Package Design Process Part 4
Posted on September 11, 2008 | Permalink
By Lane Casteix
Okay! You have given a clear set of objectives, or better said "outcomes" and briefed the design team on your product and your company...what next?
Let the designers design. (Let the cardiologist do the heart surgery.)
If you and the agency team have done their job, it is time to kick back and allow them to do their thing. They will come back in due time with a series of solutions, we usually refer to as concepts. View them objectively. Consider them in the context of the outcomes and brand essence for the product. Now is not the time for subjectivity. When you feel the urge to say something that begins with, "I like ...." stop yourself. That is a subjective statement. The issue is not what you like; the issue is what does the target demo like? Does the design speak to that group? Does the design meet the objectives set out for it?
Almost certainly some designs will satisfy those questions and some may not. Reject the ones that do not, even if you "like" them, and move forward with those that do meet the objectives of the design, even if you "don't like" them. This is very hard for some brand managers to do, but I have seen more failed designs come out of a process where the brand managers took a stand for what they "liked" regardless of how well it solves the problem.
One more point for the client side: Gather input from everyone on your side up front: field sales, sales managers, production, brand managers, brand owners - everyone that needs to have "buy-in" to the package and pass that input to the agency during the creative brief process. Then, and this is important, reduce the approving team to the bare minimum, usually the brand manager and top executives. Do not bring others back into the process unless there is some very compelling need to do so. For example: Production might need to be consulted if the design deviates from known capabilities. When you do go back for input, limit that input to their specific area of expertise.
To be continued....