The Importance of Packaging

I received a new brief the other day: 'produce the packaging and accompanying surface graphics for a revolutionary new food source' ... 'be imaginative and conceptual, think fish fingers and space duct, chili chocolate and rabbit burgers, recycled rice paper and pop tarts.' I have to combine bronze and vinegar to come up with a new food source, and I am guessing it won't be very tasty! This got me thinking, can packaging help sell anything?

Ever since food was transported it required some sort of packaging whether this was for protection, preservation or storage. Over the years materials have evolved and food can be contained in paper, plastic, wood or tin. Not only will the choice of material 'guarantee the safe keeping and convenience of our foodstuff' it helps us identify the product within.

During my research into packaging design I discovered some unique and innovative pieces of design. Many of these products I would happily buy and never open, just so that I could keep the packaging. Maybe this is because I am studying graphic design (or a bit sad!), but just to make sure I asked a few friends and members of my family whether they are influenced by packaging. The majority said yes. These individuals probably wouldn't buy a product and keep the packaging, but something drew them to the product in the first place. What was it? The surface graphics? Bold use of colour? Expensive looking paper? Clean typography?

Packaging can help attract the consumer's attention and therefore help sell and promote a product. Most people judge a product by its packaging. We all probably go into our supermarkets and look at the outer packaging and think yes that should be yummy, even though we can't see the product inside it! It is fair to say that most people presume that smart price food won't taste as nice as the brand name variety. What are we basing this on? Price? Look?

Sometimes packaging costs more to produce than the food source contained inside. Attractive packaging is seen as the key to get consumers to buy a product, and often the consumer will think that the food is of higher quality. However when you think about how much it costs to print a single colour image onto white paper for a smart price product compared to the price of a full colour job for the brand name alternative what is it that we are really paying for?

If graphic designers do their job well they can market and promote any product. A company could be producing chicken pies made from the worst pieces of meat but pop it into an expensive and attractive piece of packaging the consumer would instantly presume they are buying a good quality product. So it could be said that packaging is almost scarily important.