It is interesting to observe shoppers in a supermarket. It is very noticeable that shoppers quickly reach for products that have familiar designs. They seldom take the time to even check or compare prices with the product next to it. Those familiar designs project a feeling of comfort, even a touch of euphoria. They have what they know, what they are comfortable with. A great and successful label design does more than cover the product, it reaches out and says something to the consumer.
Depending on the product, it may appeal to their intellect, common sense, or the sentimental nostalgic side. Comfort foods from years ago served by grandma may have a new product, with a great new retail packaging design, however the overall label design has that same look it had when grandma served it. The shopper reaches for it automatically, it brings back pleasant memories, and the certainty. If grandma trusted it, it has to be good.
The same concept applies to other products that reach out and touch the consumer, either through their head or heart. A new company can advertise with a label design that is new and unique, however they may opt to place a picture on the package design that mimics a video game character from the 90’s. Any consumer that spent hour after hour playing that video game, is now mesmerized by the small picture on the label design. They will buy the product now and decide later if they can actually use it, simply because of the feeling it projects to them.
Consumer shopping trends are very different today than in previous years. Time is of the essence for most everyone, and no one wants to take time to read a label, when they can glance at the familiar retail packaging design. It takes about 2 seconds to make a decision based on quick information, and the average shopper spots the product as they walk towards it, they can't read the label, but they can certainly see the package design. By the time they reach the product, the decision is made, the packaging design sold the product. It's quick, it's convenient, and it's sold.
Currently there is at least one app that features a game that has the viewer guess the product based on the label design. No words, no writing at all, just the package design that is displayed on the product. The app/game has a minimal rating score, and the negative comments are on the order of, not challenging enough. That says it all, the retail packaging design is associated with the product, and the fact is, a box of rice could contain cereal, but if the packaging designed remained the same, and the consumer associates it with rice, then it's rice. They may be unhappy when they go to read directions to cook the rice, but for the moment, they have that familiar box of rice, that they know from the brand design.
It all sounds complex, and it is. There is a science behind it, and that is where the experts come in. Companies can concentrate on their product and leave the science and label design to a qualified company like Lien Design. The experts know what the consumer wants, they know what tugs at the shopper’s heartstrings, or attracts that part of their brain that reflects creativity. Packaging design experts know the current market trends, and they know past marketing trends that were successful. Companies such as Lien Design can apply a unique blend of past and present, that enables the product to reach every consumer on some level.
The human eye is drawn to smart packaging designs, with the product information reading label being secondary. That label design is what sells the product. Check out packaging designs at www.liendesign.com and note how the label design stands out and attracts the eye, essentially pulls you in. Which is the perfect way to sell your product.