Food Packaging The Good, The Bad & The Design Conscious Dor Katz
Food Packaging The Good, The Bad & The Design Conscious
Dor Katz New York University Design 1
FOOD PACKAGING
Food packaging, at its very founda-
Quaker Oats. The 1990’s saw the start of
tion, is used to protect and preserve
mass digital printing on food packaging.
food and provide nutritional informa-
Food packaging has a couple primary
tion. As early as the 1800’s, there was a
functions. The function that we will be
growing concern with increasing the shelf
focusing on is marketing. Food packaging
life of foods, and people started using glass
has helped companies market their prod-
and metal for this. The first cardboard
uct. Through the use of design techniques,
box packaging was used in the 1880’s by
you can represent a product in many dif-
What is it?
ferent ways, and appeal to many different
them as well. We will focus on examples
audiences. Through marketing, products
of both good and bad food packaging de-
are purposely packaged in aesthetically
sign, to further analyze what draws us to
appealing and eye-catching ways. There
certain food products, and what keeps us
are a number of important elements that
away from others.
result in good food packaging design. In this book, we will discuss both success in using those elements, and failure in using
PROTEIN BARS. Brand: Good
CLARITY
The first important design element
Often, food packaging is unsuccess-
is clarity. Humans are often busy,
ful, because it is unclear. This means
lacking time to pay attention to ev-
that consumers are not aware of
ery detail that surrounds them. Hu-
what they are buying. An example
mans are also lazy, drawn often to the
of this can be seen in the ‘Animal
things that require the least amount
Crackers’ packaging. There is little
of effort. Therefore, a clear product is
emphasis on the animal shape of the
more appealing than a confusing and
crackers, and this creates confusion.
cluttered one. We are more drawn to a product whose packaging makes it clear to us exactly what is being sold. Good examples of this include contrasted text that names the food. This often includes sans serif fonts, that are very legible and large on the space of the packaging. This allows a person to quickly and easily know what is being sold. A good example of clear and successful design are these protein bars. There is no place for ambiguity when looking at this product.
This incongruence between the name
bold, while the rest of the words are
of the product, and the imagery on
smaller and hidden. This can trick a
the packaging, makes this product
busy consumer into thinking they are
confusing, and might deter consum-
buying butter, when in fact that they
ers from buying it. Consumers seek
are buying a substitute to butter. The
clarity in their purchases, and of-
hierarchy used in this packaging is
ten fear the unknown. This is what
misleading. This product therefore
makes this design unsuccessful. An-
lacks transparency and might result
other example of unsuccessful design
in fewer repeat purchases by con-
due to lack of clarity is in the ‘I Can’t
sumers.
Believe it’s Not Butter’ container. The word ‘Butter’ is very big and
ANIMAL CRACKERS Brand: Stauffer’s
BUTTER SPREAD Brand: I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter!
A further example of an unsuccessful design is the ‘House of Chards’ billboard. This design is unsuccessful because it plays on a popular show on Netflix called ‘House of Cards’. When looking at this billboard, a consumer might get confused as to whether this is an ad for a Netflix TV show, or vegetables. The lack of clarity doesn’t contribute to the appeal of the product.
Unclear food packaging design can also
‘milk’ on the bottle, it is difficult to know
be seen in this milk packaging. The design
what you are actually buying. This would
of the milk bottle is plain and empty, pro-
make selling the product more difficult.
viding no information. Without the word
This design, by Royal Crest Dairy, a dairy
manufacturing and delivery service, was
and clarifying information must be added
perhaps looking for simplicity and cleanli-
to increase ease and understanding of the
ness in their design. However, it is import-
product.
ant to know when a design is too simple
VEGETABLE PRODUCE Brand: Foxy Organic
Another way to make your product clearer, is to create packaging with a hole that allows consumers to see the product inside. This makes it even more clear to consumers what they are buying, makes the company appear reliable, transparent and trustworthy, and can boost sales.
A good example of a successful application of this, is in the packaging for the cookies. Not only is the text clear, contrasted, and concise; but the fact that a consumer can look at the product and know exactly what they are buying is a very effective way to increase sales.
MILK Brand: Dairy Crest
COOKIES Brand: Kent & Fraser
However, it is important to mention that not every packaging ‘hole’ is successful. As can be seen in the Paleo packaging, the visibility of this food is not appealing at all. There needs to be match between the type of food being sold, and the packaging that is used to sell it.
This Paleo example is not a type of food that should be seen through a hole in the packaging, as it does not look appetizing this way. A mismatch between type of food and packaging of that food, can lead to reduced sales and a failure of design to properly market a product.
An additional way to acheive clarity, is by using packaging in a clever and unique way. For example, when looking at the juice boxes, you can immediately tell what flavor each box is. The packaging doesn’t need to have descriptive words, because of the high level of clarity already existent in the packaging. This can be seen in both the color of the packaging, such as in the watermelon and orange juice; but also, in the texture of the packaging, as can be seen in the strawberry and kiwi juice packages. Another example is the milk bottles that are made to look like cows’ udders. The shape of the milk bottle is able to express so much information by representing and looking like the product and its source. This clever use of packaging is very successful and allows for the important design element of clarity that is essential for the selling of products.
