When one says gift packaging one thing comes to mind, a nice square box with a bow on the top, the color of the box is decided if you know who the recipient is and there you go. Well not anymore! Gift packaging maybe that simple some decades back but now it is all in the packaging. No matter what is inside the gift box, what it looks like from the outside is equally important, sometimes maybe more important than the gift itself.
Gift packaging becomes even trickier when it is being done for retail, more difficult and challenging. Before further discussing, how to design attractive gift packaging let’s first understand the fact that it is very tricky and trickier than retail packaging which takes comparatively lesser brainstorming and concept work. Also, gift packaging has many types, so let’s break them down to better understand how to design each one of them while achieving a good result.
Custom Gift Packaging
First and the most important out of all of them is custom gift packaging! Although all the packaging that is about to be discussed is one way or the other customized this specific kind describes the gift packaging ideas that are designed from scratch keeping the purpose and recipient in mind. This can be bulk or not, it is entirely up to the need of the manufacturer. To design brilliant custom packaging for gifts, the first thing you need to determine is the budget. The next thing you need to know is the recipient, like when you buy and wrap a birthday present for a friend keeping their liking and taste in mind, this packaging is no different, the only difference is just that this one is done on a large scale and that there are endless design possibilities.
Paper Bag Gift Packaging
Another popular gift wrap packaging type is paper bag gift packaging which is not as fragile as it sounds but it is very suitable for merchandise as durable as shoes and clothing. Customized luxurious paper bags can be made into the dimensions of the original packaging of the product with festive prints, gold and silver foiling, and embossed designs. Such a bag adds just another layer to the already existing packaging making it even more secure, festive and durable. To design such packaging, a few elements from the product’s own packaging along with a few festive elements, campaign slogans, and creativity like windows for product display works best.
Retail Gift Packaging
In retail, some merchandise is sometimes launched for a limited period or quantities. Such merchandise is packaged in limited edition designs to increase its uniqueness and value. Such luxury boxes are great for makeup and clothing where the elements on the packaging are the same yet one or two things are added to the newer packaging, foiling and embossing can give it a premium look without any drastic increase in the cost of the packaging. The design strategy for such packaging will still be the same as creative gift packaging where you determine the budget and then keep the recipient in mind while designing the packaging.
Seasonal/Festive Gift Packaging
Seasonal gift packaging refers to the packaging you see all around you when there is a national holiday or festive season around the corner. Big names in the industry whether fashion or food always stay ahead of everyone in terms of their packaging. They know their consumer and they know what attracted them to their brand and what needs to be done to keep their buyers loyal.
To connect with the buyers and retain them for the future, festive gift packaging uses tactics such as making packaging for festivals in order to make sure that the brands become an important part of the consumer’s festive celebrations. Not every design works here, for example, if you are using color schemes that are more attractive for women and represent femininity for making gift packaging for men’s merchandise or vice versa, this product line will fail to achieve its purpose.
Such packaging must aim for being an important part of the celebration depending on the product, rather than aiming for money-making at this point. When the aim is clear in mind, designing and brainstorming designs becomes an easy task.
Premium Gift Packaging
All the gift packaging aside and the premium kind on the other side, premium designs take more work and effort and are certainly lesser cost-effective compared to all the other types. Premium means your recipient size is well defined and you know exactly what they like, you have a good packaging budget and you have sufficient time to try out a few designs and get feedback on them before it is sent out for bulk production. The only thing one needs to vary in designing such packaging is to create several prototypes and test run them, get as much feedback as one possibly can and then take the packaging to production.
