Step by Step to Great Graphic Design.

Package design is a critical part of any plan to be successful in graphic design is the most important capability for optimizing package design.

Since most companies do not work frequently with a graphic designer, here are some easy to follow tips on how to optimize that experience.

Before you start working on package design, you need to develop a very, very clear understanding of the need. Is your package design clearly inferior to one or more competitors? Complete a strengths and weaknesses assessment of your current package design. To make sure that this assessment is accurate, strongly consider using accurate quantitative research instead of lower quality qualitative research.

Develop a very clear statement of what you need when you communicate with your graphic design company. Wherever possible, illustrate this statement with examples of good and great design that you see other products using. Sometimes it can just be elements of some great designs that you think might be appropriate for your business. Be open to contributions from the graphic designer. When design becomes collaborative around common insights and needs, the likelihood of great design goes up dramatically.

When reviewing the first round of work of package design, be aware of your first reactions, especially for what you like. Be sure to involve others who have a good understanding of customer values and beliefs. Take at least 24 hours before communicating your feedback. Organize your feedback in clear, simple statements focusing on the most important elements. Again, supplement that feedback with visual examples wherever appropriate.

Continue this process through subsequent rounds of work. The goal is to use graphic design as a way of achieving competitive advantage and package design.  You should settle for nothing less.

You Can Avoid Bad Graphic Design.

For the most part, using graphic design to create superior package design is successful to varying degrees. Companies typically use graphic design to refresh a package design keeps it modern and relevant. These relatively modest changes can be helpful but seldom upset the competitive dynamics.

Occasionally in an effort to be highly innovative and dramatic, major companies will create a revolutionary graphic design. In almost all situations, this involves significant risk. Current customers are usually buying the product, especially if it is a retail product on a shelf, primarily based upon the visual "signature" the product has. For example, if you're shopping in the laundry detergent section for Tide, you are looking for the orange bottle, which is the brands visual signature. Interestingly, after decades of being in the orange bottle, Tide introduced a product variation in a white bottle. They were able to survive this jolting change primarily because the white bottle was shelved with a whole bunch of orange bottles bearing the same brand name.

Major graphic design changes to your packaging pose some risks that you need to be aware of. If the design change that you are making is a big one, like major changes in colors and graphics, you may want to consider a proven method to mitigate risk. One of the most proven ways it is to have two design changes to get to the final design. The first of those two designs is one that is halfway between the old design and the new design. This first design introduces some elements while retaining key visual elements.

So how do you avoid these disasters? First, recognize your visual signature. Second, if you want a revolutionary design, make sure that you identify the couple of critical visual elements associated with your product that customers use when making a purchase decision. Before you engage in this arduous and risky journey, make sure that you have done quality quantitative research with customers to be sure that they really, really prefer the new package.

Always be mindful of your visual signature your package design makes and use graphic design to help maintain the integrity of this work.

Be Smart. Know What It Takes for Great Graphic Design.

The ultimate goal of great graphic design that delivers great package design is to win and be better than your competition.

How can you learn if you're winning or not?

Simple – talk to customers. If you're in a retail store where your products are sold and there are customers looking at your types of products, go talk to them. Here are some questions you can ask them.

Which product first caught your eye? You want to know what designs are best at grabbing customers’ attention.

What about that product caught your eye? Was it the color? Was it the shape of the package? Was it a graphic design element on the package?

What product did you decide to buy? If it wasn't the product that first got there, why did they buy this other product? What do they like and dislike about the package design for the product they bought?

Wildcard question – of all the products of any kind that you buy in the store, which product do you think has the very best design? The one that you immediately look for. What do you like about it? What's the number one thing you notice about this package?

As good as these qualitative methods can be, coming to a conclusion about how competitive your graphic design is probably warrants an investment in quantitative consumer research. When conducted by a professional, what you learn is statistically representative of all of your consumers.

Better package design requires graphic design. You need to find people who do graphic design with the intent of creating solutions that are better than your competition. Work for a graphic design company that can bring both marketing and package design expertise. If not, keep looking for a graphic design service whose work is better than competition and they say it is their mission to create competitively superior package design through world-class graphic design.