symbol means that the material can be recycled. It is sometimes paired with a material ID number.

Leaping rabbit – The products in the package have not been tested on animals.

Soil Association symbol – The soil association has a large set of standards covering a the quality of the products from many different kinds of industries.

Vegetarian Society symbol– The product in the package has meet the Society’s regulations and is suitable for vegetarians.

IMPORTANT: Ensure that both you and the client understands their responsibility when using any of these marks. Slapping them on the packaging design without the testing to back them up or forgetting them when they are required is punishable by customer anger, media condemnation, and occasionally legal action.

Material Identification Codes

These are used to identify what material you plan or want an item to be made of. There are more, but here are a few common ones used for packaging:

HDPE – High Density Polyethylene
LDPE – Low Density Polyethylene
PP – Polypropylene
PETE – Polyethylene terephthalate
PS – Polystyrene
V (PVC) – Polyvinyl Chloride

Barcode Use and Terminology

Barcodes need to be acquired by registering at an official number supplier, like the GS1 or any of its various member organizations. This can be done by either the designer or the client. With that done, the officially supplied numbers can be used with a barcode generator found on the web to create an EPS file to use in the packaging design.

Make sure you check which kind of barcode you will be using before you output the file. For instance, in Europe and many other parts of the world, they normally use the EAN13 barcode format. The normal recommended size for barcode displayed on international packaging is 16mm high.

If you mess up either the format or the size, even the most innovative packaging design will be useless at its intended purpose. Always double check this kind of information.

You should remember that a ladder, in barcode terms, means the barcode is placed vertically. A gate is about the placement of a barcode horizontally. The terms at metaphors and it is easy to remember what they mean once you start using them regularly.

Batch Numbers

Batch numbers are normal for cosmetic or pharmaceutical products. Make sure you leave an unintrusive space for them in your design, as they will be placed on the packaging during actual production of the product.

They will be mechanically stamped in the directed area on the packaging. Your client should include this specification in their brief to you so it can be easy to work into your design.

Ending thoughts on packaging design

As you can see, innovative packaging design is complex and multifaceted process. It consists of many different stages. So much of the success of a packaging design lies in the communication between the client, the designer, and the printer.

Take your time, do your research, learn the right terms, pick the right programs, and make sure you are constantly talking to everyone involved. You might find yourself designing the next big marketing wonder!

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