Next-level product packaging

Packaging is just one part of a cohesive brand experience that can boost credibility across your marketing. From the colours to the typography, your packaging design is a reflection of your brand identity, and is often a customer’s first (and final) impression of your business. Consider this: if a customer places an order online, your product packaging is the first thing they’ll see when their order arrives. And if a customer makes a purchase in your brick-and-mortar shop, your thoughtful brand packaging will leave them with a positive, memorable impression long after they leave.

Whether you’re wrapping up an in-store purchase or getting ready to ship an order, you can leverage your business’s look and personality (including logo, brand colours and typography) to elevate your brand’s product packaging with stickers, postcards, flyers and more. Chris Johnson, a 99designs by Vistaprint designer, created a logo for Lune Candles with colours, fonts and design elements that work across all kinds of materials. Looking to up your packaging game? Here are some things to think about as you start creating your own look.

What comes first branding or packaging?

We me have already hinted at this, but branding is essential when it comes to your product packaging design – so it makes sense that your branding should come first. When you start your business, a logo is one of the first things you need. It’s a visual representation of your brand’s identity, and it should be placed on each and every piece of marketing material — including packaging. As you’re creating a logo, consider how it can be used to illustrate your brand across different items. Here, you can see how Lune Candles have used their complete logo, with both image and text, on certain packaging pieces, and modified versions on others. The crescent moon motif stands alone on stickers, for instance, while their brand name is spelled out across other items.

What are the key elements of effective packaging design?

There are a few key elements of great custom packaging design that we’ll cover below, including colour palette, typography and consistency.

Colour palette

There’s a lot to consider when choosing colours for your packaging — while staying true to your brand colours is important, the packaging for your products can be a little more nuanced. Launching an eco-friendly line? Incorporating complementary shades of green into your product packaging will immediately signal your eco-credentials to customers. Shades of blue work well for Lune Candles, referencing the celestial-inspired brand name as well as the rich colours of the night sky. Here, the candle company uses different shades of blue and on-brand colour combinations to create dimension across their packaging suite. And thanks to a cohesive colour palette, Lune can mix and match to create stickers, flyers and postcards that are all a little bit different, but very much on-brand. 

Typography

When you’re choosing typography for your custom packaging design, it should be easy to read and attention-grabbing. Your font choice also communicates the tone, mood and personality of your brand — and it should look great across your packaging materials. Whether you’re using it on a flyer or a sheet sticker product label, consistently use the same font (or two) to reinforce your brand identity.

Here, the primary font used by Lune Candles feels fresh off the page of a storybook — whimsical details and a gold finish reflect their celestial branding. Their secondary typeface is a sans serif font that’s a bit simpler and even easier to read, which is perfect for larger blocks of text on flyers and brochures.

Once you have your packaging design and look nailed it’s all about how it comes together. To stand out from competitors, you’ll need to think carefully about what you sell and how you want to package it. Are you an online-only retailer? Perhaps a note card with a thank-you message will add a personal, human touch that can’t always be replicated online. Do you sell loose leaf tea priced by weight? Consider packing your product in earth-friendly mason jars that you can brand easily with a sticker. Creating a thoughtful packaging experience ensures you stand out on busy shelves or in mail boxes and makes your brand instantly recognisable and memorable.

Now, take a look at everything that Lune Candles uses to create a product packaging experience that feels cohesive and looks amazing.