The idea: Eco-positive with a premium quality feel.
The presentation of a product and the way that it is packaged is a very important aspect for developing an enticing consumer experience. Additionally, it is also an opportunity to indicate the quality of a product and what values does the brand stands for. The educated and eco-conscious consumer finds that the purchasing pathway can be strongly determined by whether a brand demonstrates a strong environmental stance and according to Nielson’s 2018 global survey 80% of Gen Z consumers feel as if companies have the obligation to help the environment (WGSN, 2019). So, I knew that in order to appeal to that audience, my proposed brand had to have an eco-positive approach to packaging design. Therefore, the exterior of the product should be instantly recognisable as sustainable, but also, promote the cathartic feeling of opening up a premium quality product. So my challenge for this task was designing a packaging that was able to be translated into equally high-end as it was environmentally conscious.
The inspiration
I started my research by looking into less wasteful packaging practices and even package-free cosmetics, yet I found that most options were not fitting my vision for the brand. After a long period of search, I decided to look into Instagram for more inspiration and see if I could find any examples that worked well. I had been following this indie Nordic brand called Henua Organics for a while and I really enjoyed their branding and approach to visual identity, but mostly I was more fascinated about how they packaged their products. The bottles come inside this box that mimics a booklet and that has a sleeve with a hidden message inside. I found that idea to be entirely clever because it made the product stand out and feel precious, which made me want to buy their products without ever even having heard about the brand before or seen an online review, showing the power the of a well-executed packaging design. Another important aspect about this box is that it can be done entirely out of cardboard which is widely recyclable and is formed by one piece only, saving on redundant pieces of paper.
The Label
I designed a label to go at the front of the packaging by using Adobe Illustrator. I chose to use this software instead of InDesign because it allows for better options of customisation when it comes to manipulating shapes and typefaces. I decided that I wanted the packaging to look sleek and have very minimalist writing. I noticed that less writing is a technique often used by luxury brands such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton, which helps evoke an instant feeling of prestige quality at the very moment the customer’s gaze reaches the box. I also decided I wanted to incorporate the brand’s colours into the packaging so that it would not make the design monotonous, so I used the shapes from the logo to create a type of landscape mimicking “mountains” at the bottom.
Industry Examples
Chanel and Louis Vuitton packages
(Photo is my own)
The label design
The final outcome
To create the final design I sketched a package roughly inspired by Henua Organics using InDesign. I sent out my sketch together with a mood board to my graphic designer Ali so that he could make my vision come to life in the form of a 3-D mock-up illustration. As previously mentioned on the post “Project Management: Week Three”, the design was not done correctly at first, since the dimensions were disproportional to the size of the product. However, after communicating the issue with Ali he was able to make the necessary adjustments and make the design into what I had envisioned for it to be.
The
(Pages taken from the Design Guide I sent to my graphic designer Ali)
The front of the packaging is very sleek and has a very minimalist writing which evokes an instant feeling of luxury. When the box opens up, it reveals the product d inside the sleeve the consumer is surprised with by our brand mission and mantra written using the same typeface as the logo, for consistency purposes.
Reflection & Future Direction
Overall, I really enjoyed the process of creating the exterior shell for my brand’s product. Having to think about raw materials, texture, dimensions and even the design itself were things completely out of my comfort zone and something I had never done before. Therefore, it is easy to say that it was a big challenge and learning experience to take on, though, having the opportunity to discover new skills and being able to direct another creative into conceptualising an idea coming from my imagination led me to a very satisfying feeling of accomplishment at the end. Overall, I believe that the packaging will work as a powerful mean to allure my desired audience since it looks high-end and offers a positive consumer experience. Moving forwards, I intend to use this experience to help guide future collaborative work I might be asked to do and as for the packaging I will be utilising it to illustrate my marketing document and any other creative outcomes that my project requires.
References:
Saunter, L. and Shin, J., 2019.Gen Z: Building New Beauty. [online] Wgsn.com. Available at: <https://www.wgsn.com/assets/marketing/emails/2019/beauty/launch/Beauty_Whitepaper_Digital.pdf> [Accessed 11 August 2020].