When you have used your packaging for a number of years, it could be time to re-design it. In an effort to draw in new consumers, a fresh, new look may be just what your product needs. Here are six tips to help you with re-designing your packaging.
What Works
Take a look at your current packaging. How many years have you been using it? Do people automatically recognize your product solely on the look of the package? If there were no printing anywhere on the package, would people still know and recognize your product? If so, consider making very small changes that will only freshen up the look. Stick to changes that will bring your product into the 21st century without sacrificing product identity.
What Doesn’t Work
Now look at your current packaging and determine what about it is not working. Is it too difficult to open? Are the graphics boring? Is the color wrong? Does the typeface match the target market? Is the shape and/or size wrong or inconvenient for the product inside? Make it a point to adjust these things during the redesign.
The Competition
Go to the stores where your product is sold and look at the competition. What are the differences in the packaging of your product and the others? Watch shoppers for a while. Which product are more of them drawn to? Consider why this is the case. Is it merely pricing? Or does it have to do with presentation? Compare your product’s packaging to the competition’s packaging. Look for things such as color, typeface, font size, graphics, size, shape, and ease of picking up and holding the package.
Target Market
Your package re-design will be totally dependent on who your target market is. If your product is a man’s product, such as men’s clothing, toiletries, or other traditionally male-oriented products, you will want to ascertain that your packaging is appealing to the male taste. If it isn’t currently, this is an area you will want to address. Likewise, if your target market is the teenager, package re-design is imperative every few years. Teen taste and fads change more quickly than probably any other demographic, requiring the manufacturer to revisit packaging frequently—at least every three or four years.
The New Design
You have followed the preceding four steps and are now ready to draft your new design. You have conveyed your thoughts, ideas, and wishes to your graphics department and given them the task of creating a new design for your product. If you have the capability, it is a good idea to produce a prototype, and then take it to a suitable location to demo it in order to get the general public’s reaction to it. If this is not possible, at least get the opinion of as many people outside of your company as you can.
Make Your Packaging
When you have the new design completed, it is time to send it off to a printing and packaging company who will do the actual production of your new packaging.
