Packaging Design Process | Step By Step Guide | CBM

Have you ever thought that most of the time consumers are attracted to your product packaging design? Beyond the packaging, it does not just protect your product but also works as a mini marketing tool that helps to promote your brand. 

According to an American research paper, 72% of people decide to purchase the product after analyzing the packaging design. Attractive and unique Packaging operates to grab the target audience’s attention and connect emotionally with your brand. 

In this Blog, we will share the whole process and provide comprehensive details on how to design your packaging in 12 steps. Let’s start now!

What is Packaging Design? 

Packaging design is a kind of product protector that visually appeals to and connects buyers intensely through the attractive design. 

Your packaging helps you brand deliberately:

• Promote your brand identity.
• Meet FDA labelling requirements.
• Improve display presentation and user experience.
• Differentiate your product from competitors. 

1. Setup The Packaging Design Process

Initially, we will talk about the design setup that is the main foundation of every packaging. You and your team start a design project that will help you to create a roadmap for the whole packaging management system. The main objectives you need to target while you are setting up the packaging design.  

Your Targeted audience

The first and foremost condition is to understand your intended audience through the whole process that directly helps to attack your focus audience. 

Available sale channels

Choosing the right packaging element for your brand is crucial so that’s why you need to check sales channels according to your needs like retail stores, e-commerce shipping, etc. 

Branding Guidelines 

Set the Font size, colors, graphics, and images that help to create a unique and attractive packaging design. This will improve your customer experience and promote your brand identity. 

Chain of supply

During transit, the possibility of product damage is always considered if we are not choosing the right size and type for our product. Select the fit size and be confident your product is safe and secure during shipping and storage. 

Packaging material 

Material directly affects your packaging and how your final packaging will appear to your consumers. Choose the desired sustainable material according to your preferences like, budget, sales channels, and regulatory requirements. 

Sustainability 

Promote sustainability by the use of eco-friendly kraft packaging material which is the foremost material in the market. Please try to use recycled and biodegradable packaging material and bypass plastics that are harmful to the environment. Save our planet by the use of sustainable materials. 

Pricing

Stick with your budget and then start planning to create a project and focusing on the expenses that are related to packaging design like printing, and assembling. Follow the ROI strategies for future investment.

2. Brief The Team 

Quality work always depends on qualified expert teams. While setting up your design, design meet with the other teams and discuss the limitations and expectations of designing the packaging process. This stage is important because it helps you stay on track and move in the right direction. 

Full roadmap and provide the necessary information to the other teams on how they achieve a comprehensive hold towards their brand through the understanding of the psychology of the customer. Our experienced experts design the brief from scratch and help our clients understand what we need, what work we have done, and what we have not done yet. 

3. Project Planning 

Planning is the prearranged step which is the core function of this step. After project planning, we cover the half process because in this process we will allocate the different resources from team to team. This is the frame structure of your whole design packaging process. Focusing element in this step: 

• Budget allocation 
• Channel distribution
• Check quality
• Timelines
• Resources distribution in staff 

Senior management personally holds this project and after proper resource allocation, in result, we get a successful design process and are able to achieve their goals. 

4. Market Research 

Nowadays marketing has become competitive and businesses promote their brand identity through media channels and mini-marketing/advertising companies. Each box on the retail shelves deserves a marketing campaign and more expectations than those which are behind the window. 

The properties of attractive and quality packaging are they attract more buyers to purchase products, engage them, and sustain your brand image/position in the market. Every attractive design should have these capabilities: 

• In 3 seconds customers approach the product and make a quick decision.
• Generally, 7 seconds are required to decide to purchase any product. 
• Your design has the ability to place the product in their cart. 

Market research is closed by doing the following three steps:

Client research – helps to understand the perceived value of your brand through the retailer and wholesale supplier. It helps you to understand the other competitors. 

Market research – helps to comprehend your hit audience, and market trend, and understand other brand values which are your competitors.

