Post pobrano z: The Principles of Design

Have you ever wondered what goes into the creation of a successful design piece? Here are some visual tools that can help you structure your design compositions.

In this article, I’ll show you the definition and importance of the principles of design. This set of visual tools can help you create an organized structure to deliver a clear message. These principles are also applied in art and different design sub-disciplines. Along with definitions, we’ll show you a few principles of design examples that will help you better understand their meaning. 

What Are the Principles of Design?

The principles of design are a set of rules that designers can follow when creating a composition to create visually pleasing work. The purpose of these rules is to deliver a message in the most organized and functional way.

Here’s a list of the main design principles:

• Balance
• Unity
• Contrast
• Emphasis
• Repetition
• Pattern
• Rhythm
• Movement
• Proportion
• Variety
• Harmony

While we’ve seen a fair share of experimental pieces out there, it’s important to know the significance of the fundamentals. Every design piece has a structure below the surface that holds up the design and makes it visually interesting and balanced. Once designers understand the usage of the principles, they’ll understand better how to break these rules. 

In my previous article, The Basic Elements of Design, I talked about the elements that create everything we perceive. With a solid understanding of those elements, you’ll be able to learn more about the principles of design. 

Principles of Design: Balance

Any element placed on a page carries a visual weight. It can range from form to size, color, and texture. In order to make a design feel stable or have balance, the elements need to have a certain scale.

For instance, in a symmetrical design, the elements on the right side have the same visual weight as the elements on the left side. Symmetrical designs are easier to balance but can also come across as boring. Asymmetrical designs have different sides but equal visual weight. Being able to achieve balance in asymmetry can result in a visually interesting design that has movement. 

Lack of balance would make your design feel heavy on one side and empty on the opposite. You’ll know your design lacks balance when it feels as if it’s falling off to one side.

Principles of Design: Unity

Unity is the harmony produced by all the elements in a design piece. For instance, using similar colors that match and integrate elements organically makes it appear as if they belong together and are not just put on a page.

You can achieve unity by making clear relationships between visual elements. You can find unity wherever you find clear organization and order, and the elements of the page won’t be fighting for attention. Instead, they’ll work together to make the message stronger. Too much unity can result in a sterile design with a lack of personality. That’s when you can start incorporating other elements to add movement. 

Lack of unity would make your design feel cluttered and confusing. Viewers will be attracted to the wrong element of the design and won’t get a clear message. A good rule of thumb is to place an element in your design only if it enhances the message. Ask yourself what the element is adding to the composition.

Principles of Design: Contrast

Contrast refers to the level of difference between design elements in order to create visual hierarchies. The variation makes certain elements stand out more than others. You can apply contrast by using colors, textures, sizes, and shapes.

In a layout, contrast is applied to create hierarchy between the font sizes. Larger text tends to be read before any smaller text. Contrast is important when it comes to pairing fonts. For instance, in the example below, we have a font duo that includes a script font and a sans serif font. The script font adds movement to the static sans serif. 

Contrast can create a focal point to certain elements that can draw the viewer’s eyes. Contrast can also be used to create balance and harmony by making sure items are distributed nicely on a page. Lack of contrast can make a design look dull, and viewers can overlook the important message. Contrast is important especially when designing accessible documents. For instance, black type on a white background will be easier to read than black on a brown background.

Principles of Design: Emphasis

Emphasis is a strategy to get the viewer’s attention to a specific design element. This can be in any form: a button, a website, or an image. The purpose is to create something that will stand out from the rest of the page. You can use different elements to highlight a specific part of your design, like lines, color, positive/negative relationships, and many more. As long as you can create contrast, either with elements or color, you’ll be creating emphasis. 

• Lines create direction on a page by pointing to specific elements that help the viewer’s eyes know where to go. 
• Shapes can also draw attention. Using a group of similar shapes and breaking the group with a different shape will create tension and draw the eyes. 
• Color can create an emphasis in any design. Buttons on a website tend to contrast with the background to create a sense of urgency and attention.
• Texture can be seen in materials to enhance tactile features. For instance, a business card can have an emboss or relief on a logo to emphasize it. Digitally, texture can be applied as a drop shadow on a button to appear three-dimensional. 
• Space is also an option to emphasize certain elements in your design. Enough white space around an object can prioritize the focus on a single element. For instance, Apple has a clean and direct idea of emphasizing products. 

Principles of Design: Repetition

Using repeated elements on a layout can be pleasing to the viewer. Repetition is repeating a single element through the design. We can call a grid a repetition of lines because it creates a certain consistency. In layout design, repetition is shown through the folio placement to help viewers find their way in a book or magazine. The same folio placement creates continuity in the repetition. 

In a website, repetition is seen on the menu placement, which gives the viewers a constant placement that can make them feel comfortable and familiar. Repetition can also be achieved by repeating elements in a design like a logo or a tagline in a brand development project. Below, the repetition of waves gives a feeling that the page is endless.

