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Food Packaging Design Tips from the Industry’s Experts

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Do you want to attract your customers and create a popular product? Look over our packaging strategies to increase brand awareness as well as customer engagement and sales.

The industry of food and drinks is the largest industry in the UK that contributes over PS29 billion to the economy each year. In this competitive, overcrowded market, it’s a difficult job to make your brand stand out, particularly when well-known, established brands dominate the shelves.

If you’re planning to conquer only a small part of the market or taking on the industry’s titans the packaging of your product is an integral part of your overall strategy for marketing. However delicious your food might be, you need effective packaging to market your delicious products. The question is why packaging for food important, and how can you come up with a design that is effective?

Why is Food Packaging Design Important?

Food packaging has many uses including protecting delicate food products to advertising your delicious, pre-packaged food to people in general. If your packaging doesn’t meet the requirements on any one of numerous points, your consumers will be instantly dissatisfied and most likely to choose a competitor’s product. Making the art of designing efficient food packaging an arduous task, and it’s recommended to seek expert packaging advice when bringing your new product to market.

Digging deeper into the design of food packaging, studies have shown that appealing packaging can trigger activity in the brain associated with rewards. However, poorly designed packaging may trigger negative emotions, which isn’t what you want if would like your customers to choose one of your competitors. What is the process behind creating an appealing packaging design?

Food Packaging Design Tips for In-Store The Success

Food packaging design has a real impact on consumer choice making, therefore you should make every effort to ensure your packaging is in line with your brand and appealing to customers. To help you make life easier we’ve compiled seven of the best tips for a successful designing food packages:

1. Use Your Designs for Food Packaging to Market Your Brand

The golden rule of packaging is to ensure that your design remains consistent with your brand. Think about how you want your customers to view your brand, and what is the purpose behind your business. Are you comfortable? Natural? Outgoing? Edgy? Whatever you want your brand to represent be sure to reflect that on your packaging. This will help you connect with your customers.

Apple’s packaging is all about simple design and beautiful aesthetics that is evident in the design of its products. The packaging of each product is clean minimalist and clean. There aren’t any overly detailed imagery or pictures on the Apple packaging, since they would obstruct the brand’s message. The premium level of packaging makes it an accurate portrayal of the products of Apple.

2. Select the Right Packaging Material for Your Food Items

The look of your packaging is important as are the materials used to make it. There are numerous packaging materials used within the industry of food, like aluminum, plastic, glass and cardboard, giving you plenty of choices. The challenge is finding the ideal materials for your products.

Choose materials that provide maximum freshness, protect as well as environmental benefits, like bagasse, bioplastic and the kraft board. Given the increased concern over environmental packaging and plastics, green options to food containers are becoming increasingly popular — a biodegradable packaging style could be the key when it comes to selling.

3. Stay True to Your Product

To get repeat business, you need to be reliable and trustworthy. Your customers must trust you. If you’re using images of your food products on your packaging, be sure that they accurately represent your product. Untrue products make people feel unhappy and confused, therefore don’t deliberately mislead customers. Also, don’t alter the design of your packaging to make your product appear larger or more valuable that it really is. There’s a chance that you will win an initial purchase, but they won’t return to you for a second purchase.

There are a few incredibly false packaging designs available. If you don’t wish for your product to go viral because of a variety of reasons, then do the right choice and be honest with your customers so that you can gain their trust and build brand loyalty.

4. Straight-Forward, Clean and Clear Design of the Packaging

A clear, unambiguous, and straightforward message cuts through the noise. Food packaging shouldn’t be different. Consumers make fast, impulsive decisions on whether or not to purchase a particular product. Therefore, ensure that your product’s design has all of the important information about the product you offer, including what it includes the way to prepare it and what you will do with the packaging once it’s finished. This will allow your customers to make an informed decision before buying your product.

5. In compliance with Food Packaging Regulations

Of course, it is essential to ensure that the packaging is compliant with food regulations. In October 2021, Natasha’s Law states that all packaged for direct sale (PPDS) food must clearly show the following information on the packaging:

It is the name given to this food.
A complete list of ingredients, with allergens highlighted (for example, in bold fonts, italics or different color).

Updates to the regulations on packaging, such as those designed to safeguard those who suffer from allergies or intolerances. They’ve been proven to be effective over the past two decades, but although the number of deaths caused by allergic reactions have decreased the number of hospitalizations due to food-related anaphylaxis have increased over the same time. This makes it more essential that the packaging describes exactly what your foods contain.

6. Take into consideration the impact of shelf

“Shelf impact” refers to a phrase used to describe how your product would look on shelves in a retail store. Your product will no doubt be surrounded by countless competitors and tempting alternatives, which is why you need to carefully consider the reasons why a customer would pick your product over other.

When you design your product’s packaging, shelf impact should be a priority. You need to clearly communicate the compelling reason why your product is suitable for customers. If it’s a splash of colour or a simple and classic design, take the time to think about what can make it the most attractive alternative to customers who are passing by.

7. Give customers the opportunity to get a Sneak Peek

Human beings are tactile creatures. We love to taste the food we eat and even smell it. We also like to get a good look at it prior to purchasing it whenever possible. You might consider transparent boxes to give the customers a look at your product so they know the product they’re buyingand get excited about it.

8. Keep in mind Form and Function

You can easily get caught up in the details of your food packaging design. Although attractive packaging can make a splash with consumers However, you must make sure that the packaging you choose to use is functional. Your product needs to be secure in its packaging and maintain good condition while it’s transporting. Different materials must be used depending on your product. Also, various shapes can aid in keeping your product intact.

For instance, the cylindrical cans of Pringles were designed specifically to hold the stackable chips and to ensure their freshness. However, the packaging has recently faced scrutiny regarding its recyclability since it features not one, nor two, but three packaging materials to accomplish the purpose.

Are you in need of a custom food packaging design for your product?

Food packaging design can be an extremely difficult business. With so much to consider, a custom packaging solution is often the best way to go if you’re bringing something new to the market or reviving an existing product. Customizing your packaging will allow you to address key aspects of design with the help of experts.