What’s Trending in Packaging Design

The packaging of your products is more than just packaging, it’s a way to promote the product as well as your brand. Because there are so many businesses out there competing for the same audience, it’s important that you do everything you can to stand apart from the competition — and this includes keeping up with what’s trending in packaging design. The following are some of the articles that we’ve found that explore current packaging design trends in addition to where packaging trends are going in the future.

Smart packaging creates new ways to connect with consumers

When it comes to baking and snack packaging design, consumers care about functionality, such as whether packaging is re-closeable. With new advances in technology, manufacturers are turning to the Internet of Things (IoT) to create smart packaging, going beyond what a product’s package has traditionally been able to do. For example, NFC uses tags on their packages that allow consumers to pull up useful information, including promotional offers, product information, and more, using their smartphones. A recent article on Baking Business details the potential of smart packaging and how it could change the way consumers interact with packaging in general.

Special effects: Tetra Pak offers eye-catching options

The visual design of a product’s packaging is often what helps it stand apart from the competition. Food Dive recently published a blog focusing on Tetra Pack Artistry, a line of packaging material designs meant to help food and beverage makers give their products a stylish facelift. These unique designs include packages that resemble paperboard with wood fibers and even packages that use holographic images. All of these packages are carefully designed to draw the eye of the consumer and generate interest in the brand.

What are some package design trends that you can follow for the remainder of 2018? Read here!

How winning brands differentiate with digital packaging

The demand for high-quality, sustainable beautify products has resulted in more and more new brands entering the market, resulting in extremely stiff competition. A recent article on Beauty Packaging explores how competition has driven the need to explore every potential advantage, including through the use of a digital packaging design that allows consumers to engage with the brand more effectively. Digital packaging has allowed companies to provide more information to consumers without cluttering their physical product packaging. QR codes that allow consumers to scan packaging using their smartphones to access more information is just one example of successful digital packaging design.

A more flexible design for gel-based spirits

Roger Renstrom recently wrote a blog focusing on Flexible Packaging Association’s 2018 competition, in which two students from the Iowa State University designed easily transportable flexible squeeze pouches for Win-O’s gelatin shots. The packaging is not only well designed from an aesthetic standpoint, but also from a functional standpoint as it makes the product it holds easier for consumers to use. The design uses a laminated structure of PET, polyethylene, and foil, and allows users to easily squeeze the product out of the package using a small tube to consume at their own pace.

These four recent articles should give you some valuable insight into what’s trending in packaging design as well as where the future of packaging design might be heading.