Do Tendencies Matter in CPG Design?

Graza. Fishwife. Brightland.

For those who’ve by no means heard of them, simply stroll into an area specialty retailer — you’re assured to identify a few of these manufacturers, with packaging so aesthetically pleasing they make you are feeling like strolling inside an Instagram feed.

Gander helped construct the Graza model from scratch, an olive oil that is available in a squeeze bottle. Supply: GoPuff

Marked by vivid colours, daring fonts, and inventive illustrations, this fashion of packaging is now transferring past specialty shops and into large retail aisles.

“If you walk into almost every major retail chain grocery store in the US, there would be at least one product that we designed, if not two.”

That was Mike McVicar, co-founder of Gander, a Brooklyn-based design studio behind Graza, Magic Spoon, and a dozen of different “viral” manufacturers.

I tracked him down after obsessing over Gander’s visible fashion, and requested him concerning the newest traits in packaging design.

Besides he’s not a fan of following traits or virality — not shocking for a die-hard inventive.

“We get all the time that our work is trendy and that we’ve set a certain visual tone with our work, but we don’t intentionally do that,” Mike confessed. “It can feel limiting and annoying sometimes.”

However he nonetheless shared his tackle why we’re seeing this phenomenon.

The Design Pendulum

Again within the late 90s and early 2000s, good design wasn’t a precedence for shopper packaged items (CPG).

Packages with call-outs and stickers that scream “33% less fat” have been the mainstream, a method that Mike endearingly described as “over the top, ugly, and kind of extra.”

When the 2010s rolled round, branding design went to the opposite excessive — the blanding development.

Packages grew to become minimalistic and generic, typically that includes sans serif fonts and pastel colours.

And now with the rise of social purchasing, many manufacturers are catering to the dopamine-charged, color-forward Instagram aesthetic.

It’s additionally a renaissance of the Y2K fashion, with daring colours and playful textures.

“The pendulum has swung toward ‘it can be fun again!’” Mike mentioned.

Large manufacturers love this development, too.

From Jell-O to 7UP, they’re redesigning to dial up the dopamine, and creating a visible id that spreads enjoyable and pleasure.

The Draw back to A Trending Model

The issue with this development? 

It has led some corporations to prioritize “doing it for the ‘gram” after they come to Gander. 

“You find brands that just have very decorative design, or only feel interesting aesthetically. It won’t pay off for them in the long run, or even in the short run,” Mike mentioned.

It’s problematic for manufacturers to emulate what everybody else is doing, or recreating a development, as a result of:

• You’re assuming that another person’s answer is your answer
• You’ll be simply replaceable
• You’re not specializing in speaking your personal model values and differentiation to prospects

He additionally doesn’t consider the present dopamine packaging development will keep for that for much longer.

It’s a pendulum, in any case. 

Differentiate Manufacturers By way of Design

Again in 2015, Gander labored on the rebranding for Banza, a pasta constructed from chickpeas.

Opposite to the favored fashion on the pasta aisle again then (suppose Barilla’s simplistic blue packaging), Gander went for a vivid and expressive fashion. 

Supply: Gander

Banza was one of many early manufacturers to make a daring assertion with packaging, which impacted the meals trade as a complete. 

“Our ethos was to take an alternative food, and turn it into a brand that has subverted what was expected for gluten-free pasta,” Mike mentioned.

And it labored.

Banza went from anonymity to one of many high pasta manufacturers within the US. It’s now in 25k retail places nationally, together with Goal, Walmart and Costco.

Since then, Gander’s helped many different CPG manufacturers get on large retail cabinets. Graza, whose design they helped construct from scratch, hit $48m+ in income and could be present in 13k+ places.

Trying again at their large wins, Mike gave three easy suggestions for any model who wish to stand out by means of design:

• Begin together with your story and historical past as a model, as an alternative of following traits blindly;
• Perceive who your buyer is, what sort of world they dwell in aesthetically, and what’s pleasing to them;
• Take a look at your competitors, and see what alternatives align together with your product and firm that others aren’t doing but.

What Else Is Trending in CPG Design?

As anti-trend as he’s, Mike did get enthusiastic about one explicit development — the inclusion of “next-level delicious food photography” on packages.

The “bleh” to “yum” transformation. Supply: AdWeek

You’d suppose it’s a no brainer, however a decade in the past, it wasn’t mainstream to place high-quality meals images on the packages.

“It never prints right, it doesn’t look that great, and the investment of creating something really good can be difficult for small brands,” Mike mentioned.

However the tide has shifted.

Influenced by social media, youthful customers desire packaging that really fire up their urge for food, and main meals manufacturers are attempting to make their merchandise look further tasty.

Now that is a development we are able to all get behind.