Packaging of new tech products has become something of a science in the last decade. From iPhones to Samsung they each have their own style and look while still properly selling the product inside. Most expensive technology is packaged in a box that lets the product itself do the talking. Another thing that is huge with technology packaging is how it is opened or in layman’s terms the unboxing. When someone buys an iPhone the unboxing is part of the experience. The packaging is apart of the experience. The more suspense when opening something leads to more gratification in the product received. Opening one’s new piece of technology is an experience in and of itself. While this may be true, designers also have to keep in mind that it must protect the product during delivery while still looking as nice as possible.
High-end tech companies usually keep their boxes very easy to open. There is no tape to cut or any latches to pull in modern day luxury packaging. It is all about sliding the top off and having the product right underneath, or pulling on a magnet to lift the lid, or sliding the product out of a thin box. There are these and many other ways to go about creating luxury packaging but let us start by addressing the very specific visual appeals of modern-day luxury technology packaging.
The example to be used most in this article will be Samsung and Apple phone boxes because of the simplicity and consistency that they bring. These companies always have very nice boxes on their products. They usually follow minimalist views when packaging their products having very little to no advertisement besides a picture of the phone or an Apple or Samsung logo and the name of the product. This makes the packaging much less cluttered and very appealing to the eye.
As one can see these boxes feature very little on them but are still very sleek and one can tell by looking at them that the product inside is a luxury piece of technology. They trust their brand and reputation to do the selling for them. This is a reason why minimalist packaging is used mostly on expensive and popular pieces of technology because with lesser known companies, even if they are selling an expensive piece of technology, people need to be told what is inside and need a better understanding of what it does.
Another thing that people do not really think about when it comes to packaging is the sound it makes. Higher pitched sounds like the crinkling of plastic make a product seem less expensive, where lower tones like the clink of thick cardboard makes the buyer feel like the product is well packaged and expensive. This is true with the iPhone and Samsung boxes as well. These boxes are very thick cardboard that produce no high-pitched tones in the opening of the product. The shape of the box can also have a large effect on the effectiveness of a type of packaging. While most boxes with technology inside are cubes of some sort many companies look to different shaped boxes in order to sell their luxury products. The only problem with using shapes besides cubes is functionality. Cubed boxes usually have the highest durability out of most shaped packaging therefore protecting the product inside the best. With shapes like cylinders they can only hold a lot of weight when placed on the face of the package.
One of my personal favorite aspects of the packaging of technology is the unboxing. This has become a huge event that many youtubers actually make a point of showing off with videos of products before they are officially released to the public or situations like that. Probably the most satisfying part of packaging is how it opens. There are many designed ways of opening a product but with technology it has to be quite sturdy but still satisfying to open without being too cluttered. Nobody wants to have to use a knife on a new laptop or phone that risks damage to the product. Many larger pieces of technology such as laptops use self-locking die cuts which slide in to a little slot connected to the side of the box that they are trying to close off and then have it lock in place by using another slide tab.
In the end what matters most is that your smartphone, laptop, microwave, or tv, get home with you in one piece. After all the beautiful packaging has to make it durable enough to actually make it to the shelves to be seen. Nobody wants to buy a smartphone when it comes in a box that looks like this:
References
https://designpackaginginc.com/top-10-cues-to-luxury-packaging-design-1/
