Identifying the uniqueness of a product is a crucial task for the packaging designer. Even though every product has its own characteristics, consumers often develop generalized perceptions about products based on norms and trends. Then when products stand out from established patterns, it captures attention. Here are important points a designer should take into account when evaluating a product's uniqueness.
One of the top considerations for the packaging designer is how well the market already knows the brand and the product. The most familiar products in any modern culture tend to be those advertised frequently on television or promoted in other visual media. The more consumers already know what they're buying, the easier the packaging designer's job will be.
But when it comes to new products, marketing pressure is put on the packaging designer to communicate the product's benefits as clearly as possible. Consumers already know and may trust what they get from familiar brands, but they often take a wait-and-see stance on new brands until proof of quality surfaces in online reviews.
A unique product from a popular brand is more likely to get attention than a unique product from a lesser known brand. So if the designer is challenged to create a package for an unknown brand, it's important to emphasize the product's uniqueness so it stands out sharply from competitors.
The designer must assess how the product is positioned in the market to understand its uniqueness. Two competing food products in the same category, such as nature bars, might be worlds apart in terms of ingredients. The organic version will be free of chemicals while the conventional version may be full of petrochemicals used as artificial coloring or flavoring. Each product occupies its own position in the market, as the organic selection is more uncommon but delivers greater health benefits.
Meeting with the marketing team will help bring insights about its intended product positioning. All the benefits and values the product delivers to consumers should add up to a simple easy-to-understand positioning statement that defines the product's uniqueness. Once a clear positioning statement is established by management, elements or derivatives of the statement can be used in marketing slogans and visual tag lines on packaging.
Designing packaging for food products should involve analyzing the ingredients. If the food is positioned as a healthy product, it needs to emphasize its nutritional value. For more conventional food, the packaging may still emphasize ingredients, but more for how they contribute to a pleasurable experience. Some consumers want to know what makes a food item taste so special.
Another step the designer should take to get a complete understanding of a product's uniqueness is to compare it with competing products from other brands.
Uniqueness of a product can be defined in many different ways, such as by its size, shape, function, color, style or innovation. Capturing the essence of the personal connection a conumer makes with a product is the key to arriving at the right keywords that define its niche for packaging imagery, as well as search engine optimization (SEO). If the nature of the product's uniqueness can be compressed into a memorable tag line, the packaging designer is on the path to success.
One of the most important qualities of a product that a packaging designer should focus on is uniqueness. Crafting appropriate tag lines that can be easily read on packaging contributes to more market visibility. It's also important to communicate the concepts that define the product's uniqueness visually with matching imagery.
[1] "Product Development; Packaging Design(2019)", by Azhar Abd ,Ghazali Daimin, Ruslan Rahim