10 Essential Things to Consider When You Design Appealing Food Packaging

The quality of food packaging design can either make or break your brand. According to the production process, the packaging design process should be meticulous to give your brand the muscle it requires to compete with other businesses.

The following are ten essential things to consider if you succeed in creating food packaging that’s appealing to the target customers.

1. Apply Architecture of Packaging Design

The architecture of packaging design comprises of three primary principles:

•  Function
• Form
•  Beauty

The functional aspect of the design is to protect the contents from contaminations. Forms refer to the shape and size of the food product, while beauty is how aesthetically appealing the design is to the customers.

All three principles should work in tandem to ensure that your food packaging stands out from the crowd and guarantees the food product's safety. Ensure that the design is beautiful enough to capture the customers' attention and clearly describe the contents of the package without beating around the bush.

2.  Brand Identity

Brand identity is what makes your business different from the rest. One of the central pillars of food packaging is to create a packaging design that resonates with the business value, vision, and mission.

For example, high-end food products such as exotic chocolates are packaged in top-quality ornate boxes with alluring images of luxury. Some brands go the extra mile to wrap the box with fancy ribbons or have a satin veneer.

Therefore, to end up with appealing food packaging, you need to look for elements that exhume your brand's values to the target customers. The package should effectively communicate these values to the customers and encourage them to buy.

Here are four pointers to help you know your ideal brand identity.

• Set key goals
• Identify the target customers
• Analyze the market and your company potential of dominating it
• Create an alluring personality for the food product

Don't be in a hurry to complete the process. Evaluate every aspect of your business to make an informed decision.

3.  Packaging Should Complement the Product

The food contents should inform the material used for packaging. Ideally, foods containing preservatives and a longer shelf life offer more flexibility than perishable foods that must always be refrigerated or packed in plastic or aluminum sealed packaging.

Apart from safety, the packaging should match the contents. Have you ever seen crips packaged in conventional containers to hold cookies or crackers?

The point is to make sure that the packaging keeps the contents safe and matches the contents to avoid misleading the target customers.

4.  Choose a Simple Design

Complicated packaging design often misleads the customers, making it difficult for them to make the buying decision. Be different by making sure that your packaging has simple graphics that resonate with the contents and the customers.

Too many colors and images may make your brand different but won't win the customers' trust. Such a design will result in low sales as most customers don't have time to internalize all the different elements.

5. Versatile Food Packaging Design

You must design a packaging that can be used in not one way to save time and money spent creating a brand new design if you decide to change the size of the contents. Most of the renowned food brands design packaging that can work with standard dimensions of products.

For example, a box of crackers may have ample space for one single serving but still can accommodate additional products related to the crackers (food pairings). Food pairing is a common strategy used by brands to increase profit margin from one sale.

6. Leverage Limited Editions

Customers tend to gravitate towards the limited edition of food products they love. The mere fact that it may not be available in the next coming months motivates them to buy it immediately. Starbucks is best known for its limited-edition coffees packaged in a seasonally designed cup.

If you decide to go down that road, make sure that the design matches the season and expectations of the target customers. The customers should notice it from the shelves in seconds so ensure that the design has eye-catching elements.

7. Save on Production and Print Costs by Being More Creative 

Include the cost of creating the food packaging design in the budget and pricing of the product. The rule of thumb is that the cost of designing and creating the package should not exceed the product's price.

You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get an aesthetically appealing packaging design. Use your creativity and scour the market for top-quality and inexpensive materials. Borrow a leaf from McVitie's Digestives that uses an utterly simple food packaging design that is super attractive to the customers and costs less than a dollar.

8. Experiment with Different Colors and Patterns

Simplicity is key when designing food packaging, but you shouldn't take it too far. Experiment with different colors and patterns to find one that best suits your brand. Use bright colors and unique patterns to differentiate your products from the rest.

Ensure that you stick with the design selected to foster customer loyalty as consumers gravitate towards familiar brands. Changing the design too often will hurt your sales and force you to go back to the drawing board to develop a new brand awareness strategy.

9. Highlight Product Benefits

By product benefits, we don't mean the customers' benefits if they opted for a similar product in the market. They are probably aware of the benefits already, so avoid sounding like a broken record by highlighting the unique selling points of your product.

What makes it different from the alternatives in the market? A USP such as the use of 100% organic ingredients will catapult your brand to the next level of success.

List the USPs in the food packaging using either text or images. The goal is to convey the benefits effectively and fast to the customers.

10. Consider the Unboxing Process

Most people are unaware that the unboxing experience is part of the shopping experience. If it's difficult, the customers will get a negative perspective of your brand, and the opposite is true.

So, as you design the food packaging, make sure you leave room for elements that will create an alluring first impression as the customer unboxes the product. Everything on the design should serve a purpose, and the brand identity should be at the front and center of the packaging design.

Final Thoughts

Carefully consider each of the above factors to create the perfect food packaging design. Monitor the sales numbers after launching the new design and ask for customer feedback to know how to areas to improve. With the right food packaging design, your brand will soon be unstoppable. Good luck!