Traditionally, packaging for food product needs to have “appetite appeal” – something which takes it from the shelf and into the trolley. Some design companies like the “sketch” approach to pack design, indicating a “homemade” quality to the product. While this can work in some niche premium categories, I have watched it fail in many of the larger, mass product categories. We can decry consumers as “artistic clods” but if we get too clever for them, they just don’t purchase. The pack is not seen as appealing or appetizing and the product fails.
Appetite appeal may take different forms depending on the category. It may be indications of an “interesting, stimulating flavour” with some healthy overtones in a specially herbal tea category or it may have strong connotations of health and well-being in a nutritional supplement. It is not necessarily appropriate to make the product look “yummy” in all categories. The appeal has to be relevant to the consumer and the category.
Where budgets do not allow for a high quality photographic approach to represent the product, it may be better to convey the qualities of the product through colour and typeface. You will also need to consider the print medium of your packaging and the constraints which that puts on the design. This will affect both the design size/format and the quality of printing which can be achieved.
Brilliant Reflections/Consumer Research Specialists 