Recently, the global packaging design media Dieline released a 2024 packaging trend report and stated that "future design will increasingly highlight the concept of 'people-oriented'."
Hongze Packaging would like to share with you the development trends in this report that are leading the trend of the international packaging industry.
Sustainable packaging
In recent years, sustainable packaging has become an important way to attract consumers. This kind of packaging can not only reduce the environmental damage caused by traditional plastic packaging, but also bring many practical benefits to enterprises.
Take coffee beans as an example. Since roasted coffee beans are highly perishable, they need to be packaged with special materials. However, these packaging materials are often made of disposable plastic products, which not only pollutes the environment but also causes many problems. Unnecessary waste.
With this in mind, the founder of coffee brand Peak State believes that "compostable" coffee bags have broad application prospects. So he developed a reusable, refillable and recyclable aluminum coffee bean packaging. Compared with ordinary plastic packaging, this kind of aluminum can packaging can not only be reused, reducing packaging material waste, but also reducing the environmental damage caused by non-compostable materials.
In addition to more environmentally friendly and easily recyclable packaging methods such as paper packaging and metal packaging, some companies also choose bioplastics as their main measure to comply with the current market environmental trend. For example, Coca-Cola Company announced in 2021 that they successfully developed a bioplastic bottle by refining organic matter in corn sugar. This means they can convert agricultural by-products or forestry waste into a more environmentally friendly compound.
But there are also some opinions that bioplastics cannot be used as a substitute for traditional plastics. Sandro Kvernmo, co-founder and creative director of Goods, said: “Bioplastics appear to be a sustainable, low-cost product, but they still suffer from the shortcomings common to all non-bioplastics and do not solve the very complex pollution problems in the packaging industry. question."
Regarding bioplastic technology, we still need further exploration.
Retro trend
"Nostalgia" has a powerful force that can take us back to the happy times of the past. With the continuous development of the times, the styles of "nostalgic packaging" have become more and more diverse.
This is particularly evident in alcoholic beverage end products, including beer.
The new beer packaging launched by Lake Hour in 2023 is very 80s style. The aluminum can packaging harmoniously combines the cream color on the upper part and the color on the bottom, and is equipped with the brand's logo thick serif font, full of period beauty. On top of this, with the help of different colors on the bottom, the packaging resonates with the flavor characteristics of the drink, perfectly reflecting the leisurely atmosphere.
In addition to Lake Hour, beer brand Natural Light has also gone against the norm and relaunched its 1979 packaging. This move may seem counterintuitive, but it allows beer drinkers to re-recognize this traditional brand, and at the same time allows young people to feel the coolness of "retro".
Clever text design
As part of the package, text seems to be just a tool to convey the necessary information. But in fact, clever text design can often add luster to packaging and "surprise and win."
Judging from market feedback, the public is increasingly accepting round and large fonts. This design is both simple and nostalgic. For example, BrandOpus designed a new logo for Jell-O, a subsidiary of Kraft Heinz. This is Jell-O’s first logo update in ten years.
This new logo uses a combination of bold, playful fonts and deep white shadows. The more rounded fonts are also consistent with the Q-bounce characteristics of jelly products. When placed in a prominent position on the packaging, it only takes 1 second to attract consumers. A good impression turns into a desire to buy.
Simple geometric look
Recently, threaded glass bottles have gradually become popular in the market with their simple yet sophisticated aesthetic.
Italian cocktail brand Robilant recently ushered in its first bottle update in ten years. The new bottle has an elegant design with vertical embossing, a blue label with bold font and added threads and embossed details. The brand believes that the Robilant bottle is both a visual ode to the cityscape of Milan and a celebration of Milan’s aperitif culture.
In addition to lines, shapes are also the main decorative elements in packaging design. Using minimalist geometric patterns in product packaging design can give it a different kind of charm.
Bennetts Chocolatier is New Zealand's leading handmade chocolate brand. Its chocolate boxes rely on windows formed by geometric patterns, becoming a representative of the exquisite visuals in the dessert world. These windows not only allow consumers to see the product contents, but also transform into dynamic design elements, integrating the product and the shape of the window to complement each other.
"Rough" weird style
With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology and self-media platforms, a visual aesthetic called "Hipness Purgatory" that was born in the 2000s has returned to people's vision again. This aesthetic is mainly characterized by a nonchalant design style, ironic tone and simple retro atmosphere, accompanied by some "handmade feel", with visual effects similar to those in movies.
Brand owners have always attached great importance to their own brand building, especially in the beauty industry. However, Day Job, a design agency known for its forward-looking design of the times, designed a series of products for the beauty brand Radford in 2023 with a casual style. This series uses a large number of hand-painted and fancy elements, which form a sharp contrast with the exquisite frosted bottles and neat background colors.
The non-alcoholic wine brand Geist Wine also displays this aesthetic style through weird illustrations on the packaging of its new products. It uses a defiant and rebellious illustration design on the bottle, paired with 1970s retro tones, emphasizing the brand The unconventional style also proves to consumers that playfulness and sophistication can coexist.
In addition to the above design types, there is another form that is most favored by brands - personification. By giving objects a human character, they bring a playful and weird visual experience to the audience, making people unable to help but keep their eyes on it. The packaging of the Fruity Coffee series gives the fruit its personality and shows its sweet charm by personifying the fruit.
Reverse marketing
Getting as close as possible to current customers and potential users has always been a common brand marketing method in China. However, as Millennials and Generation Z become the main consumers, and as the spread of online information accelerates, many consumers are eager to see more interesting marketing methods. Reverse marketing is coming to the fore and is starting to become a way for brands to stand out in a highly competitive space and gain a lot of attention, especially on social media.
Bottled water brand Liquid Death is a typical reverse marketing brand. In addition to striving to eliminate single-use plastic water bottles in the world by providing alternatives to aluminum cans, their aluminum can products are also completely different from traditional brands. The brand combines heavy music, satire, art, absurd humor, comedy sketches and other interesting elements into its design. The can is full of "heavy taste" visual elements such as heavy metal and punk, and there is an illustration of the same style hidden at the bottom of the package. Today, the skull has become the brand’s signature graphic.
Post time: Jan-16-2024
