Why Brand Design Must Come Before Packaging Design

Before we get started, I want to put a disclaimer here that if you're just getting started with your business, most of this won't apply to you. You can absolutely design your first set of packaging by yourself and without a strategic brand identity in place.

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This blog post is for those businesses who have been around for a bit and are looking for an upgrade to their packaging. If that's you, I'm so glad you're thinking about updating your packaging to something more strategic. As you can guess by the title of this blog post though, I am going to tell you to hold your horses on the packaging design until you have a solid strategic brand identity in place. Most brand designers will be happy to take on both of those projects for you and the end result will be much more effective than if you tried to create packaging without the branding in place.

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By creating packaging after you have a brand identity in place you'll be much better suited to differentiate your product, stay consistent, make a good first impression, and build up your brand recognition.

Differentiation in a Competitive Market

Competing in a crowded market requires more than just looking good: it demands a strategic edge. When I work with clients on strategic branding we do competitor analysis, defining the unique value proposition, and more before even starting on the actual design work. This ensures that the branding, which is extended to the packaging, is created to strategically communicate with your ideal customers and stand out from your competitors.

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Without digging into strategy and what your competitors are doing, it’s very easy to create packaging that looks like everything else on the market or that doesn’t communicate the message you’re intending to. The unique value proposition that sets you apart from your customers must come across in your packaging design in order to truly differentiate your product in a competitive market.

BRAND GUIDELINES MAKE CONSISTENCY EASIER

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Creating a cohesive brand, including packaging, requires a clear set of guidelines. Most brand designers, including me, provide their clients with a Brand Guidelines document which tells their clients exactly how to implement each part of their branding from their logo to their pattern to their color palette. Even if you’re not the one designing your own packaging (since that’s a great thing to let your designer do for you too), having the guidelines in place to reference when designing packaging ensures that your packaging designs will fit effortlessly into the rest of your branding.

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Guidelines aren’t there to stifle creativity with packaging but rather to give a set of rules in which that creativity can thrive. A good brand identity allows for a variety of visual expressions while still maintaining an overall consistent look and feel. Your brand needs a dependable and recognizable voice in order to build trust with your customers and consistency is the key to trust.

First Impressions Matter

Packaging often serves as the initial point of contact, the first impression, between customers and your product. While perfecting packaging is crucial, that doesn't mean you should rush into it. Because first impressions matter so much in the fast-paced world we live in you want to make sure you get this right.

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What are your customers looking for in the first impression? Something that's visually eye-catching of course but also something that speaks to their specific needs to survive and thrive. Is your current packaging doing that? If not, you need a strategic brand identity in place to ensure you're telling a compelling story from the very first glance.

Building Brand Recognition

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I mentioned consistency already and how it builds trust. But for a product-driven business especially, consistency is huge for brand recognition. You want to be remembered, noticed, thought about, and talked about. You want to be in the back of the mind of all of your ideal customers. That's where a strategic brand identity comes into play. It's more than just packaging, but packaging is absolutely part of it.

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You probably already have packaging in place for your business but it might be something you did yourself or something that you worked with a designer on but aren't in love with or doesn't represent your business anymore. Changing your packaging now can hurt your brand recognition if you don't do it strategically and make it feel like an evolution, not a complete rewrite. This is why you should work with a professional designer on redoing both your branding and packaging. In my brand packages I include a Launch Guide to help brands launch their new look and feel without losing trust from their customers.

Is it time?

If you've made it this far in the blog post, I think it might be! You understand how important your packaging is to your business and I hope you now understand why you should also be investing in professional brand design and using that branding to inform your packaging design. By creating packaging after you have a brand identity in place you'll be much better suited to differentiate your product, stay consistent, make a good first impression, and build up your brand recognition.

I'd love to be the one to help you on this journey. If you're interested, apply now on my website and I'll set up a call for us to have a heart to heart and talk about your big dreams and what I can do to get you there. Talk soon!

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