When you launch your brand and your products into the market, the packaging will significantly influence the consumer’s perception of your brand and the value of your products. As a result of reading this post, you will be better able to understand how to create packaging that is appropriate for your brand and product.
What is the role of packaging?
Packaging serves several purposes, including protecting the product, facilitating storage and transportation, and promoting sales. The packaging is the consumer’s first encounter with the product, the direct and primary transmitter of its personality, and the expression of the brand’s image positioning. In this section, I will focus primarily on the impact packaging will have on your brand and your customers.
Packaging is the carrier of your brand concept
Product packaging is the last brand touch point for your customers before they use your product, regardless of whether you sell online or offline. Packaging should make your brand instantly recognizable to your consumers. What materials do you use in your packaging? Materials such as wood, plastic, and paper. Is it simple and recyclable, or is it expensive and luxurious (of course, luxury and environmental protection are not always mutually exclusive)? A brand’s values and positioning are communicated to the outside world through all the elements listed above. By using these elements, you are telling the consumer who you are, what is the difference between you and your competitors? So think about your packaging. It is as critical as the product itself.
Packaging will give your consumers a better experience
- Cost-effectiveness: This characteristic is more common in daily necessities, so we should avoid over-packaging to avoid adding unnecessary costs, otherwise it will be difficult to obtain consumers.
- Brand awareness: This is commonly seen in luxury or sports brands, where packaging should emphasize the brand identity as much as possible, such as its unique color, logo, brand elements, etc… You can find these features on most apparel brands on the market.
- More convenient to use: Here is an example of Coca-Cola. Originally, Coca-Cola was sold in glass bottles, but in 1960, easy-open cans were introduced, making opening the drink much easier. Consumers can now open the drink without needing any tools, which is an excellent convenience. The market has also proven this innovation.
- The pursuit of fashion: More and more co-branded products are being launched in the market, which has been well received. If you want your brand to be popular among the younger generation of young consumers, then the packaging design you use for your product must be creative and foresighted. This is in order to win over the hearts of this segment of the market.
Packaging will help remarket your brand
As social media has developed, people are also more willing to share their experiences. Whenever a new product is released, there will be a lot of unboxing VLOGs posted immediately. Nowadays, consumers cannot ignore the packaging form of the product and the unboxing experience in the consumption process.
How to create your product packaging?
1. You must be clear about what your brand needs
By answering the following questions, it will be easier for your designer to choose the right material and packaging type according to your product and your brand. This will enable your packaging to be better adapted to your sales channel. It is more important to have suitable packaging than to have a luxurious one.
- What is your product？ (name, size, material…)
- What are the selling points of your product and its price？
- Who is your target customer？
- Where do your products sell？ (online or offline, store or supermarket…)
- What are your brand concept and elements？
2. Determine the content to be presented on the package
So that your designer can do a better layout, you can gather what you need to present on the package in advance. You can refer to the following for what most products will present.
- Product Description: usually there is a text introduction on the product packaging that tells consumers the unique selling point of the product or how to use the product.
- Image: the packaging can be covered with photos of the product or pictures of the applicable scenes, which will let your consumers better understand the product。
- Label: the packaging is also usually printed with labels such as QR codes, recyclable labels, or labels certified by some associations. These can be considered according to the actual situation of your product
- Additional information： Some countries and regions require specific information to appear on the product packaging, such as date of manufacture, ingredient list, manufacturer, etc. This requires your full knowledge of the place of sale.
3. Learn from your competitors
On the one hand, you can pick a package you like according to your preferences. You can take a photo or buy one and send it to your designer for reference. On the other hand, you need to find the answer in sales. You can try to collect the leading seller’s packaging history. A mature product, its packaging must have gone through changes. Each change involves a huge cost and risk for the brand, and their changes must be based on the market’s feedback. So you should try to understand their changes as much as possible, although you may not be able to surpass them for the time being, you at least need to ensure that you are not using the wrong packaging or packaging that has become outdated.
4. Confirm the packaging type
A complete package should contain the outer packaging, filler, and container. This can also be adapted to the characteristics of your product.
Outer packaging: There are many types of packaging materials available, such as paper, wood, metal, etc… Here we will examine the most common and widely used material on the market——paper, as an introduction.
- Corrugated box： it is light and inexpensive, has reasonable stress resistance and can withstand a certain pressure, impact, and vibration. Because of these characteristics, it was used in large quantities in cell phone packaging in the early days, such as Nokia and Samsung. Due to the poor printing effect, it is difficult to meet the demands of luxury, so corrugated packaging is mostly used for transportation.