Design strategy – helps you to understand the basic concept of design and create trending hot designs according to your preferences. Note these important elements that you have to focus on when making a design like typeface, color scheme, hierarchy, value propositions, etc.  

5. Dieline Design 

In this stage, we will design the dieline that the simple cutting structure of your packaging. Most of the time, the dieline is designed by the packaging designer. It will be created by the cutting machine or digital printing. Simply die-line consists of three main parts:

• The perforation line
• The cut line
• The fold line

A packaging designer takes the right step before announcing the final design. He creates a dieline with the help of a cutter that is suitable and prominent for this design. He knows that a small issue in the dieline will create a major issue that is a waste of the company’s resources. Nowadays, advanced 3D software helps you to understand how your packaging looks after designing it in real life. 

     6. Visual Design 

Customer satisfaction is our top priority. Client satisfaction is achieved by the hit of the target market and target audience. Visual design directly controls the project manager and discusses the requirements and design appeal with the designer.

The branding element on the packaging plays a crucial role in promoting your identity. Focus on these components like fonts, colors, typography, spot UV printing, and final touch to create beautiful packaging. After adding these elements, you must create creative and honest packaging reviews that satisfy your consumers. 

    7. Creative Review

Every team is responsible for giving creative reviews about the packaging design process. Every team collaborates and creates creative packaging designs. In this process, a required team consists of: 

• Brand manager
• Visual designer
• Product Manager
• Project manager
• Copywriter
• Regulatory manager

   8. Prototype

After analyzing the visual graphics, dieline, and designer thoughts, we will create a prototype to visualize the three dimensions of the packaging design. It is not just a sample of your packaging but also a final step to permit the manufacturer, the design is ready to use for manufacturing on the packaging. 

Prototypes are made of two different types one is physical prototypes which are created with different materials according to your preferences and the other is computerized prototypes which are designed by software for visual appeals. 

  9. Final Feedback 

Final feedback gives the signal to the manufacturer to start production because the design, colors, sizes, and styles are finalized by the management team. Precise feedback helps a lot to the reviewer team to proofread the above requirements like font style, color checker, and spell check. 

Additionally, reviewers can immediately mark the design files, leave comments, and easily accept or reject particular portions of the design file they have been assigned to evaluate by using online proofing tools.

 10. Quality Assurance 

After the mass production, a quality checker team takes a sample of the given production and checks the quality of the packaging. They will check everything from zero to start and check the customer’s requirements. The customers’ satisfaction depends on the quality teams. The following things you need to focus on while checking the quality:

• Ingredients
• FDA or FSSAI and other legal information
• Claims and key messaging
• Instructions / Usage
• Barcodes
• Nutritional details
• Contact information

  11. Printing Stage

This stage serves to shine your packaging. At this step, a lot of printing options we provide our clients. You can use simple skill screen printing options to classical flexography or UV printing options. We also prove four color printing techniques which are CMYK( cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). 

After the printing stage, Add the final touch to your packaging which helps to make your packaging more attractive and add a sophisticated touch. Our ADD-ONS include embossing/debossing, gloss lamination, matt lamination, hot foil stamping, and more. 

  12. Market Review

After completing the whole packaging design from the selection of the desired design to the manufacturing process and then reaching your packaging in the marketplace and consumers’ hands will help to provide the market review. 

Market reviews help to point out your weak areas where you need to improve your packaging solution. Your market analysis needs to be fair and comprehensive since the information you gather will determine the direction of your next design approach, so make sure your packaging designs surpass consumer expectations.

Final Thoughts 

At CustomBoxesMarket, we try to cover all information about packaging design in 12 steps that help you to create the best attractive packaging designs according to your budget and brand preferences. This information allows you to make better packaging than your competitors and allows you to use multiple types of products in one solution. 

Contact us today to upgrade your packaging, and get free design assistance from our designer teams. We are always here to support you. Start ordering to reshape your packaging today.