The Package Design Process, Part 2
Posted on June 4, 2008 | Permalink
By Lane Casteix
Perhaps the most important step is for the client to carefully consider what his expectations are for the project, or as they say in business today - "What are the outcomes - what does success look like?"
Carefully chosen outcomes talk about both visual results and emotional results. Visual results are tangible, measurable, and objective. You can look at the design in the context of its product category and determine with some certainty whether or not it meets the outcomes.
The emotional part is a bit more complicated because it is far more subjective. Good design must speak to the soul. The design must say something about the product's position but do so on a gut level. Does the design say something along the lines of, "I may be expensive, but I am worth it, because I make you look good, smart, cool, sexy, rich, famous, chic, or (whatever you want him to feel)." This is much more important than the tangible outcomes. If you don't touch the customer at this personal level, the tangible outcomes are of little value.
It takes a really experienced designer to pull it off successfully. How that is done is usually far more subtle than obvious. Poorly done and it simply doesn't work. In fact, it could cost you when advertising must make up for the package failing to reach the consumer.
This is one area where a good designer is priceless. Clients tend to be very left brained and designers are right brained. Left brainers struggle with understanding this; it takes a right brainer. For that reason clients should defer these subtle design decisions to the designers and focus on the more objective outcomes.
But before you define the outcomes you must identify the target audience.
To be continued....