Psychology of Packaging Design

The Art of Communicating has been vastly discussed by many experts and theories were written about how a good dose of psychology is necessary to provide qualitative and efficient interaction between people. The best example is to use of reverse psychology with young children to apply a certain amount of control on what they are doing 

The role of applied psychology in marketing and design is obviously important. The right choice of technique for the right crowd will bare fruit whereas blindly applying the same “formula” to all might actually be counter productive. In these context the introduction of psychographics are critical. Being able to approach the design concept and execution based on the psychological profile of intended user is of course a great advantage, however it is arguable that such psychological profile cannot stand on its own without looking in the sociological environment and its influence on user behaviors. 

Eventually, designing with the user in mind is about combining the findings of psychographics, sociographics and behaviographics about a particular group of intended end users. One cannot help wondering how deep research in these areas are taken on board by design agencies and studio in completing their contracted projects. Surely the biggest agencies produce work based on valid research ( in-house or outsourced), however we cannot discontinued the expertise and experience of the Art Director as a factor of success to reach to right public, nor can we ignore the role of random luck in some cases. 

One are of design which involves a fair amount of psychological profiling is packaging design. To quote a marketing lecturer of mine “Well packaged crap can be sold at any price”. Of course it may be a simplistic way of looking at packaging, however it has proved accurate times and times again. So one has to reflect on the use of packaging on how it interacts with our psyche to determine our purchasing habits. Of course we have all been told to not judge a book by its cover but when it comes to buying food this is what most people tend to do. Looking at the packaging determines whether we will buy or not, especially when the said packaging is compared with the price of what is being purchased.  On occasion price will be justified not by the content of the product but through its packaging.

What is Packaging

One could define a package as a self-contained marketing machine which must not only attract attention from the shopper but also convey a message and make the sale. 

However, it would be a great mistake to believe that packaging and branding are the same. While packaging is an exercise corroborating branding it is only a part of it. The brand identity extends far beyond logotype, choice of colors or shapes. Brand identity is best described as the acceptance and loyalty to the values exhorted by the consumers. 

In that sense, packaging s’role is to reinforce and promotes the confidence in the brand.One could separate the packaging into two main purposed functions: 

The Technical Functions serves in defining the packages by its measure and purposes. It is there to preserve and protect the goods, facilitate their storage, and eventually help dispensing the content. 

The Marketing function is obviously to communicate a message and trigger the purchase through some sort of display of the product and listing of relevant information concerning it. In this regard, “good” packaging would tend to follow three rules:

1. It conveys a compelling Brand story. Consumer want to rationalize their purchase and must be able to explain why they’ve made a choice of a product/brand over another. depending on the kind of the product sold, the story can vary from simple (ex: ISO certification, the use of recyclable material) to much more elaborate and complex ones (ex: driven by characters…). When given the opportunity, the option of the base of the story should be one that is difficult for competitors to duplicate. 

2. It matches the consumer expectations while differentiating itself from competition. Consumers are used to certain shapes and sizes, they have set expectations deeply embedded in their psyche of what a packaging for a particular product should be, anything too different may actually trigger resistance instead of acceptance. In the case of wine bottles, it goes as far as a particular kind or region must follow an established shape. Experiments of packaging wine in tetrapacks, soda-like cans… have proven largely unsuccessful. There are visual cues common to product categories that are expected by all consumers, “good” packaging does integrate these cues. 

3.Much like any advertisement, packaging should be easy to read with proper flow of information allowing consumer to quickly identify the message (story). Hierarchy allows a customer to digest a large amount of information easily. Flow is the way the customer’s eyes effortlessly move up, down, and around the package.

Psychology applied to packages

Purchase by consumers are triggered by an array of psychological inputs related to the brand names, actual product and packaging. Consumer psychology and consumer habits are inextricably linked. Purchasing habits are a defining factor in linking a product to its possible success. Understanding habits will help the designer decide how to best translate their psychological impulses into a packaging that truly talks to the target market. It can also be argued that “good” packaging may also play a role in affecting the consumer psychology and building new habits. 

In reaching its goals, packaging needs to incorporate the right mix of psychological stimulus through its different components. For example dish soap bottles use psychological triggers to stimulate purchases. Palmolive bottles are designed to provide a physical reference to the body of the most likely buyer, a female. These various elements to consider in packaging would be: 

• Its size wether physical or perceptual, 

• its color affecting the mood and/or persona of the package, 

• its texture involving the sense of touch therefore adding a new dimension to the experience,

• its shape and the hidden message it may convey,

• its lines and the feeling it bring forth (horizontal: calm, diagonal: vitality,  curved: grace…),

• and of course its graphic component meant to complement and motivate the purchase decision. 

