Package Design - March 2012 - 14

DESIGNER’S CORNER

By Marcus Hewitt

Design From the Inside Out
Recipes for better package designs can start with better communication of product ingredients.

n the same way that we get to package ourselves—truthfully or with enhancements—a marketing opportunity lies in how you visualize a product’s ingredients. This is especially true for health and beauty packaging, where almost every brand has something special inside—a reason to believe. The challenge is to tell the right story for the brand. In the beauty and personal-care category, we’ve developed a simple process to tell an effective ingredient story that resonates with consumers and delivers on its promise. There are four key steps. First, imagine that you have a clean slate and that your product has no current brand identity or ingredient visual. Does it need to show the ingredient? What does the current visual say about you or your product? What are your toughest or newest competitors up to? Ultimately, you may not be able

to start fresh if you have an existing brand. After all, consumers or brand owners may have a strong connection to the current pack. But it’s still a necessary step, if only to figure out what can be improved. The second step is to determine the role of the ingredient. Is it there for sensory reasons—to add the fragrance of thyme or the taste of ripe cherries? Does the ingredient add a direct product benefit— moisturizing aloe or detoxifying aÇaÍ? The third step is to understand the particular kind of enhancement the ingredient provides. Is it enhanced or natural? This can be harder to discern. On the one hand, the ingredient could be scientifically enhanced to provide health or beauty advantages—the skin-clearing properties of grape seed, for example. On the other hand, it could simply be bringing the direct and natural merits of real ingredients.

PLUGGING INTO THE MATRIX
Pure Nature custoMized Nature

Known outside the U.S. for far more than dish detergent, the Palmolive brand was being repositioned to emphasize its natural ingredients. To showcase the essential oils in a new line of Palmolive shower gels, each SKU features a realistic representation of a leaf emerging from the product color below the brand name. The leaf graphic and the bottle’s contour lead the eye to an illustration of a drop of oil. Ultimately, this design works because the graphic and bottle are so closely integrated.

Pevonia International’s Pevonia Botanica line is marketed as a pathway to skin health and rejuvenation. Its natural ingredient story is nonspecific and has a more scientific, processed sensibility. What the brand is really selling is a spa experience, so it’s an ideal fit for the Customized Nature category. The design features an abstracted leaf graphic (nature) and a graphic arch that dissects the pack on a curve. The color palette is minimal, premium and scientifically cool in the classic sense of the word.

march 2012

Package Design - March 2012

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