With more customers ordering online and exclusively online, packaging is more important than ever as your product’s packaging could be the very first direct connection customers have with your brand. Keeping up with trends is key to delivering the right unboxing experience and meeting customer expectations. Let’s take a look at some of the trends in packaging design for this year:
What’s currently trending that’ll create those vital customer connections? Check out these five trends in packaging design:
Concern for the environment is having a major impact on how consumers view packaging and its design. Customers want to know the purchases they make have minimal negative impact on the environment, or even promote recovery. This means brands are using packaging solutions that are eco-friendly and reduce their impact on the environment. Packaging materials that are easily recycled, are biodegradable, or are made with recycled materials are a few ways brands can be more eco-friendly.
Another way you can reduce environmental impact with your product packaging is through rightsizing, which is fitting the packaging to the product to use less packing material overall. This includes filler and padding like foam, airbags, and packing peanuts, and using paper filler, cardboard spacers, or even fabric padding instead. Smaller packaging reduces strain on the environment for sourcing materials and reducing waste, but rightsizing also means lighter, smaller packages, which reduces energy and resources needed for shipping.
Having your products and packaging shared on social media is valuable user generated content that promotes your brand and products without dipping into your ad budget. Unique packaging, such as an interesting shape or design, or an interactive experience can up the chances of customers being intrigued and sharing pics on social media sites. You can also optimize your packaging for unboxing, making your products the start of short videos such as on Instagram or TikTok.
There’s a rise in bold and striking color choices when it comes to art and branding. Younger generations are drawn to bright colors like coral, lime, magenta, and violet and find these hues uplifting and radiating confidence. Even muted neutrals have been refreshed for this year with softer, warmer, and more comforting tones in place of their duller and flatter counterparts.
So bright and bold are taking the forefront in packaging this year—and these tones require going big or going home, meaning packages are bold and colorful all over. Design elements like 2D illustrations and geometric shapes create patterns and colorblocked that highlight these bold color palettes.
Negative space comes into play as well with these bright palettes, and packaging material itself can be featured through a colored design. Kraft, or white, packaging allows for bold, pigmented colors to print, and using negative space strategically adds unique design elements while creating a cohesive look with the package.
In this way, packaging is more than just a protective covering for a product. Packaging is a canvas for a brand to communicate their characteristics and values to really connect with customers. Utilizing artwork, oversized logos, and color blocking in packaging design helps illustrate a story and supplement any text on the package. To successfully utilize this strategy, you have to know what your brand is, who your target customers, and how they connect with narratives to work your brand story into your packaging design.
Ready to take your packaging to the next level with these trends? Design your own custom packaging boxes with DIYPack’s online studio: