As a food marketing company, we talk a lot about food trends, and rarely talk about design trends as they relate to food packaging – when in reality they both go hand in hand.
It’s one thing to talk about the food that people eat, but how about what they see when they are buying? Did you know that consumers spend less than 7 seconds in front of a shelf deciding what product to buy? That’s virtually no time at all for your packaging to stand out and shout – “pick me, pick me.”
Here’s our lowdown on what we see as the top design trends for food packaging in 2016.
Artisanal
Today’s consumer is focused on words like local, hand crafted, small batch and artisanal. This translates into a more free-flowing packaging design with often hand lettered fonts that lend a homemade/home-styled appearance. Even the message is often personalized. In fact, recent research shows that smaller startup brands are outperforming established CPG brands in sales.
Lifestyle Inspired
Yes, everyone is living a lifestyle of health or choice from paleo to gluten free to GMO free. Expect to see more packaging that makes it easy for consumers to find their lifestyle products of choice in-store.
Simplified Design
Call it simplified, call it minimalist, call it European design – current design trends are moving to simpler packaging design with just the basics. Limits on the amount of copy, snipes and even colors are showing us a new look in packaging design. It’s no surprise that IKEA’s food packaging line embraces their traditional minimalist design.
Like every trend, each should be taken with a grain of salt and evaluated both for the value of their longevity and the potential they hold for your brand. Brands and packaging both new and established go through design evolutions. However, major design deviations on long standing consumer brands rarely work to the brands benefit. The brand equity can quickly be eroded by packaging changes that diminish the brand. On the other hand, new brands looking to grow or promote new products or line extensions that have limited brand equity often experience sales lifts from packaging refreshes that incorporate design trends that gain consumer and media attention.
Wonder what’s right for your brand? If you aren’t sure give us a call and let’s discuss how packaging design trends can give you the look your consumers are seeking.
Written by Melinda Goodman
Managing Partner
Melinda@FullTiltMarketing.net
