Every year, 95% of new products that come out will fail. It’s a tough market, and the right packaging is essential to a good product. As much as 40% of the online shopping community agrees that the branding on any particular package makes them more likely to recommend it to their friends or share it around on their social media accounts. Businesses that have focused a lot of attention on their packaging have even reported as much as a 30% increase in interest from consumers. Whether you’re looking for custom makeup packaging or shrink wrap packaging, packaging mockups are an important way of getting a feel for how successful your packaging idea will be.
Design Your Label First
Before you do anything else, you need to design a label that will catch the eye and communicate exactly what you want to say about your product and about your brand. You should start simple and make sure you’ve got all the basics nailed before you try to elaborate on design. Here are a few thoughts to bear in mind as you design a label:
- Make sure you have good contrast. It’s absolutely essential that the label be visible and the information be easy to read. One of the things that will set your packaging and labeling apart from the competition is making it visible from a distance. One of the ways to achieve this is with good color contrast. You can keep it simple with black-and-white, which is always a great contrast, or use the color wheel to discover which colors will contrast most sharply with which backgrounds.
- Keep it short and sweet. One of the biggest mistakes that most new companies make in their packaging mockups is putting too much information on their labels. This makes the whole design look cluttered and consumers may even feel it’s too much trouble to sort through the mess on the label to find the information they need. Only include what is essential.
- Use the right font. Your font is extremely important. On the one hand, your font needs to be easy to read. There should never be any text smaller than six points, and if possible 10 points. You can also use fonts to establish a hierarchy on your design so that it’s clear at a glance where to find certain crucial pieces of information.
Use Clever Patterns and Spaces
As you prepare your packaging mockups, think about how to utilize space and how to use a design that will set your boxes and package apart. Box packaging mockup attempts are easy to change, so it’s totally fine to try a number of different things and see how they work. Utilizing a lot of space can give your packaging a very minimalist design that will appeal to certain consumers. Patterns can be used just as effectively as words to distinguish between different types of a product or possibly different flavors or scents.
Presentation is Everything
As you design your packaging mockups, never forget the presentation is everything. Your presentation says more about the product than you think. Customers will make a snap judgment about what’s inside based on the packaging you use. Skimping on the outside packaging can be the worst decision you ever make. This doesn’t mean it has to be complicated. Simple, quality packaging can be just as effective and give a peaceful, relaxing vibe.
Don’t Neglect the Basics
The whole purpose of packaging is to protect the item inside. You can’t neglect this in your packaging mockups because you’re so focused on design. Make sure that your packaging provides a complete protective barrier that guarantees your product will arrive at its destination safe and secure.
Educate Yourself
One more thing you can do to make sure that your packaging mockups are as good as they can be is to educate yourself on the different types of packaging, particularly boxes, that are available to you. Here just some of the box types you can choose: clamshell box, slash case, folding box, collapsible box, or hinged neck box. There are many many more.
Your packaging is the first thing that consumers see in your first way to make a good impression on a potential buyer. Make sure yours is saying what you want.