Principles of Design: Pattern

Pattern is the repetition of more than one design element. While repetition focuses on a single element being repeated, pattern refers to multiple elements repeated throughout a design (e.g. wallpapers and backgrounds).

A seamless pattern is a repeated set of elements that flows without a flaw to create a unit. You can see seamless patterns predominantly in interior design when using tiles. The use of patterns can enhance the viewer’s experience and the look of a final design.

In the example below, the pattern repeats itself from edge to edge without any disruptions. The pattern is composed of multiple elements with varying sizes and depths. 

Principles of Design: Rhythm

Rhythm has more complexity than the previous principles of repetition and pattern. Repetition and pattern are applied to the same element throughout a design. Rhythm is the visual tempo of a combination of elements when used repeatedly, and with variation, it gives the feeling of organized movement. 

Rhythm is usually hidden in works of art and is not as obvious as the design principles of repetition and pattern. In the example below, the diagonal lines aren’t arranged in a specific pattern. Instead, there’s a repetition of the elements with variations. 

Principles of Design: Movement

Movement refers to the path the viewer’s eye takes through a composition. In an image, every element can affect how the eyes move. Important elements will lead to secondary elements and so on. Movement in a composition creates interest and dynamism that keeps the viewer engaged.

Movement can be created with rhythm when using a variation of an element repeatedly. Using curved lines and diagonal lines creates more movement compared to straight lines. Use lines to trace the path to the focal point. Color can help enhance the feeling of movement, juxtaposing high and low key colors to create energy. A literal way of showing movement is by using an image that includes motion, like a dancer or hair in the wind. Some artists use illusions like optical art, in which the repetition and contrast make our brains want to organize the information. 

In the example below, movement is created by the slightly curved lines and the overlapping colors. Both effects enhance the movement because the lines are unstable and the gradient blurs the lines instead of being static.

Principles of Design: Proportion

Proportion is the sense of unity created when all the elements in a composition relate well with each other. Proportion is mostly about scale and size when two elements are compared. For instance, in art and drawing, proportion is important for the elements to look realistic. Proportion doesn’t necessarily refer to the size of one element but to the relationship of two or more elements. 

In layout hierarchy, the proportion of the headline compared to the photo caption needs to be larger as the headline is the most important element. Smaller elements have less importance. When you achieve a good sense of proportion in a composition, it can add harmony and balance.

Principles of Design: Harmony

Harmony is the sense of cohesiveness between the elements in a composition. The elements shouldn’t be exactly the same or completely different but related in some way. Color palettes or similar textures can create a sense of unity between different components. Using similarly shaped items will create harmony because they will seem related. 

Not enough or too much harmony can make a design dull; there needs to be some kind of variety for it to be visually interesting. 

Principles of Design: Variety

Creating visual interest will keep viewers engaged with your design. Holding their attention and guiding them through the composition will create a powerful user experience. Variety adds something interesting to the composition to create contrast and tension. For instance, mixing organic shapes with geometric shapes adds variety. This concept should reinforce the message you are trying to communicate in your design—otherwise, it can look pointless.

That’s It! 

The elements and principles of art and design are the foundation for creating a composition. The use of these principles can give structure and help you understand how other design pieces and artworks are built. It can help you determine whether a composition will be successful or determine the missing piece of the puzzle.

The use of these principles will help you design with purpose by giving function to every single element in a composition. Communicating a clear message isn’t only about the message but how we carry it to deliver it cleanly and clearly.

When you look at a design composition from now on, think of these principles and how they are being applied. You’ll be able to decode the most intricate designs and understand what’s working and what’s not. 

If you liked this article, you might like:

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  The Different Types of Fonts: When to Use Each Font Type and When Not
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Post pobrano z: 10 Top Tips for Designing Awesome Packaging and Labels

Designing packaging can seem daunting at first glance, but it needn’t be—some of the most effective designs are based on surprisingly simple templates.

Whether you’re looking for tips for creating cosmetics packaging, food cartons, bottle labels or origami-inspired boxes, you’ll be sure to find something here to inspire you.

Packaging takes 2D designs and transforms them into printed, tactile 3D creations—it’s an incredibly effective way of bringing a strong branded look to a product, or helping the consumer to commit to purchasing. In this article we’ll take a look at ten pro tips for giving your packaging a stylish, eye-catching look, as well as technical tips for choosing templates, software and print finishes.

Looking for the perfect packaging template? Take the time to browse the huge range of creative templates over on Envato Market.

1. Origami Styles Aren’t Only for the Brave

Sometimes you encounter packaging that’s so pretty it simply takes your breath away. Folded, origami-inspired designs look incredible and transform packaging into a work of art. 

Many origami-inspired designs are surprisingly simple at their core, and are based on thoughtfully laid-out templates. With so many creative packaging templates at your fingertips through sites like Envato Market, these complex-looking designs are no longer out of reach.

The quirky packaging for these bath salts is tactile, portable and looks fantastic embellished with slices of citrus fruit. 

If you’re brave enough to try creating your own origami designs from scratch, try experimenting with rough mock-ups on low-grade paper before you commit to the computer—it will help you to visualise how a 2D layout will translate to a 3D product.

Origami styles are not always the most practical or stackable of packaging designs, so they tend to suit display packaging best.

2. Simplify Packaging With Easy-Peasy Labels

At one end of the packaging spectrum is origami-style beauties, and at the other the refreshing simplicity of an easy-to-produce label. 

Labels can be attached to bottles, or wrapped loosely around tissue-wrapped items. They’re super-simple to design (no tricky folds to accommodate) and cheap to print, which is great if you’re on a tight budget.

This isn’t to say that labels lack impact—a well-designed label can bring a lovely hand-done look to packaging, as with these rustic soap wrap labels. 

Labels are the perfect choice for independent shops and other small businesses looking to produce branded packaging quickly and cheaply, and they really can add to the charm of the product. Labels and simple stickers are also really practical—they’re easy to edit and can be resized quickly to suit various products. 

3. Let Your Typography Sell the Product

Typography is such a transformative element in graphic design—choose a classic serif and create an aspirational product, or go for a pared-back sans serif instead and you’re pitching a product that’s suddenly cool and trendy.

Packaging for wine and beer bottles provide some great examples of the power of typography to sell a product to a particular market. 

You’ll notice that most champagne labels use traditional serif typefaces or heavily-tracked headers which communicate luxury and high-end quality. 

A lot of beer bottles feature informal sans serif or grunge typefaces, to emphasise the laid-back, relaxing nature of their products. Wine bottles can vary—an expensive wine might feature a classic serif to help justify the price tag, or a new wine on the block might use a modern slab type, as on this modern label template, to appeal to younger, fashion-conscious consumers.

When you design your packaging, try experimenting with a number of different type styles in your initial designs. Show the different designs to a market sample or friends/family—which type styles appealed to particular demographics? Does age, disposable income or lifestyle choice sway particular groups towards one typeface or another? 

Once you’ve done your experiment, you’ll feel better prepared to use the type style that appeals best to your target market.

4. Use a Natural Color Palette

The days of bold, brash packaging have come to an end. To be relevant in the modern market, you need to tone it down. 

Nature-inspired, tonal colors have a calming effect, and tap into the general trend for commercial products that are more eco- and ethic-conscious. 

Try using tints of brighter colors to give a wash effect to packaging, or team colored elements with natural brown paper or card, as in this packaging design for natural soaps.

Even if your products aren’t 100% organic or don’t come fresh from the farmer’s market, you can still give a touch of wholesomeness to your packaging with a pared-back color palette.

5. Combine Photography With Minimal Styles

Packaging trends come and go, and one thing that is always in flux is the sort of graphics that feel appropriate. At the moment, illustrated graphics or simple typographic designs seem to be the most popular graphic media. 

Photography may not be commonplace on packaging at the moment, but that’s not to say that it can’t look stylish and relevant if designed in the right way. 

To keep photography on packaging looking slick and modern, stick to striking, graphic images, and consider using black-and-white photography. Teamed with colorful typography, this can look really eye-catching and on-trend.

Or take inspiration from these minimal templates for cosmetic products and team color photography with simple, sans serif type in a matching color. 

Adding solid-color graphics set behind the white text keeps the design looking ultra-modern and app-like.

6. Go Arty!

Sure, a label might be small, but that doesn’t mean it can’t pack a punch. Labels are the perfect place to get really creative, and they’re the stuff of dreams of many a graphic designer.

Many brands are exploring ways to make their products look unique, and some produce special-edition products to increase desirability amongst their loyal customers.

As a result, collaborations with artists are becoming more common in the packaging design world. Particularly for wine bottles, cosmetics and clothing, labels with an artistic touch help to define products as unique, aspirational and special.

If you don’t have Damien Hirst on speed-dial, you’ll have to put on your artistic hat. Painterly finishes, unusual type styles, and hand-drawn illustrations look incredible on packaging and will help your design to stand out from the crowd. 

If you’re not a deft hand with a paintbrush, don’t fret—digital and vector art is equally desirable on modern packaging right now.

7. Go Masculine With Black and White…

Although it’s true that more retailers are pitching their products at a unisex market, there’s still a clear visual divide in products that are aimed at specifically men or women. 

For products aimed at men, such as shaving products and men’s toiletries, there’s still a strict design code as to what sort of colors and type styles will convert to sales.

Though I wouldn’t condone the traditional blue for boys, pink for girls (that’s just lazy), you can add a masculine or unisex touch to your packaging designs with a strong, graphic black and white color combination. This modern packaging template does just that, and is visually very strong while communicating a masculine vibe. 

Team your black-and-white designs with square sans-serif type for a modern take on traditional masculine packaging styles.