Additionally recent years have seen an increasing trend of selecting the right materials and extending shelf lives by adding a secondary use of packaging. Extending the purposes of the packaging beyond the original intended use, adding a potential and sometimes unrelated use of the package have proved a strong trend amongst an increasing number of consumers, including those found in the luxury market.

However, looking more deeply in the relationship between packaging and psychology, one cannot avoid covering the idea of persona. Over the years products have been associated with customer’s personalities which has been linked to general consumer types: retrosexual, metrosexual, technosexuals… The characteristic of the typical group member psychology have dictated the design approach of not only the product but also its packaging. Jung has put forth the idea that each individual tend to act as a persona, through a conscious choice of meeting the opinions and requirements of this particular environment. In other words Jung claims we are all wearing “masks” representing a conscious choice to belong to a certain group. The mask is not the same as individuality” (Psychological Types, Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1920).

Arguably packaging acts in a similar fashion to put a persona on a particular product. Early  20th century, there was the introduction of faces on packaging, introducing a transition from judging a product by its actual content (personality) to judging it based on its ideal representation known as persona. Through this practice there was a transfer of expectations based on the face put on the box. Because of said face, we would expect the product to meet the characteristic of the environment depicted. There was also a notion of association which played a role in triggering the purchase. It has now culminated with enormous endorsement contracts meant to harvest this notion of association. 

Another major change in packaging occurred with the introduction of detailed information on the package labels which the consumer would have usually had to ask the shopkeepers for. This allowed for a more “private” approach to shopping. Whereas consumer might have had to interact more with shopkeepers before (and probably share unrelated private stories), they could now speed up the decision process. Moreover these package initiated a relation a trust between the product and the consumer. 

At times people resorting to asking for recommendation might not have necessarily trusted the referee, especially if it was a first time shopping experience in a particular environment. The introduction of detailed informative package made it less awkward and shifted the purchase decision solely on the consumer. Over time, we gained more confidence in the packages and trust became less of a selling point. Further legal requirements made it easier for the consumer to trust the content of the information which led manufacturer to target the consumers’ emotional reaction to the package to promote new sales. In doing so, package’s relationship to their persona was further emphasized. 

One could argue that the art of packaging would be to match the persona of a package with the persona of the intended consumer and consumer group.

Packaging Psychology of the few privileged 

Another important aspect packaging in its relation to consumer psychology is how it complement the perception of the products by the consumer. There are many aspects of packaging that help the consumer form an opinion and make a decision about the product. 

Luxury and premium brands carry a perceived cachet, but perception can only take a brand so far. The packaging is the first step toward validating that perception and eliminating guesswork, helping to ensure that the product is just as advertised and will meet expectations. Therefore, it is important that all aspects of the packaging work together to communicate a consistent and believable message.

An interesting case study can be found in Asia with the sales mooncakes, a 3000 year tradition where people celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival like their ancestors did eating a wide array of delicious moon cakes while enjoying them with family and friends. Mooncake packaging design is a very important factor in influencing a new consumer or those who do not know that particular brand. Every year mooncake manufacturer or mooncake seller (high class restaurant , five stars hotel, cake house, tea house …etc) will invest in special mooncake packaging design in order to make sure they are the most outshine the competition. Luxury hotels are often raising the stakes creating lavish designs for their boxes to attract more customers. These boxes are often well designed that eventually become collectors’ pieces or reused for other purpose once their treat has been consumed. 

Yet another example can be found in spirits and wines where packaging (at its most basic form the bottle) plays an increasingly important role in the perception of people on the quality of the beverage. Wines in particular are facing though competition with a global slow down in consumption. Every year the unsold production of wine equals that of the entire production of France. In this highly competitive market, the fight is tough. The market is not only competitive because of its production quantity but also because of its restrictions in terms of packaging. Unlike liquors and spirits, wine bottles need to meet some strict requirements. Bordeaux wine can only be sold in one kind of bottle if it want to bear the name Bordeaux on its label. Moreover some legal mentions must always appear making the design of label very restrictive. Interestingly enough, brands of Champagne have been able to capture the attention of the luxury market by designing some unique packaging and introducing special edition and vintages sold at prices equals to those expected from the french luxury market. 

The reality of the champagne market is that production cost may run between 10 to 15 euro per bottle (2009), much higher than any other wine of course (a Bordeaux wine would be at most half that) but still a significantly low cost compare to its retail price and perceived value. This perception comes from a strong product persona linked to strong storylines and famous faces past and present. It also comes from its association with the French luxury market and a strongly guarded trademark on the name. All of which is being diligently harvested and emphasized in a shrewd packaging design from the “simplest” label to the most complex limited edition production.

What Students Wants

Recently I have been asked if I knew what Chinese student wanted out of their educational experience with us. This is not an easy question to answer, however I would say that if I know what student wants because our current system allows them to have a very relaxed approach to their studies, this is not what they need. 

