3 Critical Elements For Turning Your Cosmetics Packaging Into A Brand Experience

The health and beauty industry is flourishing like ever before, with countless new cosmetic products being launched into the market every year. Premium products have taken a front seat in consumer demand and are the fastest growing segment as consumer demand shifts towards a desire for higher quality products. Presenting a cosmetic product as premium and high-quality plays into that demand. The best cosmetic packaging designs offer certain qualities that effectively drive sales.

Within the beauty and wellness industry, packaging must reflect the luxurious standard of the product inside to compete effectively in today’s marketplace. Customers shopping for cosmetic products are looking to buy both a look and an experience, and the packaging is typically the first personal interaction they have with the product, setting the tone for their expectations.

Whether your brand message focuses on bold expressions or subtle, understated beauty, the right packaging is key to communicating the quality of your cosmetic product effectively and immediately. Here’s how to press the limits to create consumer interest, produce a positive response and successful results with your packaging:

• Experiential Packaging for Engagement
• Clear Branding and Messaging
• A Standout Design

Experiential Packaging for Engagement

The first contact with a new product should be an experience in itself. Unique and differentiating structurally designed packaging leads the consumer to interact with the product and pick it up — the first critical step in any purchase. Packaging options that draw the eye of the consumer causing them to engage with the product package, are effective ways to stimulate consumer interest. Unique closures, windows, unusual shapes and textures can all lead to higher levels of interest and engagement.

The folding carton, which ships flat in a single piece to be assembled and filled with the product upon arrival, has long been the standard in cosmetic packaging. They are typically rectangular in shape, but they don’t have to be – a hexagonal, round, or pyramid-shaped folding carton will stand out from the otherwise flat face on the retailer’s shelf.

For an even more significant impact, why not explore other types of packaging, such as paperboard telescoping boxes, as an alternative to chip board-based versions? Introducing a new packaging paradigm with a new structural design can set your brand apart. Don’t let yourself be “boxed in” by the traditional; talk to your packaging supplier about how an innovative structure can be effectively designed for automated production and high-quality results.

Think Promotional Packaging

Promotional packaging tends to pull out all the stops. From value-added packaging during a special promotion to seller kits intended to inform and excite salespeople about the product, health and beauty companies have developed packaging options that are absolutely breathtaking. Interactive elements encourage engagement with the product’s packaging, and windows provide a sneak peek.

A proficient packaging and print supplier will have experience helping hundreds of companies realize their visions. By bringing the supplier into the conversation earlier in the packaging and art development process, you open the door to a greater breadth of collaboration. Your design company may dismiss an innovative, “off-the-wall” idea as impractical or impossible. Still, an innovative team will take pride in finding new ways to accomplish the never-seen-before in luxury packaging. Structural designers, when partnered with your creative team, can more comprehensively understand your packaging goals and help you achieve them. If you are in a creativity rut, asking your packaging supplier for suggestions and new ideas can open the door to a breakthrough.

Clear Branding and Messaging

Any new product in a cosmetic line must be clearly branded so loyal customers can easily spot a new product. New customers interested in a specific cosmetic line will recognize a product as part of that brand’s family of products. Designers for many highly successful cosmetic brands understand that simplicity creates an image of quality. In contrast, busy, highly-colored designs are a trend that is gaining traction – but must be designed correctly to maintain the quality image. Ensure that any new product in your line is clearly recognizable as your brand, with additional design elements for each unique product.

Nowhere is appearance more important than in the beauty and wellness market, and this applies to packaging as well as to the products themselves. Consumers of cosmetic products are looking for more than just a product: they’re looking for a brand experience. The difference between being just another option in a crowded marketplace and becoming a consumer go-to for cosmetic products is all about cultivating a cohesive brand image and message that consumers recognize and trust, and packaging plays a crucial role in establishing and communicating your brand.

Consumers look to a product’s packaging to get an idea of what the product stands for, its value, and the type of experience they’re buying into with a purchase. By partnering with our innovative packaging team at JohnsByrne, you can clarify your brand message and develop packaging that gives your consumers the full experience.

With the vast array of products available to consumers in the beauty and wellness industry, it is important to emphasize what sets your product line apart. While text is traditionally the vehicle for getting the most critical information to consumers, widely recognized packaging symbols can also be used to quickly and efficiently convey essential information about the product and the ethics of the company behind it. These symbols can include environmental impact and recycling, product freshness or life span and even consumer safety.

Color Consistency for Brand Recognition

More than fonts or logos, the human brain is programmed to remember and form associations with colors. Keeping the color palette of your packaging consistent across your brand will make it easy for repeat customers to pick out your products at a glance and can also play a role in communicating what your brand stands for.

• White packaging with a minimalist design is commonly associated with clinical, scientific products and is modern and sleek.
• Black, metallic colors and deeper colors are associated with a high-end, luxurious experience, especially when paired with a glossy finish or a dazzling finishing effect.
• Unfinished cardboard and natural colors (beige, brown, and green) elicit a feeling of being raw and natural and appeal to the type of consumer drawn to organic, unprocessed products.
• Bright, vibrant colors are playful, often appealing to younger consumers.
• Soft pastels are often associated with gentle, soothing, and calming products.

A Standout Design

With shelves loaded with products, packaging design for a cosmetic must stand out from the rest. The factors that can make cosmetic packaging more appealing involve the finish, colors, or the shape of the folding carton holding the product. A standout design is a critical factor in a heavily-saturated field. Those cosmetics with an image of quality in the packaging stand out as more appealing to consumers browsing the shelves. The science behind effective design involves “biomotive triggers,” or design elements that create an automatic response in a consumer. These triggers involve every aspect of the packaging, including color, shape, finishes, embossing, logo, and graphics.

The packaging for any cosmetic is critical in appealing to consumers – mainly as there are only a few seconds for a consumer to notice, pick up, and further investigate a cosmetic. At JohnsByrne, our professional engineers and designers bring extensive knowledge and experience to cosmetic packaging design. Our creative, high-impact packaging designs with a variety of innovative and decorative solutions with every option available, including foils, pearlescent, holographic, glitter, and tactile. Our ability to produce the full spectrum of custom finishes on our state-of-the-art Press 384 can help your cosmetic brand produce the maximum effect on consumers. Creatively combining finishes can elevate your packaging to the never-seen-before.

Multi-Sensory Effects

It’s important for your packaging to stand out visually, but incorporating tactile or interactive elements is a great way to get your package off the shelf and into the consumer’s hands. Embossing and debossing add a tactile element to your packaging, as do textured finishes. Interactive elements such as flaps and doors invite the consumer to engage with the product in a new way, while value added packaging clues consumers into the brand. Our latest Scodix digital enhancements offer another opportunity to add differentiating foil and tactile coating.

Why Not Make the Everyday Extraordinary?

So why is this innovation and imagination absent in the packaging of everyday health and beauty products? We are so often convinced that these more custom, promotional packages cannot be designed for automation or high-speed fulfillment, but they can be if they are designed correctly. With so many packaging options in the health and beauty market appearing similar, dare to stand out by doing something different. Breakthrough designs too often are relegated to promotional and holiday packages that rarely get wide consumer exposure.

At JohnsByrne, we are constantly striving to push the limits of what is possible in modern packaging design. Our goal is never to meet the status quo, but to change it and set a higher standard. Our nimble solutions are the product of innovation, creativity, and collaboration, and whatever your vision for your product’s packaging may be, we’re here to make that vision a reality.