8. …or Add a Feminine Touch With Pattern

A ‘feminine’ design doesn’t mean your product will only appeal to women—in fact, adding a feminine element to your packaging only means that you will bring particular qualities to the design, which often have broad market appeal, including elegance and beauty.

Adding a patterned design to your packaging is a fantastic way to bring a beautiful quality to your designs. Mid-century wallpaper-style designs add retro appeal to all sorts of products, or why not try an ornate, William Morris-inspired pattern, as in the packaging template below?

Patterned packaging is not only beautiful, but also a great way to create a uniform series of packaging designs. 

These soaps may have different scents, but they are brought together into the same category or brand by simply switching up the color of the pattern, not by changing the design of the pattern itself. 

Pattern is also surprisingly simple to design, thanks to its repetitive elements. Work on creating a single ‘unit’ of pattern, and then copy this repeatedly to create a whole sheet of pattern that can be pasted onto a packaging template easily.

9. Think About the Full Packaging Range

Your packaging designs don’t stop at just the box. Once a product is opened, you should consider how the style of the packaging can be extended to internal wrapping, labels, and sub-containers. 

Designing a box for a clothes retailer? Once the customer opens up that box, how will the clothing inside be presented? Can you create a branded sticker to place on colored tissue paper? Can you design a stylish clothes tag to place on the garment inside?

This complete packaging range for tea bags is a great example of how to adapt packaging design to a range of purposes—a unified style, using colors, pattern and a strong logo, is extended across the main box to the tea bag packaging and label inside. 

Keep in mind that packaging is not only for display purposes—to encourage a customer to repurchase, the whole experience of opening and engaging with the product needs to be as pleasurable as possible. A full range of packaging designs will help you to achieve this.

10. Turn Your Packaging Into a Walking Ad

Think about where you see packaging—on display in shop windows or on supermarket shelves are the obvious places. But you can think about extending your packaging ambitions even further and turn your designs into a mobile advertisement for the product or company.

Creating branded shopping bags is a great way of extending your advertising past the single customer interaction and bringing your brand to a much wider audience.

If your business is setting up shop at a conference or expo, this is a particularly effective way of advertising your stall around the convention hall. These modern branded bags are eye-catching and stylish, and certain to be both practical and a visual talking point for stall visitors. 

If your budget won’t stretch to custom printed bags, why not design a simple sticker or stamp in the brand’s style that can be applied to a plain paper bag or canvas tote? 

You’re Ready to Start Designing Awesome Packaging!

In this article, we’ve looked at ten tips for designing amazing packaging and labels. The next time you’re looking to tackle a packaging project, keep these ten useful tips in mind:

1. Origami-style packaging doesn’t have to be complicated—with the help of templates and mock-ups, it’s surprisingly simple to create folded designs that look striking and decorative.
2. Try out labels for a simple yet effective packaging design—wrapped around, tied to or stuck to boxes and bottles, labels can give a lovely hand-done look to your product.
3. Let typography sell the product—switch up the style of your typefaces to transform the personality of your packaging and pitch it at particular consumers.
4. Use a natural color palette—stay on trend with subtle tints and washed-out tones.
5. Team photography with minimal design styles—keep photos looking modern and relevant by pairing them with ultra-modern sans serif type styles and tech-inspired graphics and colors.
6. Go arty! Bring an artistic, unique touch to labels with hand-drawn or vectorized illustrations and logos.
7. Add a masculine edge to packaging with a strong black-and-white color combination…
8. …or bring feminine flair with pattern, for a look that’s elegant and beautiful.
9. Think about the full packaging range—extend your designs to stickers, labels and internal packaging for a truly immersive consumer experience.
10. Turn your packaging into a walking ad­—design custom shopping bags or add logos to totes for an easy way to advertise your business’s presence on the high street or at a convention.

Have any more top tips for designing your own packaging? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

If you’re still on the hunt for that elusive perfect label or box template, you’re in luck! You can find a whole range of great-value packaging templates on Envato Market. Or find even more packaging design tips in this article:

• 
  Packaging Design
  How to Get Started With Product Packaging Design
  Grace Fussell

Post pobrano z: 10 Top Tips for Designing Awesome Packaging and Labels

Designing packaging can seem daunting at first glance, but it needn’t be—some of the most effective designs are based on surprisingly simple templates.

Whether you’re looking for tips for creating cosmetics packaging, food cartons, bottle labels or origami-inspired boxes, you’ll be sure to find something here to inspire you.

Packaging takes 2D designs and transforms them into printed, tactile 3D creations—it’s an incredibly effective way of bringing a strong branded look to a product, or helping the consumer to commit to purchasing. In this article we’ll take a look at ten pro tips for giving your packaging a stylish, eye-catching look, as well as technical tips for choosing templates, software and print finishes.

Looking for the perfect packaging template? Take the time to browse the huge range of creative templates over on Envato Market.

