• Written by Tom Lauck, Creative-Ops

To provide guidelines in package design, Creative-Ops has consolidated the following Ten Rules from our experience in packaging with Aztec Labs, Broderbund, Creative Labs, Hewlett-Packard, Quintus Corporation, SolotPoint and Radius. Following these guidelines is not a guarantee of success, but it provides a definite and provable advantage.

1. Develop a strong, prominent “why-to-buy” message.

A “why-to-buy” message is a product’s positioning in a succinct, catchy, and compelling phrase. It tells a customer why he should buy your product and why your product is better for him than your competitor’s. Remember: if the package doesn’t tell the customer why to buy the product, who will? The best why-to-buy messages are the simplest, least technical, most compelling, and most distinctive, often highlighting a salient feature or making a performance statement.
The why-to-buy message should always be a major, if not the major element of package design. It must be easily visible and readable.

A package may also have one or more secondary messages. Most of these messages concern either improved price/performance relationships or awards, and most are in the form of stickers, starbursts, or some other attention-grabbing element. Secondary why-to-buy messages may be prominent features on a package—so long as they do not overwhelm or confuse the primary message.

Awards and testimonials sell. If the product has received awards from trade papers and periodicals (often called “merit badges” in the trade), they should be treated as important elements on the package. They are part of the why-to-buy message even if they are placed some distance from it. Note that paperbacks with “best seller” on the cover move more than ones without it. Similarly testimonials, if appropriate, can boost confidence and help sell.

2. Be realistic about the company’s name and logo

Ego and arrogance don’t sell; reality has a chance. Your company name can be important (e.g. Apple, Lotus, Microsoft) but should never be the major element of a package’s design — unless it is the best reason to buy the product. But be forewarned that such positioning is weak and easy to counter.

It is possible to get a company’s identity across — and powerfully — without overpowering key selling elements. Even if the company or brand logo has high customer recognition, it should be used only for identification, not as a major element. Nabisco, for instance, simply puts its little red triangle logo in the top left corner of each box front. The rest of the package is devoted to selling the product, not the company. In the technology sectory, Apple’s apple, IBM’s logo, and the logos of a few other companies have high recognition.

3. Do not use the product name foolishly.

Don’t be unrealistic about the impact of the product name—some names help to sell; others do not. If the product name is well established (e.g., Lotus 1-2-3, LapLink) or clearly describes the product (e.g., WordPerfect. SatisFAXtion) it should appear as a major element of the package design. If the name does not clearly convey the product’s benefits (e.g. HP-3000. Jazz, SmartCenter) and cannot be changed for good reasons, it should not be a major element in package design. It does nothing to help the sale. If, in the future, the product becomes well known and the name has acquired value, the box design can be changed.

4. Use product information as a competitive tool.

Use information about the product to sell, not inform. The best chance a package has to beat competition is to win on product performance. Since each customer thinks different parameters are important, any set of product information has the potential to limit sales. For all players except the market leaders, therefore, the best strategy is to match competing features one for one. Counter each of the key performance characteristics listed on your biggest competitors’ boxes with a self-serving point on yours. A customer comparing features will then be disposed toward your product, not your competitors’.

Product information must be clearly written, concise, and printed in a very readable font. The type must be large enough for a customer or salesperson to read quickly. Graphics and/or photographic elements should be used only to emphasize benefits (preferable over those of the competition) and, if possible, should clearly convey the nature of the benefits. Do not under any circumstances overload customers with too much data.

5.    The package should have a high shelf impact from ten feet away.

Most customers cruise down the aisle about three or four feet from the shelves, scanning the shelves quickly from eye level or top, whichever is lower, to bottom. You want your package to be the one that is noticed and picked up.
Packaging should be designed to have high shelf impact in your company’s highest-volume and fastest-growing channels (it won’t hurt in any of the other channels, either). The package must both catch a customer’s eye and be readable.

For most software — and any other products sold in an electronics store — the eye-catching elements should be on the bottom third of the package front. Why? Because in many shelf-oriented stores it is difficult to see the tops of packages, especially those on the lower shelves. Color is a crucial element in achieving high shelf impact. Used effectively but sparingly, bright colors such as Day-Glo red and orange work well. These colors should be used to attract attention first to the package and then to the most important design element on the package.

6. Use graphics designed to communicate.

An unrecognizable graphic only confuses. Indistinct or abstract art doesn’t sell. Package graphics should be recognizable and understandable to target customers. Remember that design awards and sales volume are often mutually incompatible. Design should be considered great only if it sells by communicating what the product is and/or why one should buy it. If an unsophisticated buyer cannot figure out what the product is just by glancing at the package, scrap the design and start over.

Photographic art can be very effective—if it communicates a message that helps sell. A picture of an add-in board, for instance, is meaningless to the vast majority of customers, as are pictures of diskettes. On the other hand, a shot of a customer gaining benefit from, or directing attention to, a product can help sell the product. So can clear and recognizable pictures of output or other benefits or using the product.

7. Use readable printing.

Customers won’t bother to read what isn’t easy to read. It is important to use fonts that are easy to read, especially from a distance. There are hosts of such fonts, two classics being Bodoni and Helvetica. Elaborate effects such as italics, extra-thin or wide fonts, fancy fonts with serifs, and widely separated letters make messages harder to read. Dark or bright printing on a light background provides optimal legibility. Reserve-out type (light printing on a dark background) is rarely as easy to read.

8. Use every available package surface to sell.

You never know how your box will be presented in a store. Or that it might be misplaced, or laid down, or turned on its side, or whatever. Consequently your product name and the primary why-to-buy should appear on all panels of the box.

9. Design packages to fit on store shelves.

Be certain that your package fits the location from which it must be sold. Odd shapes and sizes may be clever, but if they don’t fit on shelves the dealer may not put them there. If they are too big, they might not pay their way in turnover. If they are too small they may encourage theft. Round boxes roll. Parallelograms topple. Very thin boxes topple. Very thick boxes frighten customers and reduce the amount of inventory a dealer is willing to carry. And so on. A well-designed package of standard (for its product category) size and shape works best—with, of course, a few dramatic exceptions possible.

10. Look at the package on a store shelf before committing to a design.

Reality checks are a must in all merchandising. Packages are expensive to develop and produce, and once a commitment has been made, it is usually impossible to redo a package design for quite a while. So every reasonable test should be tried before a package design is considered final. With computer technology and color printers it is easy to get quick and inexpensive comps that are close to the real thing.

High shelf impact and salability are always relative. What stands out in your art director’s office against a white wall may not stand out in a store. For instance, a mostly red package may have very high impact in your office; but if many of your competitors also have red packages, yours may be indistinguishable on the shelf. Conversely, a mostly white package may look flat in your office, but look terrific in the store among mainly blue and red competition. Retail dealers are good judges of packages that sell. Asking them for comments is worthwhile—but never as important as shelf-testing with real customers.