Creative Cringe: Packaging Design Edition

Image courtesy of @alicegrace via Unsplash.

Packaging design is everywhere – we interact with it everyday.

According to a study by the Food Marketing Institute in 2008, there are around 47,000 packaged products available in the average supermarket.

With this in mind, it’s surprising to see how many crappy packaging designs on our shelves!

You probably come into contact with these designs every day – some of them you may not even notice anymore, and others might make your blood boil every time.

Most of the time I fall into the latter category – as a packaging designer, I’m hyper-aware of them.

So in this edition of Creative Cringe, I’ll break down my top 10 cringe-inducing things that drive me crazy about packaging design.

But, of course, here at NSC, we’re all about the positive vibes.

So I’ll also share some handy tips on how you can navigate them, so we can all work to transform the state of our packaging design.

Before we dive in, let's recap what I mean by ‘cringe’ the dictionary definition is: 
“bend one's head and body in fear or apprehension or in a servile manner.”

For me, the "bend in my head" is the shudder I feel when I see or hear a creative cringe in day-to-day life. 

Those little things that make you grind your teeth, twitch or pull that awkward I-don't-really-agree-with-you smile™.

It always makes me think of one of my favourite comedy shows, Blackadder. 

In the fourth season, the main character, Captain Blackadder (played by the legendary comedian and actor, Rowan Atkinson), torments another soldier, Captain Darling (played by another acting legend Tim McInnerny).

Captain Blackadder repeatedly calls his fellow soldier "Darling" throughout the season – making him dramatically wince and twitch, almost as if he’s in pain.

Here’s a clip – in the first 30 seconds, you’ll see what I mean:

This is what pops into my head when I think about these 10 things.

I like to believe that I can hide my cringe-face better than Captain Darling can. 

But I’ll let my friends and peers be the judge of that. *Gulp*

With Captain Darling's cringe-face fresh in our minds, let's dive in…

1. Logic vs. personal taste/biases

It seems as designers we are forever fighting this battle.

This could be with team members, clients and sometimes with ourselves.

This package doesn't look right.
Surely it should open this way?
The logo should be bigger on the box.

All of the above are forms of personal taste or biases overruling logical thought, to banish logic from the packaging design process is to doom us all to a crappy end product.

How do we avoid this?

It's a tricky one, but it can be done.

There will always be a reason for the personal biases or taste preferences, no matter how illogical they sound.

You need to tackle them head-on, dive deep on surfacing the reason why.

Check out our blog on ‘The Power of Criticism’ for more tips and tricks on moving beyond subjective biases.

2. Boring back of pack design

Packaging is a 3D object: a standard box has 6 sides to be full with beautiful communication design – its ultimate goal is to make a sale.

All to often the front or main display face is where all the focus is placed, along with all the design time.

I agree with the late, great packaging design guru, Lars Wallentin, when he said we should stop thinking about this back as the back – think of it as a service panel.

The purpose of the service panel is to serve the consumer, offer more information about the product in a concise, clear and compelling way.

It needs to be much better than an information dump, with no real design thought.

How do we avoid this?

It's simple – just design it!

When designing packaging, you must allow time to design all of the panels, so they all work together as one.

There are many ways to design better 'service panels', but the first step is to stop thinking of it as the 'back' – just because it's not the first thing a consumer sees on a shelf doesn't mean it doesn't have an important role to play in the buying cycle.

Even the ugliest legislation and legal copy can be formed into something beautiful to look at and read.

Study the art of typography, copywriting and layout, subtle changes can transform your designs from good to great. 

Looking to get started now?

Check out this video from The Futur's Chris Do as he takes you through the basics, he even has a free downloadable guide which is a must-read for all keen typography and layout enthusiasts.

3. No hierarchy

Hierarchy gives the consumer clarity.

It subconsciously communicates the order in which a consumer digests the design on a piece of packaging.

How many times have you picked up a piece of packaging and wondered "what is this product?", or even scarier, how many pieces of packaging a day do you ignore because you don't get hooked?

90% of these issues come down to the hierarchy within the design of your packaging. 