1. Origami Styles Aren’t Only for the Brave

Sometimes you encounter packaging that’s so pretty it simply takes your breath away. Folded, origami-inspired designs look incredible and transform packaging into a work of art. 

Many origami-inspired designs are surprisingly simple at their core, and are based on thoughtfully laid-out templates. With so many creative packaging templates at your fingertips through sites like Envato Market, these complex-looking designs are no longer out of reach.

The quirky packaging for these bath salts is tactile, portable and looks fantastic embellished with slices of citrus fruit. 

If you’re brave enough to try creating your own origami designs from scratch, try experimenting with rough mock-ups on low-grade paper before you commit to the computer—it will help you to visualise how a 2D layout will translate to a 3D product.

Origami styles are not always the most practical or stackable of packaging designs, so they tend to suit display packaging best.

2. Simplify Packaging With Easy-Peasy Labels

At one end of the packaging spectrum is origami-style beauties, and at the other the refreshing simplicity of an easy-to-produce label. 

Labels can be attached to bottles, or wrapped loosely around tissue-wrapped items. They’re super-simple to design (no tricky folds to accommodate) and cheap to print, which is great if you’re on a tight budget.

This isn’t to say that labels lack impact—a well-designed label can bring a lovely hand-done look to packaging, as with these rustic soap wrap labels. 

Labels are the perfect choice for independent shops and other small businesses looking to produce branded packaging quickly and cheaply, and they really can add to the charm of the product. Labels and simple stickers are also really practical—they’re easy to edit and can be resized quickly to suit various products. 

3. Let Your Typography Sell the Product

Typography is such a transformative element in graphic design—choose a classic serif and create an aspirational product, or go for a pared-back sans serif instead and you’re pitching a product that’s suddenly cool and trendy.

Packaging for wine and beer bottles provide some great examples of the power of typography to sell a product to a particular market. 

You’ll notice that most champagne labels use traditional serif typefaces or heavily-tracked headers which communicate luxury and high-end quality. 

A lot of beer bottles feature informal sans serif or grunge typefaces, to emphasise the laid-back, relaxing nature of their products. Wine bottles can vary—an expensive wine might feature a classic serif to help justify the price tag, or a new wine on the block might use a modern slab type, as on this modern label template, to appeal to younger, fashion-conscious consumers.

When you design your packaging, try experimenting with a number of different type styles in your initial designs. Show the different designs to a market sample or friends/family—which type styles appealed to particular demographics? Does age, disposable income or lifestyle choice sway particular groups towards one typeface or another? 

Once you’ve done your experiment, you’ll feel better prepared to use the type style that appeals best to your target market.

4. Use a Natural Color Palette

The days of bold, brash packaging have come to an end. To be relevant in the modern market, you need to tone it down. 

Nature-inspired, tonal colors have a calming effect, and tap into the general trend for commercial products that are more eco- and ethic-conscious. 

Try using tints of brighter colors to give a wash effect to packaging, or team colored elements with natural brown paper or card, as in this packaging design for natural soaps.

Even if your products aren’t 100% organic or don’t come fresh from the farmer’s market, you can still give a touch of wholesomeness to your packaging with a pared-back color palette.

5. Combine Photography With Minimal Styles

Packaging trends come and go, and one thing that is always in flux is the sort of graphics that feel appropriate. At the moment, illustrated graphics or simple typographic designs seem to be the most popular graphic media. 

Photography may not be commonplace on packaging at the moment, but that’s not to say that it can’t look stylish and relevant if designed in the right way. 

To keep photography on packaging looking slick and modern, stick to striking, graphic images, and consider using black-and-white photography. Teamed with colorful typography, this can look really eye-catching and on-trend.

Or take inspiration from these minimal templates for cosmetic products and team color photography with simple, sans serif type in a matching color. 

Adding solid-color graphics set behind the white text keeps the design looking ultra-modern and app-like.

6. Go Arty!

Sure, a label might be small, but that doesn’t mean it can’t pack a punch. Labels are the perfect place to get really creative, and they’re the stuff of dreams of many a graphic designer.

Many brands are exploring ways to make their products look unique, and some produce special-edition products to increase desirability amongst their loyal customers.

As a result, collaborations with artists are becoming more common in the packaging design world. Particularly for wine bottles, cosmetics and clothing, labels with an artistic touch help to define products as unique, aspirational and special.

If you don’t have Damien Hirst on speed-dial, you’ll have to put on your artistic hat. Painterly finishes, unusual type styles, and hand-drawn illustrations look incredible on packaging and will help your design to stand out from the crowd. 

If you’re not a deft hand with a paintbrush, don’t fret—digital and vector art is equally desirable on modern packaging right now.

7. Go Masculine With Black and White…

Although it’s true that more retailers are pitching their products at a unisex market, there’s still a clear visual divide in products that are aimed at specifically men or women. 

For products aimed at men, such as shaving products and men’s toiletries, there’s still a strict design code as to what sort of colors and type styles will convert to sales.

