A Design Process Success Story

There’s no blueprint for successful package design— but make sure you get into the process early.

June 2009 by Chris Mc Loone

multipage

The process involved with designing a package does not have to be a complex venture. Three players that positively or negatively impact this process are the brand manager, the design firm contracted to design the package, and the package printer.

There is a lot on the line when designing a package—not the least of which is the ultimate success of the brand. Consumer research is a critical component when designing a package as well. When Tropicana recently graphically redesigned its orange juice packaging, it quickly took action when it wasn't received well. After introducing the new design, consumer backlash compelled Tropicana to revert to its more familiar graphic design.

Managing all these facets from beginning to end is a serious task, but does not have to verge on impossible.

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter

Unilever (www.unilever.com) recently launched its "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" (ICBINB!) Cooking & Baking Sticks product. Although the new product's pack wasn't challenging in terms of physical appearance (Unilever did not deviate from the standard margarine/butter 4-stick pack), there was a lot of thought put into how to develop an innovative look and feel that would cause the package to jump off shelf.

"The design and printing took center stage for us," says Matthew McCarthy, director of brand development, Unilever. "We decided very early on in the process that we liked the pack structure, but really needed to rely on breakthrough graphic design and printing to make the innovation successful."

For the ICBINB! design, that meant using taste cues. "Taking a look at how the butter and margarine market presents itself to consumers, there actually is a fairly limited use of colors," says McCarthy. "So, what we wanted to do to make the product special was to make it really stand out on shelf by doing something different that the other products don't do. We did that specifically through very strong taste cues—very strong graphics that drove a lot of appetite appeal."

One of the first things consumers will see as they browse the dairy section at the supermarket will be "delicious sugar cookies that really help stand out," asserts McCarthy. "Food photography is very seldom used in our category. So we felt that food photography done very well would communicate how delicious the product was."

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