Good hierarchy is like a roadmap map for your eyes, directing them around your design.

This allows for maximum communication without overwhelming potential consumers.

Depending on what category your product sits in may dictate how your hierarchy looks, but it must always be from your consumers’ perspective.

How do we avoid this?

A good way of examining hierarchy is to list out every piece of information needed to be communicated on your packaging.

Then arrange them in order of importance, according to your consumer.

In order to create a piece of packaging design that resonates with consumers, you need to stand in their shoes and see the world from their perspective.

What are they looking for when buying X?
Is it the brand? Product name? How many pieces? etc.

A common misconception in packaging hierarchy is that the brand name must have the prime location.

If your brand is not known to potential consumers, how will they know it stands for, and what value it brings?

The answer is they won't – 90% of the time, your product title should be the most important piece of information on your product packaging.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking consumers know the meaning of your brand as you do.

Always look at things from their perspective – empathy will shine a light on your solution.

4. Not printing all available space

Whether you like it or not packaging design is all about making a sell.

Creating a piece of design that resonates with consumers so much they want your product in their lives.

So why wouldn't you use every square millimetre of your available print area to do this?

After all, you’re paying for it to be printed!

Packaging is often looked at as a pre-sale commodity, but it doesn't have to be this way, and it shouldn't.

How do we avoid this?

Use all the available printable space to sell your product!

Don't cram everything onto the front panel, spread it around.

Use your hierarchy list to decide what information goes where.

For a standard box, you have six panels to fill with beautiful communication design, use them!

Don't forget the 'hidden' panels available for printing too, locking tabs and inserts.

This is a great way to add a little surprise into your packaging design, a pop of colour or a witty bit of copy can change someone from a consumer to a fan for life.

Printing 'hidden' panels can also allow you to spread information further across your packaging design, so you don't have to crowbar in information at the cost of the overall look of your packaging.

If you’re clever with your design you can even reduce the need for extra printed components like leaflets and instruction sheets by printing this information on these hidden panels.

Not only can this save you money on manufacturing, but also allows you to be bolder in your design.

Normally these components are single colour prints on the cheapest paper stock.

5. Style guides are just guides, not guarantees

Over the years, I’ve seen many designers trapped by their style guides, using it as an excuse, blaming it for their bad design decisions.

Style guides are like scientific theories, they’re a theory until they’ve been proven.

Often style guides are approved without fully being tested, even if they are tested you can never fully predict every which way someone will use it.

How do we avoid this?

Adapt your style guide.

Grow and overcome the challenges you encounter, and fold that into your style guide.

Style guides should not be written in stone, as the late martial arts master Bruce Lee famously said:

"[Your Style guide should] ...be like water making its way through cracks.
Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it"

Okay, I admit it, I’ve tweaked it a little, but it doesn't make it any less true.

As I’ve started I will finish bastardising this famous quote:

“Your style guides should be formless, but ever-present. If it's put on a swing tag, it becomes a swing tag. If it's put on a box, it becomes the box. Style guides like water can crash into a piece of packaging or flow into it."

The choice is yours.

"Be like water!"

6. Secondary packaging just copies primary, but bigger

Let's classify secondary packaging – I’m talking about CDU (central display unit) and POS (point of sale).

These are all acronyms for the same sort of thing – a display unit for your products. 

They can come in all shapes and sizes, and are probably one of the most underestimated and underused tools in designers’ toolbox to make a sale.

These POS units are normally printed in just a flat colour with some basic text for a majority of products.

This is a missed opportunity, point-of-sales offer such a huge area to print communication graphics.

This opportunity is normally wasted by just printing the same graphics used on the packaging just bigger.

Bigger is always better, but don't miss an opportunity to better promote your product beyond what is said on your primary packaging.

How do we avoid this?

Take a trip to the shop take a look at the cosmetics and toy aisles and look at how they design their POS units.

These categories understand the importance of great communication on a point-of-sale.

They throw everything at them in order to catch the attention of potential consumers.

Unique shapes, eye-catching design, and persuasive copy – some even light up and talk to the customers.