Though I wouldn’t condone the traditional blue for boys, pink for girls (that’s just lazy), you can add a masculine or unisex touch to your packaging designs with a strong, graphic black and white color combination. This modern packaging template does just that, and is visually very strong while communicating a masculine vibe. 

Team your black-and-white designs with square sans-serif type for a modern take on traditional masculine packaging styles.

8. …or Add a Feminine Touch With Pattern

A ‘feminine’ design doesn’t mean your product will only appeal to women—in fact, adding a feminine element to your packaging only means that you will bring particular qualities to the design, which often have broad market appeal, including elegance and beauty.

Adding a patterned design to your packaging is a fantastic way to bring a beautiful quality to your designs. Mid-century wallpaper-style designs add retro appeal to all sorts of products, or why not try an ornate, William Morris-inspired pattern, as in the packaging template below?

Patterned packaging is not only beautiful, but also a great way to create a uniform series of packaging designs. 

These soaps may have different scents, but they are brought together into the same category or brand by simply switching up the color of the pattern, not by changing the design of the pattern itself. 

Pattern is also surprisingly simple to design, thanks to its repetitive elements. Work on creating a single ‘unit’ of pattern, and then copy this repeatedly to create a whole sheet of pattern that can be pasted onto a packaging template easily.

9. Think About the Full Packaging Range

Your packaging designs don’t stop at just the box. Once a product is opened, you should consider how the style of the packaging can be extended to internal wrapping, labels, and sub-containers. 

Designing a box for a clothes retailer? Once the customer opens up that box, how will the clothing inside be presented? Can you create a branded sticker to place on colored tissue paper? Can you design a stylish clothes tag to place on the garment inside?

This complete packaging range for tea bags is a great example of how to adapt packaging design to a range of purposes—a unified style, using colors, pattern and a strong logo, is extended across the main box to the tea bag packaging and label inside. 

Keep in mind that packaging is not only for display purposes—to encourage a customer to repurchase, the whole experience of opening and engaging with the product needs to be as pleasurable as possible. A full range of packaging designs will help you to achieve this.

10. Turn Your Packaging Into a Walking Ad

Think about where you see packaging—on display in shop windows or on supermarket shelves are the obvious places. But you can think about extending your packaging ambitions even further and turn your designs into a mobile advertisement for the product or company.

Creating branded shopping bags is a great way of extending your advertising past the single customer interaction and bringing your brand to a much wider audience.

If your business is setting up shop at a conference or expo, this is a particularly effective way of advertising your stall around the convention hall. These modern branded bags are eye-catching and stylish, and certain to be both practical and a visual talking point for stall visitors. 

If your budget won’t stretch to custom printed bags, why not design a simple sticker or stamp in the brand’s style that can be applied to a plain paper bag or canvas tote? 

You’re Ready to Start Designing Awesome Packaging!

In this article, we’ve looked at ten tips for designing amazing packaging and labels. The next time you’re looking to tackle a packaging project, keep these ten useful tips in mind:

1. Origami-style packaging doesn’t have to be complicated—with the help of templates and mock-ups, it’s surprisingly simple to create folded designs that look striking and decorative.
2. Try out labels for a simple yet effective packaging design—wrapped around, tied to or stuck to boxes and bottles, labels can give a lovely hand-done look to your product.
3. Let typography sell the product—switch up the style of your typefaces to transform the personality of your packaging and pitch it at particular consumers.
4. Use a natural color palette—stay on trend with subtle tints and washed-out tones.
5. Team photography with minimal design styles—keep photos looking modern and relevant by pairing them with ultra-modern sans serif type styles and tech-inspired graphics and colors.
6. Go arty! Bring an artistic, unique touch to labels with hand-drawn or vectorized illustrations and logos.
7. Add a masculine edge to packaging with a strong black-and-white color combination…
8. …or bring feminine flair with pattern, for a look that’s elegant and beautiful.
9. Think about the full packaging range—extend your designs to stickers, labels and internal packaging for a truly immersive consumer experience.
10. Turn your packaging into a walking ad­—design custom shopping bags or add logos to totes for an easy way to advertise your business’s presence on the high street or at a convention.

Have any more top tips for designing your own packaging? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

If you’re still on the hunt for that elusive perfect label or box template, you’re in luck! You can find a whole range of great-value packaging templates on Envato Market. Or find even more packaging design tips in this article:

• 
  Packaging Design
  How to Get Started With Product Packaging Design
  Grace Fussell

Post pobrano z: 10 Top Tips for Designing Awesome Packaging and Labels

Designing packaging can seem daunting at first glance, but it needn’t be—some of the most effective designs are based on surprisingly simple templates.

Whether you’re looking for tips for creating cosmetics packaging, food cartons, bottle labels or origami-inspired boxes, you’ll be sure to find something here to inspire you.

