Modern Retail Packaging Design

Good retail packaging design is one of the most significant art forms in modern society, and it has to be carefully considered from a variety of angles every time it is designed. 

Having a good grasp of package design is a challenging feat. Package design must adhere to a standard formula while maintaining the integrity of the product inside. It must also maximise space while preserving the look and feel of the packaging. But, if it can, the design should ‘break the mould’ after all, the packaging is ultimately a question of responsibility. It must impose the correct reaction from the end purchaser.

We respond to the product’s packaging. We are used to seeing beer in a can and wine in a bottle, but we make judgments on its contents based on how it is presented. When traditions are changed or challenged, we pick up on them.

We also notice the extra care and attention a manufacturer has taken to make a product easier to understand, carry pour or if that product is presented in a form that evokes a feeling of ‘special’.

Target Market:  This is a range of products aimed at both males and females, but in reality, a higher degree of males will purchase certain products such as mead whilst other products such as Honey may be bought by females. Most products in this range are also aimed at as gifts.

Place of Sale: Retail shop within Buckfast Abbey Grounds.

Clients Brief: To create a range of product packaging that would carry a similar recognisable theme throughout the range.

Design Rationale: Buckfast Abbey wanted to create an instantly recognisable and coherent set of retail packaging designs for a broad range of items, using gold foil (where possible), honey colour and a specific honey bee illustration. The original concept for the packaging was to tie all the different products together in a simple, straightforward way, and secondly, the designs needed to add value. The design of the packaging had to position the various products in the specialist luxury end of the market but without creeping into the ostentatious spectrum. this was especially true with elements such as jar and bees wax label ‘rip tabs’ where a single colour print run would be a considerable production cost advantage