This design element can also be seen in the honey packaging, where bees surround the honey. This is made to replicate a real-world interaction between bees and honey and allows you to imagine the honey in a more vivid way. This vivid reaction and image that is created in your mind can lead to a stronger connection to the product and a faster and more likely purchase.
SAUSAGE AND EGG SCRAMBLE Brand: Paleo
JUICE BOXES Brands: Jooze, JuicePeel, Fukasawa
MILK Designer: Muhammet Uzuntas
HONEY Brand: The Bees Knees
PASTA Designer: Nikita Konkin
A slightly different example of clever design packaging, that allows you to see the product in a different way is in the Fettucine pasta and Trident gum packages. While not representing the product itself, they use the product to create new meanings and associations. This might make the consumer take a second look at the prod-
CHEWING GUM Brand: Trident
uct, laugh, and eventually buy the prod-
element is successful and draws the poten-
uct. Designing food packaging to look
tial buyer to the product.
like and represent people or other objects is clever and unique and can help boost sales. This new and unexpected design
PRACTICALITY & EFFICIENCY Additional important design elements are practicality and efficiency. These elements relate to the use of the packaging. The way in which a package functions is just as important in its design as how it looks. Packaging that is practical is favorable and will bring consumers back to buy more. One example is the packaging used to store the burger, drink, straw and fries. This packaging allows a person to hold all of these items easily and allows for efficient use of the product. Another example is the packaging of the pastes. A difficult problem with paste packaging, is that it is often difficult to get out all the paste. However, this company has created a clever mechanism that allows you to squeeze out significantly more paste than you could normally. The knob allows for more extraction, which is beneficial to the consumer because they get more out of the product. When a product is not designed in a practical and efficient way, it lacks an important element of design that makes it successful.
BURGER, DRINK & FRIES Brand: Togo Burger
FOOD PASTES Brand: Behance
One example of this is the Pringles can. The original can, which looks almost identical to the one sold today, was designed by Fredric Baur. While revolutionary at the time, and a success in the eyes of many, it is for me personally a design failure. The slim and rigid shape of the can does not allow for easy access to the chips inside. I also believe a big part of eating chips is the act of observation, and choosing a
Additional bad design, that lacks practi-
large one, or a small one, or a crunchy
cality, is the design of the Zyrtec pill. This
one, etc. The uniformity of the Pringles
example shows bad packaging design. It
chips, along with the lack of visibility of
is impractical and is too large for what is
any chip besides the one you are currently
being sold. The fact that is each pill is sold
eating, does not allow for that experience.
in a separate container is a big waste of
When designing food packaging, a
plastic, money, resources and space. This
designer must be aware of the con-
is a clear design failure, which doesn’t
sumer.
I
can
use packaging in a clever or efficient
design
does
this.
way. There is no reason why more than
believe not
the
Pringles
accomplish
one little pill cannot be placed together in the same container. A similar example can be seen in the packaging of the bananas. Each banana is placed in its own plastic container. This is impractical and not necessary. Not only is this an example of bad design because of its impractically, it is
also bad design because it is wast-
ing resources. The overuse of plastic is also bad for the environment.
In this day and age, a package must be environmentally friendly to be considered good design. In an article titled ‘Defining Good or Bad Design’, written by Alice Rawsthorn and published in The New York Times, it states that “However gorgeous, witty, ingenious and even useful something is, we can no longer consider it to be a design success unless it is also ethically and environmentally responsible.”
CHIPS Brand: Pringles
ALLERGY MEDICATION Brand: Zyrtec
BANANAS Brand: Morrisons Supermarket
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY With growing environmental concerns, a designer should be conscious of the longer lasting effects of any package they design. A design that did this well is the company called Boxed Water Is Better. This water comes in a 100% recyclable box and is a much better alternative to plastic bottles.
WATER Brand: Boxed Water Is Better
Another good example of environmentally conscious and successful packaging is the company Loving Earth, which sells superfood bars and cereals. Their boxes and packaging are made up of 100% recycled wood fibers. They use non-toxic vegetable-based ink for their products, and all their other packaging is made up of wood pulp and corn. Once again, this consideration of the environment is crucial for the design to be a success. Companies that fail to do this, cannot be considered to have packaging success. An example of this can be seen in the Doritos packaging. While this bag is light and aesthetically appealing, it is made up of seven layers of plastic. This makes the package unrecyclable. This
package
will
have
horrible
long-lasting effects on the environment, and is therefore a design failure.
CHIPS Brand: Doritos
We
purchase
food
each
and
ev-
sign is to consider human decision mak-
ery day. It is not often that we think
ing, and therefore it is very crucial that
about what motivates us when we look
we, as consumers, are made aware of it.
through the shelves of a supermarket when considering what food to buy. Overall, I hope this book was able to It is important to take a step back and
shed some light on design strategies
recognize the things that influence us
in food packaging design and market-
in our purchasing and get a clearer idea
ing, and to show the average consum-
of how companies use design to mar-
er that ways in which companies might
ket and sell their foods. To consider de-
attempt to influence them every day.
CHOCOLATE BARS Brand: Loving Earth
Acknowledgements
Design 1 class Jeanne Verdoux Friends Family
Everything you need to know about food packaging and its design. The do’s and dont’s of packaging food, and what you can do to market food in the most effective and succcessful way. Enter the world of food packaging to learn how the design of products influences what you buy and consume.