Obviously, you won't be able to have all these bells and whistles but you can soak up all that inspiration and distil that into your own designs.

7. No customer empathy

Empathy is the key to all great design, no matter the category.

The greatness of a design is inherently liked to the designer’s ability to but themselves in the shoes of the consumer, see things for their perspective and create a solution based on these insights – even if the consumer is blind to them.

To understand your consumer or target audience is to truly understand their wants, needs and desires this empowers you to create and communicate in a way that resonates.

If you have a solid alignment on your consumers and target audience, the whole packaging design process becomes a lot smoother – you'll know what to write to reel them in, you'll understand what imagery and graphics will catch their attention and you'll know how to wrap all this up in a piece of packaging design that they will want to buy.

How do we avoid this?

Put people first.

Every project starts with research, but most designers jump straight into the look and feel: the aesthetics.

Big mistake – do this and you’re just spinning your wheels.

You have no parameters to focus your research, you'll just end up looking at every possible style and look.

The result is a generic piece of packaging that doesn't resonate with anyone – let alone your target audience.

Take a step back before committing to research your look and feel – dive deep into consumer and target audience research.

A great way to do this is to create customer personas.

These are fictional characters that represent different types of people that you will target with your packaging. 

The best personas look beyond the usual demographics like age, gender and income.

They dive deep on their psychographics: goals, dreams, personality, behaviours and motivations. 

For more on the perfect persona, check out my nudenotes on that very topic here.

8. Understanding the key benefits and RTB of your product

Benefits sell products… fact!

If you don't understand your reason to buy (RTB), how the hell are you going to communicate it?

If you don't communicate that, you don't make a sale.

The key benefits of your product must be anchored in emotion, what will the consumer get from your product?

This is very different from a feature which is the answer to the question: what does the product do?

Problems understanding key benefits can often be linked back to a bad understanding of your target audience.

The key benefit of a product is the link between brand and customer.

It's the bait!

Successful communication of the 'bait' should be the main goal of any piece of packaging.

How do we avoid this?

Step one: transform your features into benefits.

There are a couple of easy and techniques to transform features into benefits, which you can discover in our blog: Features vs. Benefits.

Over time these techniques will become instinctive.

Step two: connect those benefits to your consumer personas, articulate them in ways that will resonate with your target audience and you're off to a great start.

9. Meet expectations set by your brand

How many times have you bought a product and taken it home only to open the packaging and find the box half empty or just a load of filler packaging around a tiny product?

We all have, right?

That pang of disappointment you feel is the disconnect in your expectation from the brand, to the packaging, to the product.

Buyers’ remorse.

It's just dishonest, a cheap trick from a bygone era of packaging design.

Bigger box = bigger price tag.

Modern consumers are savvier than ever before, now we can check out reviews on our phones in real-time about a product.

The time for cheap tricks has gone, it's time to think about value in a new, honest way.

For many consumers, packaging will be the introduction to your brand and packaging, ensure its the most positive introduction it can be.

How do we avoid this?

In order to keep customer satisfaction high, you need to meet or exceed expectations, which all trickles down from the brand's main values.

You must follow through on these values and promises.

If you're hot on all things eco, make sure your packaging is recyclable and doesn't ship a lot of air.

If you're brand's full of fun and laughter, ensure your packaging is designed to be fun during the opening experience or write the copy that makes consumers laugh.

Always deliver on expectations!

10. Dull packaging copy

Picture the scene: you’re in a shop deciding between two wireless speakers, with one in each hand. 

Both products have the same functions – you've done your research.

The prices are also the same and the overall look and feel are much the same between the two.

We’ve all been there, but how would you decide?

You start looking at the details.

Then you notice it: a small paragraph on the back of each of the products’ packaging.

You read the first:

The colourful Spectrum wireless speaker delivers Bluetooth music streaming with contemporary style. Connect your smart device without the cable, or you can still connect wired devices by the auxiliary-in port. You can take hands-free phone calls through it, top up your smart device, and it’s powered by a long-lasting rechargeable battery.

The other reads:

Need more music in your life?

