Packaging Design for Devices

July 19, 2015In Branding4 Minutes

The iPhone is one of the best selling devices in the tech world and has spawned a new industry made up of numerous third-party devices, apps, and accessories that support the device. This means that there are many opportunities to market new products but an enormous amount of competition too.

The key to standing out in this competition is the presentation, specifically the form and factor for the package design of the product box.

The first thing that an audience will see is the package of the product. While there are many companies that try to stand out with unique and eye-catching designs, they fail to do one critical thing. And that is to achieve an apple like packaging design quality. They focus too much on their brand and the benefits of their product. While that message is important, it ignores Apple’s brand standards and loses the consumer. Afterall “product unboxing” became an important part of the overall user experience.

You may be thinking to yourself “why is it so important to create an apple-like packaging design?” The answer is that having a packaging design that resembles Apple helps you piggyback off Apple’s brand. Apple has spent billions of dollars on its brand and as a result, people recognize their logo and brand characteristics. People have confidence in Apple’s products, so you want to channel that brand equity into your design.

In addition, you are letting consumers know that your product supports Apple’s products, particularly the iPhone. There are many third-party vendors out there that use a general packaging box for all the devices they support. An Apple-like design makes consumers feel like the device is specifically built for the iPhone, which can increase credibility and sales for your product.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea to copy Apple’s brand designs to the tee. You will still need to represent your brand and the selling points of your product in the packaging. This requires a fine balance of leveraging Apple’s brand equity and integrating your own company’s identity to the presentation. It can be creatively challenging to figure out how to do this but it is well worth the investment.

Many of the fundamental best practices for packaging design will apply here. In this example, the most important points will be clarity and simplicity. Apple’s presentation is based around these two points. Going overboard with your design will contradict the basis of what Apple’s brand image is built around and you’ll end up confusing the consumer with your presentation.

You’ll also need to come up with a design that has a shelf impact. While it’s important to create packaging with Apple-like design, you need to make sure that it still attracts attention with its own unique qualities. If you fail to do so, then your product will get lost in the sea of products with other products that also try to piggyback off Apple’s brand image and presentation.

There are many other packaging design best practices that you’ll need to follow but the obvious takeaway is that you need to utilize Apple’s presentation. If you really want your product to do well in this competitive industry, it will be well worth it to hire a professional that understands package design. Don’t rely on the average graphic designer as they will not understand the intricacies of achieving successful product box design for your product.

Photo by Julian O’hayon on Unsplash

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