- Folding Carton: a cost-effective packaging option that can present a variety of colors and a high-quality printing effect, but its resistance to pressure is poor. Currently, most Skin care products, pet products, medicines, etc. are using this packaging
- Rigid box: compared to the other two types of packaging, the rigid box is superior in structure as well as appearance. Paper board with a variety of outer covering papers not only provides excellent damage resistance but can also display a wide range of printing effects and textures. For consumers, this is a visual and tactile pleasure. But the disadvantage is that it costs more than the other two packagings.
Padding: This is typically placed inside the outer packaging in order to further protect the goods. Commonly used materials are bubble wrap, EVA(Ethylene-vinyl acetate), EPE(Expandable Polyethylene), EPS(expanded polystyrene sponge), paper, etc. Bubble wrap is currently used more often in the shipping of goods for online shopping. You can easily find EPS in home-appliance packaging, it is always packaged in corrugated boxes. The other materials are commonly used in folding boxes and rigid boxes. Later, I’ll post an article about their advantages and recyclability.
Container: It depends on the physical nature of your product. For example, cell phones, headphones, and other electronic products require only outer packaging and padding. You may choose plastic, metal, glass, or other materials if your product is liquid, gas, food, or other items that require extra protection.
5. Learn about the general production process and materials
The production process of the rigid box is completed by printing → surface finishing → die cut of the outer package → die cut of the paper board → slotting the paper board → forming the paper board → gluing the outer covering → assembling → testing → packing.
- Printing: the common printing methods are offset printing, flexographic printing, screen printing, silk screen printing, gravure printing, etc. Offset printing is currently the most popular printing method. By using the printing plate (a rubber blanket) as a transfer medium, offset printing transfers graphics from the plate to the substrate. It can accept the uneven surfaces of a substrate so that the ink is fully transferred.
- Outer covering paper(printing paper): the paper used for covering can be divided into coated paper, card paper, and special paper. Coated paper and card paper are popular because of their low cost and easy adaptability to printing. Rigid boxes are also made from special papers, such as pearl paper, texture paper, touch paper, skin-filled paper, and so on. In addition, some premium rigid boxes are also decorated with fabric with embroidery.
- Structure material: rigid boxes are mainly made from grey board. It is produced from recycled waste paper, the thickness generally varies from 0.5-5mm, which can meet the design and production needs of different rigid boxes and is easy to process. The surface of the double grey board is easily penetrated by glue and has superior pasting performance. At the same time, grey board can also provide adequate protection for products due to their mechanical properties.
- Surface finishing: Outer package surfaces are often covered with lamination, including mirror lamination and matte lamination. As a surface finishing material for packaging boxes, lamination can enhance not only the appearance but also the folding resistance and tear resistance of the paper. Additionally, embossing, hot stamping, and UV spot can be used to further enhance the appearance of the outer packaging.
6. Create with your designer
I believe that after reading the above, you probably already have a rough idea of what you want your packaging to look like. Now is the time to communicate with your designer. It is essential that you provide your designer with as much information as possible, so he or she can better understand your brand, your products, and your personal preferences.
7. Submit files to start sampling
Before proofing, it is better to let your designer provide 3D rendering. You should double-check whether the presentation of the package is exactly what you need. After confirming that it is correct, submit the files they need according to the printing and packaging manufacturer’s requirements.
8. Research before mass production
In order to determine if there is still room for optimization, show packaging samples to as many people as possible before mass production. Because you will waste a lot of money and time if you discover something needs to be improved after mass production.
Tips for the packaging creation process
1. Fully understand the local regulations of the place of sale
Different regions and countries have different packaging requirements. For example, in the United States according to Environmental Protection Agency regulations, products falling under the jurisdiction of the anti-toxic packaging regulations and the Consumer Safety Commission must have protective child safety covers; Germany has banned packaging representing Nazi and Legion symbols. So in order to avoid the unsuccessful launch of your product due to packaging, please fully understand local laws and regulations.
2. Let your consumers feel your temperature
In your product packaging, you can put thanks notes, coupons, or small gifts around your brand, etc. This can make your customers more impressed and drive them to make repeat purchases.
3. Communicate with your factory in advance
Besides communicating with the factory about pricing, you can also ask about the files they need for production, as well as the sampling and production schedule. By doing this, you will be able to schedule your work better and save time.
4. About the cost
The cost is not covered in this article because the price varies greatly depending on the region and the packaging materials & forms used. For each custom box, the initial process and costs are fixed, such as the cost of printed offset, start-ups, losses, etc. The more quantity you need, the lower the factory price can be.
The purpose of this post is to help beginners understand the basics of packaging. It might not cover everything in detail, but I hope you find it useful. Leave a comment if you want to know more about packaging. I’ll post more content you’ll like. Thank you~
