Handmade business owners and operators understand how important product packaging is to their credibility as designers. The way your products are delivered to your client’s homes and businesses tells a lot about your design and branding skills.
Packaging that is properly created produces a significantly bigger impression on customers. Not only this but it remains in their minds longer than packaging that is an afterthought. As a designer, you should consider your packaging as a tool. Not to only satisfy your customers but also to promote your brand in a positive light.
The biggest issue about the packaging is that it’s a combination of numerous aspects. All of them must all work together in order for it to be successful. The major ones are design, technology, and function. If you run a handcrafted business, the design aspect of the equation takes on even more importance.
We’ll go through all of the stages required in developing outstanding packaging for handmade enterprises in this tutorial.
Step 1: Get Useful Software
The most fundamental level of envisioning your packaging is where the issue with packaging design begins. This usually comes when you’re designing the artwork for it. Typically, designers will send manufacturers their packaging designs in vector format. The issue is that vector formats typically yield 2D designs. But you want to see your product packaging in 3D.
Use Adobe Photoshop for more lifelike packaging mockups. You can use Adobe Illustrator for more cartoonlike mockups to solve this problem in one fell swoop. As you can make these mockups solely in Photoshop, you can preview how your 2D design will look on a real, physical product.
You may always choose from the various package templates in our CM marketplace. Doing so will make life easier for yourself if you don’t want to trust your own design and thinking about the correct tools for this job.
Step 2: Make It Functional & Practical
Your packaging can be as beautiful and on-brand as you want it to be. But if it doesn’t follow basic standards of practicality, it will be a liability for your handcrafted business. From the perspective of your customers, great product design necessitates that your packaging is practical and simple to use.
If you’re sending handcrafted candles, the last type of packing option you want to employ is a sealed-off box. This is because candles appeal to the sense of smell. Your consumers will expect some aroma to greet them when they receive your package. Candles are very pleasing to the eye as well. Tease your customers by giving them a sneak peek through the packaging.
A custom tumbler box is an excellent choice for candles since it allows your candles to be smelled and viewed. One face of the box is totally cut off so your consumers can see the candle. Customers who handle and open such careful packaging will remember your handcrafted brand fondly. This is because they will be delighted in a very simple way that they didn’t expect.
Step 3: Don’t “Box” Yourself in
The relentless use of boxes for packaging “solutions” is one of the biggest temptations. It demonstrates a serious lack of inventiveness. Everyone anticipates receiving their stuff in a box! Well, in the case of perfumes, the internet is overflowing with perfume box design ideas. The reason is clear, items like perfumes and other elegant bottles must be boxed for safe delivery. But not everything looks nice in a box…
Think beyond the box if you want your handcrafted business to stand out and be remembered. Aside from the simple, old box, there is a variety of packing possibilities. After all, not every type of handmade goods lends itself to being placed in a box. Products with a more rounded shape, such as pouches, tubes, or other objects with more rounded features, aren’t as well suited to boxes.
To compete with boxes, here’s a list of various packaging options:
- Labels – Labels aren’t always thought of as “packing”. However, you can consider how they’re used on wine bottles and other items. They’re also completely 2D, so you won’t have to worry about envisioning your mockups in 3D. Simply print them out and adhere them to your merchandise!
- Bags – A bag design is typically simple and straightforward. It needs little more than slapping your company’s emblem across the side.
- Sacks/Multi-Wall Sacks – You’re probably more familiar with this choice as the container. It is the one in which you either transport groceries home or keep heavy items like flour and sugar. This style of packaging may be easily adapted to your handcrafted products for a lighter form of packing that customers can see through.
So think again the next time you’re considering a box for your non-angular product.
Step 4: Make the Branding Appropriate
Neglecting on the brand can cause serious damage to any business. Whether your business is a single product-based, or you deal in trade show furniture rentals Las Vegas. Branding or wrong branding is a game-changer.
You should consider your packaging as a means of promoting your handmade business and products. As a result, it’s critical to make sure your packaging reads like a natural extension of your company.
Here’s an illustration. Let’s pretend your handcrafted company specializes in vintage garments. The customer can see a gap between the packaging and what’s inside. In this case, packing your vintage clothes in modern-looking, minimalist boxes with futuristic-looking writing would be unsuitable and awful branding.
Step 5: Add Creative Textures to Your Packaging
Adding diverse textures to your package can never go wrong. It is one of the finest methods to make it appear to shoppers as a highly individualized item. Textures not only offer a distinct quality and feel to your handcrafted product and packaging, but they also make it look even more customized than it really is.
Here are a few ideas of basic and economical textures that will give your packaging a more personal touch:
- Buttons
- Lace
- Beads
Conclusion
When it comes to packaging, play to your handmade business’s strengths. Make it as unique as you can. Make the most of having a handmade business. Since you can modify and tailor-make its packaging to your clients’ tastes in a manner that companies selling stock things can’t.
Consider your packaging design as well as the materials you’ll be using. Adding a personal touch to your package doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, much of what goes into packaging design is inexpensive in so many ways.