If you spend a lot of time online obsessing about the subtle nuance of killer package design (guilty), then it’s easy to get caught up in form over function. Sure, good-looking boxes, mailers and tape make your brand look super cohesive and professional, but your packaging can go beyond face value.
Whether it's spotlighting your brand mission or the quality of your product, your shipping and packaging materials are ideal places to build trust and remind people why they should be happy about buying into your brand. It's native marketing in physical form. Below are some package design techniques to increase brand transparency and keep people coming back.
This roundup includes inspiration from some of our favorite companies and designers around the web. Unless specified, these designs are not made by Lumi.
Emphasize quality
Crew paint and the tea from t by t. lovers have different ways of using packaging to emphasize quality. The Crew product design concept by Alireza Jajarmi, focuses on the product’s makeup — biogradeable material, no VOC paint. The small, iconic badges of honor go a long way in an industry that's filled with chemicals and questionable ingredients.
The tea brand on the other hand, went with a more ephemeral approach. Their simple “handpicked happiness” slogan evokes not only the extra care that they put into their process, but the joy that they aspire to give their customer.
Show them what’s inside
There's nothing quite as transparent as just showing your customer what's inside the wrapping. Masa's bread somehow looks more tasty when you can see the texture inside printed right on the wrapping. And the "If there is bread, we are fine," copy is an easy mantra to live by.
The packaging for Target's modern Room Essentials line gives you a simple snapshot of the boxed product in action, so it's easy to imagine how it might look in your own life. The poppy, aspirational photos are a small detail that make a big impact in the growing industry of affordable, modern furniture.
Focus on brand voice
Upton makes designer belts for stylish guys. Their branding is all black and white with white space galore, but that doesn’t mean it’s totally serious. To embrace their quirk, the pull tag of their rigid mailers reveals a message underneath — because printing inside of packaging is the key to playful messaging. Meanwhile, Maker Monthly embraces the fun in their brand voice on the outside of their notebook packaging. It’s brief, fun, funny, and memorable.
Stick to the facts
The Lapka BAM is a strange little device that you have to see to believe — which is why the clear packaging and straightforward typography are so on point. This ceramic breathalyzer answers your gut questions right from the start without any glitz or glamour to distract from its futuristic functionality.
A sack of cement isn’t as glamorous as the BAM device, but Ditop took the prettiest approach to keeping the packaging of an ancient building material modern and direct. By putting only the most important details on the front, they simplify the buying process and the visual clutter.
Spotlight the process
The process of making Love Fest Fibers is what sets the brand apart from other yarn makers, so they didn’t hold back on the details of how they do it and why it’s special. Instead of going with a behind-the-scenes approach, lighting company Terrence Woodgate emphasized the process of assembly right on their boxes. If someone is hesitating to buy because they’re worried about a super complex assembly, there’s complete transparency right on the package.
Make it about the mission
When you think “mission-driven” you probably think of one-for-one or other philanthropic business models. That's what Cause Box is all about, and their box says as much. People like being reminded that they're doing good. Though less philanthropic, Le Parcel's period subscription box is on a mission to ease the physical, emotional and mental period pains. The pink inside their boxes with the adorable "I'm here for you," is as much of a mission statement as any
The closer people feel to your brand, more likely they are to come back. Try your design on custom goods at Lumi.com and create new ways to increase brand transparency and promote the sheer goodness of your product.