Packaging takes 2D designs and transforms them into printed, tactile 3D creations—it’s an incredibly effective way of bringing a strong branded look to a product, or helping the consumer to commit to purchasing. In this article we’ll take a look at ten pro tips for giving your packaging a stylish, eye-catching look, as well as technical tips for choosing templates, software and print finishes.

Looking for the perfect packaging template? Take the time to browse the huge range of creative templates over on Envato Market.

1. Origami Styles Aren’t Only for the Brave

Sometimes you encounter packaging that’s so pretty it simply takes your breath away. Folded, origami-inspired designs look incredible and transform packaging into a work of art. 

Many origami-inspired designs are surprisingly simple at their core, and are based on thoughtfully laid-out templates. With so many creative packaging templates at your fingertips through sites like Envato Market, these complex-looking designs are no longer out of reach.

The quirky packaging for these bath salts is tactile, portable and looks fantastic embellished with slices of citrus fruit. 

If you’re brave enough to try creating your own origami designs from scratch, try experimenting with rough mock-ups on low-grade paper before you commit to the computer—it will help you to visualise how a 2D layout will translate to a 3D product.

Origami styles are not always the most practical or stackable of packaging designs, so they tend to suit display packaging best.

2. Simplify Packaging With Easy-Peasy Labels

At one end of the packaging spectrum is origami-style beauties, and at the other the refreshing simplicity of an easy-to-produce label. 

Labels can be attached to bottles, or wrapped loosely around tissue-wrapped items. They’re super-simple to design (no tricky folds to accommodate) and cheap to print, which is great if you’re on a tight budget.

This isn’t to say that labels lack impact—a well-designed label can bring a lovely hand-done look to packaging, as with these rustic soap wrap labels. 

Labels are the perfect choice for independent shops and other small businesses looking to produce branded packaging quickly and cheaply, and they really can add to the charm of the product. Labels and simple stickers are also really practical—they’re easy to edit and can be resized quickly to suit various products. 

3. Let Your Typography Sell the Product

Typography is such a transformative element in graphic design—choose a classic serif and create an aspirational product, or go for a pared-back sans serif instead and you’re pitching a product that’s suddenly cool and trendy.

Packaging for wine and beer bottles provide some great examples of the power of typography to sell a product to a particular market. 

You’ll notice that most champagne labels use traditional serif typefaces or heavily-tracked headers which communicate luxury and high-end quality. 

A lot of beer bottles feature informal sans serif or grunge typefaces, to emphasise the laid-back, relaxing nature of their products. Wine bottles can vary—an expensive wine might feature a classic serif to help justify the price tag, or a new wine on the block might use a modern slab type, as on this modern label template, to appeal to younger, fashion-conscious consumers.

When you design your packaging, try experimenting with a number of different type styles in your initial designs. Show the different designs to a market sample or friends/family—which type styles appealed to particular demographics? Does age, disposable income or lifestyle choice sway particular groups towards one typeface or another? 

Once you’ve done your experiment, you’ll feel better prepared to use the type style that appeals best to your target market.

4. Use a Natural Color Palette

The days of bold, brash packaging have come to an end. To be relevant in the modern market, you need to tone it down. 

Nature-inspired, tonal colors have a calming effect, and tap into the general trend for commercial products that are more eco- and ethic-conscious. 

Try using tints of brighter colors to give a wash effect to packaging, or team colored elements with natural brown paper or card, as in this packaging design for natural soaps.

Even if your products aren’t 100% organic or don’t come fresh from the farmer’s market, you can still give a touch of wholesomeness to your packaging with a pared-back color palette.

5. Combine Photography With Minimal Styles

Packaging trends come and go, and one thing that is always in flux is the sort of graphics that feel appropriate. At the moment, illustrated graphics or simple typographic designs seem to be the most popular graphic media. 

Photography may not be commonplace on packaging at the moment, but that’s not to say that it can’t look stylish and relevant if designed in the right way. 

To keep photography on packaging looking slick and modern, stick to striking, graphic images, and consider using black-and-white photography. Teamed with colorful typography, this can look really eye-catching and on-trend.

Or take inspiration from these minimal templates for cosmetic products and team color photography with simple, sans serif type in a matching color. 

Adding solid-color graphics set behind the white text keeps the design looking ultra-modern and app-like.

6. Go Arty!

Sure, a label might be small, but that doesn’t mean it can’t pack a punch. Labels are the perfect place to get really creative, and they’re the stuff of dreams of many a graphic designer.

Many brands are exploring ways to make their products look unique, and some produce special-edition products to increase desirability amongst their loyal customers.

As a result, collaborations with artists are becoming more common in the packaging design world. Particularly for wine bottles, cosmetics and clothing, labels with an artistic touch help to define products as unique, aspirational and special.

If you don’t have Damien Hirst on speed-dial, you’ll have to put on your artistic hat. Painterly finishes, unusual type styles, and hand-drawn illustrations look incredible on packaging and will help your design to stand out from the crowd. 

