Have you ever looked at a product and didn’t buy it because it didn’t look too appealing to you? Recently, there has been an uptrend in the way products are being packaged. Products are no longer being packaged in a bland or solid color container or wrapper that gives it a simplistic look. Products are evolving every year and so are the containers being used to package them in. More and more colors are being added to appeal to the consumer. Corporations are starting to target certain groups of people by transforming the package-based age range creating a competitive market to see who can put out the most artistic package. Packaging is becoming an art that involves a lengthy process. Companies are expanding their options regarding being able to attract customers. Competitors are racing to see who can outdo the others’ packaging designs. Designers are being inspired by everything that they see. The demand for designs and new ideas has never been higher. Creativity in the designs of packaging represents how something as simple as a bottle of wine, which will eventually end up in a recycling bin, can become a piece of art that attracts the customer to buy it.

Designed By: Luca Tony

A design does not have to be as sophisticated looking as the bottle of wine pictured above, but it can target a certain group of people. For example, a design can target people who watch anime. Some products might include anime characters, or something related to the show that the company is trying to get the customer to buy. By doing this, a company is targeting one specific group rather than an entire population of people to consume their product. Designers must then create a design to go on the product. The packaging designs can vary and sometimes even attract unintended customers. An example of this, a soda can, pictured below, that was designed to target people who watch the show Dragon Ball Z.

Pin by Saul B. on Retro | Dragon ball, Dragon ball z, Bulma

Companies have also used design to advertise products from other companies. According to Scott Baird, in an article called “Amazon Is Shipping Packages in Super Mario Bros. Boxes For The Month Of November,” the author describes how Amazon used boxes with various designs of Super Mario Bros., which is pictured below, to distribute products while celebrating the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros.

Amazon Is Shipping Packages In Super Mario Bros. Boxes For The Month Of November (thegamer.com)

According to the article, “The fact that these boxes will be distributed randomly means that people can't guarantee that they'll receive one, so they could appreciate in value on the second-hand market.” Meaning that not only does the design of the box help promote the buying of products to get a chance of receiving a box, it creates an incentive for the customer to purchase a product to gain some value from the box value itself in the upcoming years. This wasn’t the first time that Amazon had done something like this either. In 2015, according to Sarah Perez, in an article called, “Amazon Turns Its boxes Into Ads With First-Of-Its-Kind Marketing Deal For “Minions” Movie,” Amazon used boxes with the design of the Minion’s movie, pictured below, for packaging and shipping their products. This helped promote the movie and helped Amazon raise awareness of its brand. In the box, there was a special URL that included a link to Minions’ merchandise that could be bought through Amazon.

https://techcrunch.com/2015/06/02/amazon-turns-its-boxes-into-ads-with-first-of-its-kind-marketing-deal-for-minions-movie/

Once again, the boxes were only for select distribution centers, which meant they were hard to come by. In the article, it stated that “Several people even tweeted that they were planning to order from Amazon just to get one of the boxes, if you can believe that.” Making it a win-win situation for both companies by giving the consumer an incitive to purchase a product to get a box with a Minion’s design on it and promoting other Minion products with the URL on the box.

Even though companies use artistic packaging as a method of appealing to the customer’s eye, it is not only about the creativity or design that attracts the customer. For example, there are certain aspects like textures, shadows, shape, weight, color combinations, and many more that can attract a customer.

For example, the product pictured above uses a color blocking technique while combining it with a matte color type of look to make it look more sophisticated compared to the image below.

The image above uses more vibrant colors to appeal to the consumer’s eye while giving more details of the product in the front. Whether the design may use a more vibrant artistic approach or a duller color wave, the product package is a very important aspect to getting the customer to purchase a product. As the packaging industry continues to grow, more and more designs will start being produced in many ways to attract customers. Designers will have to be more creative to beat the competition as the artistic battle for packaging continues.

References

Amazon Is Shipping Packages In Super Mario Bros. Boxes For The Month Of November (thegamer.com)

10 Top Packaging Design Trends for 2021 (99designs.com)

Amazon Turns Its Boxes Into Ads With First-Of-Its-Kind Marketing Deal For “Minions” Movie | TechCrunch

When Packaging becomes Art (awwwards.com)

Pin by Saul B. on Retro | Dragon ball, Dragon ball z, Bulma (pinterest.com)