OUGD601 - SUCCESSFUL FOOD PACKAGING DESIGN - BEN HARGREAVES - NOTES

Successful Food Packaging Design - Ben Hargreaves - NOTES

- "Food packaging has always been divided into two parts in the US: name brands (boring, unimaginative, unchanging) and niche brands (innovative, conceptual, engaging). We prefer the latter, as do most designers. For design firms, nice brands are where the awards are, and name brands are where the profits are." - Rick Braithwaite, president of sandstrom design, portland, oregon. 

- Domenic Lippa - director at design agency Lippa Pearce, likens working on fod packaging to being at the coal face of design - by which he means there is just so much out there, most of which isnt that good. 

- Whilst many designers have misgivings about the quality of food packaging, none doubt the 
importance of the importance of it.

- "There is a growing desire by food companies to maximise the effectiveness of their packaging. This has resulted in an increasing willingness to change. Firms are looking to upgrade their look every two years, rather than every ten years, as in the past. They are no longer afraid that new packaging will confuse the consumer and distrupt their fragile relationship with the brand. They have come to see packaging as an integral part of their marketing programme, and are more willing to spend money to freshen it on a regular basis" - Rick Braithwaite

- Photographic realism: Photography is a key element in desirable packaging.
- Photography is being used in a clever fashion to highlight the product's qualities and create the necessary foodie ambience. 
- Treating type: In the search for distinctiveness, brands often go down the route of creating their own logotypes and typefaces in the quest for own ability, even if the consumer doesnt notice the subtle changes that make a font a brands own. 
- Visual Language and categories: it takes a brave brand to break the norm when it comes to colour.
- Theres a strong argument for using opposing colours to make a product leap out from the supermarket shelves. It is also important to achieve consistency in the use of colour across a brand or retailers ranges.
- It is hard nowadays to say whether the big brands or the retailers that lead the way in packaging design.

- 'Packaging is peoples perception of the brand; its that core. It is your single most expensive form of advertising; and if you're a small company its your only advertising. When people think of your product-whatever kind of food i may be-they picture the packaging it comes in' - Mark Greene, Pecos Design, New York.