Getting packaging right is essential for a successful product launch. Jonathan Sands guides you around some of the potential challenges you might face in creating effective packaging design
The first question you should ask is what is it that makes your product different. It could be based on an insight from research that shows how your product differs from the rest or it could have come from product innovation. The key is to make sure this is turned into a compelling proposition that will help you craft a story for your product that helps it stand out from the rest. This should form the heart of the brief you give your designer as it will inform the rest of the design process.
In more depth
Find out more about
innovation in our expert article by Bettina von Stamm
Learn about how best to
brief a designer in our article by expert Peter Phillips
When launching a new product the temptation is to follow the norms of the category. For example if it is milk we all immediately think of cows, farmers and fresh fields. Chances are this style of creative approach as been done to the point of death and your brand will be seen as a 'me too'. Focus your energy on shattering the category language and you will be more successful.
The issue of copyright needs to be considered from two different standpoints. First, does your pack design breach someone else's copyright? Second, can your design be protected from someone else copying it in the future?
There are many thousands of registered designs, names and trade marks. So before you sign off approval on any design do two things. First, look at every aspect of your design and ask yourself if any element of your pack (the name, the colours, the pack shape, etc) looks, feels or sounds like anything else on the market.
If you've already done a competitor audit this will be a good place to start. Even if a competitor hasn't registered their design you could still find yourself in trouble if a court deems your design to be 'passing off' as theirs.
Second, show your design to a patent attorney (most reasonably sized legal firms will have someone specialising in intellectual property) and get them to advise you on how to both protect your mark and search to see if it is breaching anyone else's trade mark or patent.
As well as checking that your design doesn't breach another's rights, you should also see how you can protect your design from others stealing your image. The starting point should be your brand name. Try to get a name that is distinctive so that it is difficult to copy. However, all aspects of your pack can be protected. The colour, the shape, the trademark, illustration, any special feature such as the design of the opening, these can all be protected in law. And the more protection you have the longer your brand will stay unique.
In more depthFor more information about copyright and trademarks visit Iain Stansfield's article about
intellectual property
Companies often leave it until too late to check that they can purchase the relevant web domain name/s for their brand. So you may have come up with a fantastic pack only to be unable to promote it properly on the web. When you are initially looking at your pack, make sure you think about its life on the web even if the web isn't currently a key medium for your products - it might be in the future.
Most obvious web domain names have long since been taken, but there are always creative ways around registration. For instance, if you were trying to register the brand name 'coke', clearly this would be difficult. You might however be able to register a variant such as www.wearecoke.co.uk or www.i'llhaveacoke.com.
One thing designers hate is subjective change. You should hate it too. It doesn't matter if the boss likes blue rather than red, the colour or the shape or the name must all be there for a real, objective reason. The reasons could be about standout from the competition or about retaining an element of heritage. Before you allow any tinkering with the design, make sure it fits with the original brief and make sure such changes will enhance the design where it matters - at the point of purchase and in the eyes of the customer.
A common error is judging your pack in isolation in an office. Make sure you see what it looks like in a store environment. Quite often, because of the way different outlets are lit, you will find that different aspects of the pack can be virtually invisible in store. What appears to be a strong logo or a nice little touch on a desk can be hard to see at the point of purchase; either because of lighting, the shelf design or the use of secondary packaging. For instance, the carton your packs arrive in can often be used to contain your packs in store.
Similarly, quite often one look doesn't fit all. If your pack is to work in more than one geographical market you will find that different aspects of it can unintentionally communicate different things in different countries. If you are planning to use your pack in different territories make sure you research its acceptance properly first.
The difference between a great pack and a disaster is all in the design. It's about starting with a good brief, following a process, and using the pointers given throughout this topic. If you cut corners by trying to miss out elements in order to save time or money you may find it costs you in the end.