Although this applied to any institution around the world, the particulars of our college makes it an even more compelling argument. Chinese students are being trained in ultra-competitive environment since primary school. By the beginning of their senior year in high school they have seen the entirety of the high school program in order to spend most of their last year in school taking mock up exam after mock up exam with one ultimate goal: score the highest possible grade in their university entry exam and get a chance to get a place in one of the key universities. They go through a strict regimen of learning often turning them into creative and critical thinking zombies. The other off shot of such system is that they are evolving in a very structured environment where they are being told what to do, when, how,… 

For us it means that leaving too much room for interpretation often lead to uncertainty which then lead to lack of care.

I theorize that China has a 5000 years history in a very structured society where one has his place and follows what is expected out of him/her. The rules are laid, clear and respected. It is so powerful that it could almost be defined as innate. The chinese society today is no different and the social pressure is probably greater than any other place I have been. This is why, although we are a foreign college in China and although we are delivering design courses calling on creativity, we still need to be very structural in the way we deliver content. It does not mean that we need to apply an academic dictatorship and not care about the students “wants”, but we need to be careful in the way we implement the structure they need to succeed which are not necessarily the one they want.

Accidental Design

As I was designing the booth for our annual education fair participation I ended up using large sheet of printed stickers pasted onto foam boards to cover the wood work. Some areas were scheduled to remain blank so in my illustrator file I made a rather large “White - No Print”  mention on each stickers assuming the printer would understand and sent off the file…

I did get some interesting typographic poster out of that exercise as per picture below. 

The Vignellism…important reminder

Integrated Branding Experience

Any graphic designer may be able to explain their take on branding and how important the visual identity of a company is. They will go about the design process behind the creation of a companies’ logo and tell you the “story” which ties all the graphic elements to the final execution. Equally they will be able to rationalize the use of shapes, sizes and colors. At the end of the exercise they will provide you with a beautifully crafted visual identity book outlining the correct use of the newly designed branding tool including the do’s and don’ts, the various acceptable alternatives and how to work within  different graphical contexts. Designers address branding as the most important yet the possibly the most challenging design practice out there.

Interestingly enough, the business side of the story also regards branding as the most critical tool a company should develop. The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. Being able to hold a strong brand is more critical than ever before and because brand recognition lies in the hearts and minds of the customers and their interpretation of who you are, it is not an easy feat to accomplish. 

In the customer point of view, the better the brand, the better my experience with the product he purchases will be. Regardless to the social group we belong to, there is such a thing as hierarchy of brands and the pressure to move our purchasing habits to the higher level of the pyramids. 

It is therefore interesting to see that few companies have understood how branding efforts extend far beyond simple marketing activities, deep in the core and soul of the company. 

Of course the better companies have developed their corporate philosophy which is suppose to set the tone to the delivery of an integrated user experience. Most companies also boast a corporate culture, in theory. Often than not this corporate culture is described through a few generic key terms which are also supposed to describe how a company behaves and what its values are. The problem, however, is that a corporate culture or philosophy is not about what you say to people or write on a brochure but about what you do, in practice, on a daily basis. Tech giants have become world renowned for their ability to create unique work environment with state of the art facilities which makes sense; if you want outsider to see you as a tech leader you ought to show them that you physically are, employees become your witnesses. These facilities are called “campuses” to clearly signal you are different from other companies, and have what could be seen as ridiculous perks such as free massage, game rooms, free food and soda…However all these send the clear signal that you are not in your typical company and the perception of people inside and outside of the company will be reinforced in that you are who you say you are. Advertising agencies are known for their crazily decorated offices around the world. Walking in any of these offices once again send a clear signal that creativity is being fostered and encouraged; both employees and clients know what to expect within 30 seconds of  entering the front door. 

This is all the easy part, because we are talking about infrastructure and a few internal marketing gimmicks. The hard part is to actually tune your corporate values to be exactly what you want them to be, more specific to what to really stand for and then act on it adequately, never hide behind false generic terminology. Ultimately how you behave as a company will flow onto the employees, starting with the management. Finding the right people who will help enforce your value because they themselves believe in it will do a great deal, however, the company will still be responsible to put in place all the necessary steps to positively promote its culture. Not only should it be put in place, but it should be followed strictly, slight deviation may send the wrong signal and ripple across the entire organizations and quickly follow outside. 

The obvious conclusion lies in that before branding to the outside, a company should first look inside and organize itself to have a strong basis of work. Ultimately only the ones who are truly committed to the company’s value will stay on board and create the toughest foundation available on the market. Once this corporate identity becomes a defacto DNA, whatever product or service put out there will be stamped with this identity, this rock solid branding; from the product itself, to its packaging, delivery, sale, and ultimately the user experience. 

Good Branding is no longer just a marketing ploy, it is strategical business necessity which starts inwards long before it hits the end user.