If you’re not a deft hand with a paintbrush, don’t fret—digital and vector art is equally desirable on modern packaging right now.

7. Go Masculine With Black and White…

Although it’s true that more retailers are pitching their products at a unisex market, there’s still a clear visual divide in products that are aimed at specifically men or women. 

For products aimed at men, such as shaving products and men’s toiletries, there’s still a strict design code as to what sort of colors and type styles will convert to sales.

Though I wouldn’t condone the traditional blue for boys, pink for girls (that’s just lazy), you can add a masculine or unisex touch to your packaging designs with a strong, graphic black and white color combination. This modern packaging template does just that, and is visually very strong while communicating a masculine vibe. 

Team your black-and-white designs with square sans-serif type for a modern take on traditional masculine packaging styles.

8. …or Add a Feminine Touch With Pattern

A ‘feminine’ design doesn’t mean your product will only appeal to women—in fact, adding a feminine element to your packaging only means that you will bring particular qualities to the design, which often have broad market appeal, including elegance and beauty.

Adding a patterned design to your packaging is a fantastic way to bring a beautiful quality to your designs. Mid-century wallpaper-style designs add retro appeal to all sorts of products, or why not try an ornate, William Morris-inspired pattern, as in the packaging template below?

Patterned packaging is not only beautiful, but also a great way to create a uniform series of packaging designs. 

These soaps may have different scents, but they are brought together into the same category or brand by simply switching up the color of the pattern, not by changing the design of the pattern itself. 

Pattern is also surprisingly simple to design, thanks to its repetitive elements. Work on creating a single ‘unit’ of pattern, and then copy this repeatedly to create a whole sheet of pattern that can be pasted onto a packaging template easily.

9. Think About the Full Packaging Range

Your packaging designs don’t stop at just the box. Once a product is opened, you should consider how the style of the packaging can be extended to internal wrapping, labels, and sub-containers. 

Designing a box for a clothes retailer? Once the customer opens up that box, how will the clothing inside be presented? Can you create a branded sticker to place on colored tissue paper? Can you design a stylish clothes tag to place on the garment inside?

This complete packaging range for tea bags is a great example of how to adapt packaging design to a range of purposes—a unified style, using colors, pattern and a strong logo, is extended across the main box to the tea bag packaging and label inside. 

Keep in mind that packaging is not only for display purposes—to encourage a customer to repurchase, the whole experience of opening and engaging with the product needs to be as pleasurable as possible. A full range of packaging designs will help you to achieve this.

10. Turn Your Packaging Into a Walking Ad

Think about where you see packaging—on display in shop windows or on supermarket shelves are the obvious places. But you can think about extending your packaging ambitions even further and turn your designs into a mobile advertisement for the product or company.

Creating branded shopping bags is a great way of extending your advertising past the single customer interaction and bringing your brand to a much wider audience.

If your business is setting up shop at a conference or expo, this is a particularly effective way of advertising your stall around the convention hall. These modern branded bags are eye-catching and stylish, and certain to be both practical and a visual talking point for stall visitors. 

If your budget won’t stretch to custom printed bags, why not design a simple sticker or stamp in the brand’s style that can be applied to a plain paper bag or canvas tote? 

You’re Ready to Start Designing Awesome Packaging!

In this article, we’ve looked at ten tips for designing amazing packaging and labels. The next time you’re looking to tackle a packaging project, keep these ten useful tips in mind:

1. Origami-style packaging doesn’t have to be complicated—with the help of templates and mock-ups, it’s surprisingly simple to create folded designs that look striking and decorative.
2. Try out labels for a simple yet effective packaging design—wrapped around, tied to or stuck to boxes and bottles, labels can give a lovely hand-done look to your product.
3. Let typography sell the product—switch up the style of your typefaces to transform the personality of your packaging and pitch it at particular consumers.
4. Use a natural color palette—stay on trend with subtle tints and washed-out tones.
5. Team photography with minimal design styles—keep photos looking modern and relevant by pairing them with ultra-modern sans serif type styles and tech-inspired graphics and colors.
6. Go arty! Bring an artistic, unique touch to labels with hand-drawn or vectorized illustrations and logos.
7. Add a masculine edge to packaging with a strong black-and-white color combination…
8. …or bring feminine flair with pattern, for a look that’s elegant and beautiful.
9. Think about the full packaging range—extend your designs to stickers, labels and internal packaging for a truly immersive consumer experience.
10. Turn your packaging into a walking ad­—design custom shopping bags or add logos to totes for an easy way to advertise your business’s presence on the high street or at a convention.

Have any more top tips for designing your own packaging? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

If you’re still on the hunt for that elusive perfect label or box template, you’re in luck! You can find a whole range of great-value packaging templates on Envato Market. Or find even more packaging design tips in this article:

• 
  Packaging Design
  How to Get Started With Product Packaging Design
  Grace Fussell