Packaging that survives the shelf

Everything is a thumbnail test

If a pack doesn't read from two metres away, the prettier details never get their chance. The first job is a clear hierarchy: what the product is, which variant it is, and who makes it — in an order a stranger can follow in a glance.

The same test now applies online. Shrink the front of the pack to the size of a marketplace thumbnail. If you can still tell what it is and which flavour or scent you're looking at, the design is working.

Start in grayscale, at small size

I design every pack in grayscale at thumbnail size first. If the structure works there, colour and finish only make it stronger — they're never propping it up.

For the Larum Sports Zirbenwald soap, that meant a deep pine green carrying one drawn pine branch, with the product name set large enough to read before you notice anything else.

Plan the range, not the single box

Most products come in variants: sizes, flavours, scents. Design the system so one element changes — a colour band, an illustration, a word — while everything else stays fixed. Customers learn where to look, and you can add new variants without a redesign.

Know the rules before you design

Packaging is regulated, and the rules shape the layout. In Canada, most consumer products need key label information in both English and French. In the US, foods and many cosmetics need a net quantity statement in the lower part of the main display panel. Ingredients, warnings and recycling marks all need space too.

Your regulator or a labelling consultant is the right source for the exact requirements for your product — but knowing that this text exists from day one stops it being crammed in at the end.