Jeans and T-shirt will normally not get you entry to a black tie event!.
As I wander around supermarkets, I regularly see packaging that has been designed to appeal to the designer, or perhaps the product manager, rather than telling a story about the product to the consumer, the one being assailed by messages inside and outside the store.
The design may be artful, it might meet the regulatory standards, and it almost certainly has a logo prominent somewhere. However, does it stand out on shelf, does it deliver a message to a busy and stressed buyer who does not really care about your artful design, but just wants to get what she (and it is still almost always a she) needs, so she can get on with it, and get out of the store as quickly as possible.
A really good test is to put a package in front of people who do not read English, and have a translator ask them to describe the product, and what benefit it delivers. Fail that test, and back to the drawing board you go.
Pack design is a part of a process, the make or break part when it comes to consumer trial. Developing and launching a product, even a line extension is a significant investment, don’t you think it should be given the best chance possible to succeed, to be selected off the shelf, and to deliver a return?
Next time do not do the pack design at the end of the development process, do it at the beginning. Sending it out to a ‘designer’ at the end of the development process, looking for a quick turnaround and cheap price, could end up being the most expensive piece of design you ever did. Failure to grab attention, and encourage customer trial will make that cheap, quick, but artful pack design, a really dumb idea.
When you need help thinking this all through, call me.
PS. Bet nobody nicks my grandaughters lunch again!!
