Usually, when we buy food, the first thing that catches our attention is the outer packaging bag of the food. Therefore, whether a food can sell well or not depends largely on the quality of the food packaging bag. Some products, even if their color may not be as attractive, can ultimately attract consumers through various methods of rendering.
Successful food packaging not only quickly catches the attention of consumers, but also makes people feel that the food inside the packaging is fresh and delicious, generating an impulse to purchase immediately. So, how can we design food packaging to gain customer favor? What about producing beautiful taste cues?
Color is the most important aspect in food packaging design, and it is also the information that consumers can quickly receive, setting a tone for the entire packaging. Some colors can give people a beautiful taste hint, while others are just the opposite. For example:
Grey and black give people a slightly bitter feeling.
Dark blue and cyan look slightly salty.
Dark green gives a sour and astringent feeling.
It is important to be cautious when using these colors extensively in food packaging. Of course, it does not mean that all food packaging should use similar sets of colors. The selection of final packaging color also needs to consider many factors such as the taste, taste, grade, and differentiation of similar products of the food.
Due to the main "tongue sensation" of sweetness, saltiness, sourness, and bitterness, there are also various "mouthfeel" in the taste. To express so much taste sensation on packaging and correctly convey taste information to consumers, designers need to express it according to people's cognitive methods and patterns of color. For example:
Red fruits give people a sweet taste, and red is mainly used for packaging to convey a sweet taste. Red also gives people a warm and festive association, and is used in food, tobacco, and wine, with a festive and enthusiastic meaning.
Yellow reminds people of freshly baked pastries, emitting an enticing aroma. When expressing the aroma of food, yellow is often used.
The color of orange is between red and yellow, and it conveys a taste like orange, sweet and slightly sour.
The taste and taste of freshness, tenderness, crispness, acidity, etc. are generally expressed in green series colors.
It is interesting that human food is rich and colorful, but in real life, there are few blue foods available for human consumption. Therefore, the main function of blue in food packaging design is to enhance visual impact, making it more hygienic and elegant.
As for the strong and weak characteristics of taste, such as softness, viscosity, hardness, crispness, smoothness, etc., designers mainly rely on the intensity and brightness of color design to express. For example, using deep red and bright red to represent foods with a strong sweet taste; Food with moderate sweetness represented by vermilion; Use orange red to represent foods with lighter sweetness, and so on.
There are also some foods or drinks that express their taste directly using the color that people are already accustomed to, such as dark brown (commonly known as coffee), which has become a specialized color for foods such as coffee and chocolate.
In summary, it can be understood that color is the main method for designers to express food taste, but there are also some taste sensations that are difficult to express using color, such as bitterness, saltiness, and spiciness. Designers need to use special font design and packaging atmosphere to render the design, expressing these taste sensations from the spiritual and cultural levels, so that consumers can clearly identify with the conveyed taste information.
Different shapes and styles of pictures or illustrations on food packaging also give consumers taste cues.
Circular, semi circular, and elliptical decorative patterns give people a warm, soft, and wet feeling, and are used for mildly flavored foods such as pastries, preserves, and even convenience foods.
Square and triangular patterns, on the other hand, give people a cold, hard, brittle, and dry feeling. Obviously, these shaped patterns are more suitable for puffed food, frozen food, and dry goods than circular patterns.
In addition, the use of images can stimulate consumers' appetite. More and more packaging designers are putting physical photos of food on the packaging to show consumers the appearance of the food inside the packaging, which has been tried and tested repeatedly.
Another decorative technique to be mentioned is for emotional foods (such as chocolate coffee, tea, red wine), which are packaged with a strong emotional tendency when consumed. Random hand-painted illustrations, beautiful landscape images, and even romantic legends create an atmosphere on the packaging that first gives consumers indirect emotional cues, thereby generating beautiful taste associations.
The shape of food packaging can also have an impact on the taste expression of food. Due to the differences in packaging shape and material properties, the texture presented is also a factor that affects the appearance and taste of food. The shape design of food packaging is an abstract form of language expression. How to use abstract language to express the taste appeal of food packaging design requires attention to the following two issues:
Dynamic. Dynamic means good qualities such as development, progress, and balance. The formation of motion in design usually relies on curves and the rotation of the form in spatial parts.
A sense of volume. The sense of volume refers to the psychological sensation brought by the volume of the packaging. For example, puffed food should be packaged with air, and its large size design can express the softness of the food.
However, it must be pointed out that no matter how the design is carried out, the limitations of the production shape and conditions of the packaging should be taken into account, as packaging is, after all, industrialized production.
If you have any food packaging requirements, you can contact us. As a flexible packaging manufacturer for over 20 years, we will provide your right packaging solutions according to your product needs and budget.
Post time: Sep-25-2023