Crank it up to 11 with this portable speaker, smart device compatible with or without cables. You and your friends can take the party anywhere you want. Its hands-free features ensures you can round up your friends and family, whilst you make the nibbles and cocktails. No need to worry about battery life with this device: it’s long-lasting and rechargeable, and will keep your party rocking on till the early hours.

The second one’s far more persuasive, right?

Fun, humourous, with oodles of personality and empathy.

This sort of copy breathes life into your product, and paints a picture for consumers to insert themselves into.

We all love stories – our culture is built on them they are powerful tools for communication, imparting wisdom and information on many levels.

Don’t miss out on your chance to create stories that capture consumers hearts and minds.

How do we avoid this?

Copywriting is an art!

Just like all art forms, it takes time and practice to master.

But the best way to learn to do it!

Start small and work your way up, almost every piece of packaging has some form of copy you can practice on: slogans, information blurb, product titles, etc.

I am by no means a copywriting wiz (far from it: my spelling and grammar are awful), but I’ve been able to develop skills around copywriting to help boost my ability to write this type of copy, and am taking tutelage from our Marketing Lead, Tassia, who also wrote this handy guide on copywriting for beginners.

Ultimately, it’s all about knowing your audience and your brand, and how they fit in with each other.

Then you focus on making your product features into benefits to your consumer.

The more you know about your brand, its audience and reasons-to-purchase (RTB). the copywriting process becomes a lot easier and smoother.

Check out these nudenotes from David Oglivy’s book Confessions of an Advertising Man for more on how to write potent copy:

Image courtesy of @dendrolago89e via Unsplash.

11. Surprise – bonus cringe!

Boring packaging won’t sell your product.

It sounds obvious, but boring packaging is everywhere.

Don't underestimate the power of surprise in your packaging.

We are talking about good surprises.

All the little extra details that elevate your ordinary pack design into an extraordinary pack design.

Surprise is possibly the most powerful form of differentiation.

Surprise on a shelf will get you noticed.

Surprise off-shelf surprise will get you a purchase.

How do we avoid this?

There are many ways to create surprise in your packaging design.

Lars Wallentin talks extensively about this on his blog packagingsense.com.

In one of these blogs, he outlines six ways to create surprise in your design, here is my version of this list:

Dynamic graphics
Use shape and pattern to direct consumers focus on important areas of your design. Look beyond starbursts and line work to create eye-catching packaging designs.

Big design
Go big or go home! Oversize text or imagery catches consumer attention – this technique is often used in sweets and candies.

Don't forget to balance the hierarchy – not all of the elements in your design can be oversized.

Shape
A new packaging shape within a category can be a powerful means of differentiation. This is especially powerful when it links to your brand's story or a public holiday.

New execution of the logo
Similar to shape a special rework of a logo, that links back to the brand's story or public holiday can be a powerful hook for consumers. It can elevate your packaging from storage and transport to become part of the product.

Toblerone are a great example of doing this well.

Dare to be different
As mentioned before differentiation is the key, to ensure your product is the one that is purchased by a consumer. It's very difficult to be different – but remember, fortune factors the bold!

Explore material and texture
We humans are tactile creatures – we love to touch things. Clever use of materials, finishes and textures can give your packaging a distinctive and recognisable marker in the eyes of consumers… "it's the cheese that comes in the little wooden box" or "you know the rum – it's the one will the silver metal label on the bottle".

Those are my top 10 cringe-points in packaging design and how to avoid them!

If you still want more packaging design tips and tricks, check out my article Packaging Design 101, where I break down in more detail how to create more effective packaging solutions for you and your brand – taking the good to great!

This ongoing series of articles on Creative Cringes, the goal is for this to become NSC’s very own ‘agony aunt’ column. 

Please leave your own packaging design cringe-points in the comments below, and we’ll see if together we can come up with a solution for you.

Or share your stories of how you have overcome your personal cringe-points.

Reach out to us with #CreativeCringe on Instagram.

You’re more than welcome to ask for advice in the comments below – we’re all about supporting the creative community here at NSC, and will do our best to answer any questions or give out advice.