Phases in the package design process
Packaging refers to the science, artistry, and technology used to enclose or protect goods for transportation, storage, sale, and usage. Designing, analyzing, and making packages are also included in the definition of packaging. Packaging may be characterized as a planned system of preparing products for sale, storage, logistics, transportation, and usage. Packaging helps to contain, safeguard, preserve, convey, educate, and market. It is used in various nations for personal, professional, commercial, institutional, and industrial purposes. There are 8 phases in the package design process that every packaging design company should adhere to:
Step 1 : Briefing stage
This initial stage determines whether things will move in the right or wrong direction, making it the most crucial. It serves as a road map, and client feedback is a critical tool in understanding a client's psychology regarding their brand. In this situation, the customer cannot anticipate providing stones and getting money; he also has to understand where he wishes to travel. Like when you go in a taxi, he will contact you to your destination, but you must let him know where you want to go.
Dreams come true with creative labour, reflected in the calibre of briefing. A seasoned creative agency has versatility and understands how to analyze the brief. Using the brief as a guide, they determine what is needed, what functions appropriately, and what doesn't to print your label.
Step 2: Project planning
A specified path of action called planning enables us to construct a project's methodical structure. At this stage, considerations for quality, cost, timeframes, and resource allocation are made. Because reasonable resource allocation ensures that outcomes are always based on value, a brilliant strategy often prevails in the first half of the fight. The designer is kept accountable by a robust project plan, which also ensures that outcomes are maintained while staying within budget and the deadline.
Step 3: Research
Many brands in our environment today, but not all of them get media attention or advertising funding. Therefore, the retail packaging on the shelf serves as an advertisement and bears a great deal of responsibility. Package design aims to grab the consumer's attention, keep them interested, establish positioning, communicate a brand's narrative, and persuade them to purchase. Two conflicts must be resolved.
1. The product must be visible to the customer within three seconds.
2. The customer should add your goods to his shopping basket. Within the first 7 seconds, the customer decides. source
Practical and ethical research makes both processes feasible.
There are three phases to doing research, as shown below.
Client research (A)
As the name implies, consumer feedback is gathered for the questions below and includes detailed information about the brand.
1. How will advertising complement your package design in terms of marketing?
2. Which stores, distributors, or online outlets will sell the brand?
3. Which brands of rival products compete with the item most directly?
4. What makes you wish to alter the present package?
5. The client's desire to maintain certain packaging-related factors.
Market research (B).
Here, brand positioning is created, while in Swot, primary and secondary surveys are carried out by the appropriate requirements based on the kind of service or product. The industry type and pertinent data are also examined. The combine quantitative and qualitative research to provide better design judgments based on superior insights.
Design Plan (C)
A good package design relies on a solid strategy, dependent on research. The kind of colours, font, form, hierarchy, service offerings and content are all factors that play a role in this process.
Step 4: Design Dieline
Dielines are flat diagrams that display the package's folding and cut lines. Dielines are often produced in Illustrator, and they must be flawless. Before the design process begins, the packaging design should choose the packaging form type and create an appropriate and pertinent packaging die-line. Any error in the Dieline will cause a significant error in the subsequent phases, wasting time, money, and resources.
Step 5: Design concepts
The next step after the research-stage position is determining the target industry and intended audience. The project manager will exchange and clarify the target, segmentation, or positioning information with a visual artist to avoid getting stuck on this section.
Front of the Pack: Design ideas are greatly influenced by the brand narrative; based on the story type, colours, fonts, themes, and the overall package essence are chosen. To fulfil artistic and pragmatic requirements, the design must be genuine, open, and honest.
Graphics, forms, materials, and other elements are used in packaging design to provide a practical purpose that appeals to the eye, touch, and emotions, among other senses.
Because the function of modern commerce chains is becoming more popular, packaging needs now be shelf-ready. Today's customers prefer to buy in supermarkets or hypermarkets; thus, the product's packaging should be appealing.
The right amount of emphasis should be placed on the size of a brand's and a product's names, the slogan, advantages, graphics, and font style so that a customer can visually understand information with just one look.
Back of Pack – During this phase, the graphic designer of the best lubricant labels companies works their creative magic and ensures that all applicable laws and regulations create the packaging. It can include details on ingredients, bar codes, nutritional values, FSSAI codes, and UPC numbers.
The original photographs and graphics will be the basis for the picture or images, which the client's requirements will develop.
This stage of the design process involves checking the brand image, colour, target audience, typeface, and picture.
Step 6: Design perfection for complete client satisfaction
This is the last occasion the packaging design has been polished and tweaked, selecting the appropriate finish. Typography, colouring, and visual images may change at the client's discretion. The goal is to make sure the finished product conveys the desired result. To pay close attention to the points below at this time.
1. The font's shapes
2. building a brand's identity
3. positioning, design, and brand narrative
4. Proofreading has been done on all writing.
5. Adjustments are made
6. Review of hues and pictures
7. Rules and regulations verified.
Step 7: Appropriate Print files, which actualize packaging.
Once the customer has approved the design, mockups and versions of the finished product are delivered to the client. The completed art team will distribute the best possible final artwork, ensuring it is prepared for printing.
One must understand the printing colour process at the printing stage to choose between using Pantone and CMYK colours. Because Pantone colours are so particular, creating an appropriate colour requires precise ink mixtures which "match" a specific colour used in pre-selected colours during the design phase. While CMYK, which stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, uses just four colours in the printing process.
The design production company subsequently transforms the layouts into pre-press and digitally ready stages from final art.
After that, working with packaging and labelling companies, the print process is completed.
Post-labelling feedback is gathered from the actual market after the product is launched. Market research provides various solutions to questions about product acceptability and sales—the product's performance in contemporary and general commerce.
