Packaging has a strange amount of work to do.
It has to protect whatever is inside, survive being moved around and somehow convince a customer to notice it while sitting beside dozens of competing products.
No pressure, then.
Good packaging design can make even a simple product feel considered. Bad packaging can make something excellent surprisingly easy to walk past.
For Melbourne businesses preparing to launch something new, or wondering whether an existing product needs a fresh look, here are five designers and studios worth considering.
1. Chrysa Koukoura
For businesses searching for packaging design melbourne, Chrysa Koukoura takes the first spot on our list.
Before talking about colours or fonts, it helps to answer a more basic question.
What is the product?
Not just what is inside the box or bottle, but who buys it and why.
Imagine two jars of the same type of product. One is aimed at someone picking up an everyday item during the weekly shop. The other is intended as a premium gift.
They may need completely different packaging.
That early thinking matters because attractive packaging is useful, but attractive packaging that speaks to the wrong customer is considerably less useful.
2. Studio Brave
Studio Brave is another Melbourne creative studio businesses may encounter while researching packaging.
One useful test is to imagine the product sitting on a shelf rather than appearing alone in a design presentation.
What is beside it?
What colours are competitors using?
Can somebody tell what the product is without picking it up and studying the label for thirty seconds?
Sometimes a design looks fantastic at full size on a computer screen but loses its impact when reduced to a small box on a crowded shelf.
Print a rough version at actual size.
Put it on the kitchen bench.
Walk away.
Then come back and see what you notice first.
It is surprisingly revealing.
3. Brandwell
Brandwell is another Melbourne studio worth considering when comparing packaging designers.
This is where all the less glamorous information enters the conversation.
Ingredients.
Instructions.
Barcodes.
Warnings.
Product details.
That beautifully minimal front label can quickly become crowded once everything that genuinely needs to appear on the packaging is included.
Good design has to make room for reality.
Think about how customers will read the information too.
Nobody wants to stand under supermarket lighting rotating a packet in six different directions trying to find one tiny line of text.
Clear can be beautiful as well.
4. Disegno Australia
Disegno Australia is another design agency businesses may want to look at for branding and packaging work.
Materials deserve attention early in the process.
A beautiful concept is only useful if it can actually be produced within the project’s budget.
Ask about printing, finishes and quantities.
That special finish you love may look incredible on one sample. The conversation becomes slightly different when you discover what it costs across ten thousand units.
This does not mean everything needs to be cheap.
It simply helps to understand where the money is going.
Sometimes one carefully chosen detail creates more impact than adding every premium finish available because they all looked nice in the sample book.
5. Truly Deeply
Truly Deeply is another Melbourne agency to consider when researching branding and packaging.
Think about what happens if the product range grows.
Today there might be one flavour, one size or one product.
Next year there could be six.
Will customers immediately understand that they belong together?
A strong packaging system should have enough consistency to build recognition while still making individual products easy to tell apart.
This becomes particularly important when products sit beside each other.
Nobody wants a customer accidentally buying chilli instead of tomato because the labels are almost identical.
Although they will probably notice eventually.
Pick It Up Before Approving It
Packaging is physical, so judge it physically whenever possible.
Hold a sample.
Open it.
Close it.
Try to read it quickly.
If the product is something customers will use repeatedly, imagine doing the same thing every day.
A box that is satisfying to open once might become annoying by the tenth time.
Also give the prototype to somebody who has not been involved in the project.
Do not explain anything first.
Watch what they do.
If they immediately turn it upside down trying to work out how it opens, you have learned something useful.
Design for Real Life
Packaging will not spend its life perfectly positioned under studio lights.
It will be stacked in boxes, handled by customers, placed on shelves and occasionally dropped.
Someone will probably open it in a hurry.
Another person will stare at the instructions and somehow still miss the obvious opening tab.
Good packaging design accounts for those moments.
When comparing Melbourne packaging designers, look beyond a beautiful portfolio. Consider how well they understand the product, customer, practical requirements and production process.
The finished package should look good.
More importantly, somebody should be able to spot it, understand it, pick it up and know what to do next.
If they decide to put it in their basket too, even better.
