Author：Melissa Bryant | TIME：October 21, 2019
Your product is the core to success, and the packaging of your product can somehow take it to the next level. There is no need for me to remind you of the importance of product packaging.
Product packaging may include the technology and design work that are used to either protect or enclose products. And it takes time and effort to craft a perfect packaging design for your product.
If you’ve got a great product packaging, good for you. Yet one thing you should always keep in mind is that your product packaging design should be timely adaptive to the packaging trends.
Packaging industry trends change over time according to the change of consumers’ demand. Therefore, it’s necessary for you to adjust your packaging design to cater to their needs. But before taking a next move, it is of great importance to understand how each type of product should be packaged, labeled and offered for sale. That brings us to today’s topic - top packaging trends for 2019 and 2020.
Smart Packaging & Digital Printing
Personalized Packaging
Minimalist Design
Vintage Packaging
Gradient Color Packaging
Transparent and Clear Labelling
Go Green
The combination of smart packaging into digital printing is really a big step forward for the packaging industry. The days when your consumers tried to search for details of your products are gone with the introduction of smart packaging.
Now they can easily get detailed information about the product simply by using a smartphone to scan the printed QR codes or smart labels right on the outside packaging. You can gain trust and reputation from consumers by including detailed info such as ingredients, material, and how to use or maintain the product.
What kind of consumers would turn their backs on a company that thinks highly of their customers?
I’ve emphasized many times that it’s not wise to just hard sell your product or service to the customers; instead, convince them into believing that your product can help solve their problems. First, you should be able to understand your market and consumers well. Second, offer them what they like or want so as to get them engaged.
Taking the advantage of personalized packaging helps you play your card well. Actually this packaging trend could be a big surprise to the customers; it can also be a great way to interact with them. One of the successful exmaples is the soda giant Coca-Cola’s launch of printing consumers’ names and personalized gift orders on the bottles. Imagine an explosive boost in sales under the condition of an overall decline of the industy.
While this could go far beyond the budget of small businesses, you can yet cut down the cost by making a compromising manual customization. Just remember to include your company and brand info on the customized packaging.
Minimalism is a popular trend in not only packaging design but also many other fields such as fashion design. This trend is to keep things simple with original nature, in which way it highlights the value of the product instead of other elements. And it makes the package design look comfortable and fresh. It is one of the top cosmetic packaging trends.
The adoption of minimalist design gives the packaging a exceptional look while saving your budget for marketing or other uses. If your main target are edgy customers who don’t like excessive wrapping and protection over the product, then this packaging trend may work best for you.
Since quite a few years ago, vintage design has made a buzzing return in a lot of industries including packaging. And the story of this packaing design is going on. What makes vintage one of the most popular packaging trends is its retro aesthetic that creates a nostalgic value and reminds people of the simple old times.
If you are able to make people resonate with you, you increase the chance of turning potential customers into real buyers. And the nature of vintage packaging design inspiration just evokes the emotion of your target audiences.
Gradient design is a subtle combination of multiple colors. This adds a level of depth and complexity that creates a fresh sense for the packaging. This will come to its full potential when you put bright colors into use, whether as background or main product of the design.
There is no best packaging design, there is only the most suitable package design. If you don’t know what color or colors to use, maybe the gradient colour packaging would be a good choice.
Your consumers are smart and they hate to be cheated. So you’d better be 100% transparent to them. From your advertisement campaign to marketing as well as your product information on the packaging, make sure everything stick to the truth instead of making a mountain out of a molehill.
This is especially vital for food and cosmetics as these take effect in no time on the consumers. Necessary info such as ingredients and risks must be included on the packaging. This is about health or even life - so take it very, very, very seriously. Clear labelling is a great way to highlight and help consumers make the right choice. This could help gain trust and thus build your brand.
Sustainability has been an ongoing theme since many years ago. This has an impact on our own interests of survival, who would miss this out? You and me, as well as other 7 billion terrans would love to see eco-friendly packaging solutions rather than the old-fashion ways.
If you apply the green concept in your packaging, maybe you can get more sales. Who knows? But we’ve seen this is becoming a more and more popular trend over the past few years. Paper packaging is a better choice than plastic solution at this point. You may even have heard of edible food packaging that can be consumed as a part of the food.
Eevn though plastic is still your main packaing solution, make sure you never stop ditching biodegradable, recyclable or reusable packaging material. Once you do this, your customers see you and your brand as green and trustworthy.
So which packaging trend(s) are you using, and which trend(s) would you like to use for 2019 and 2020?