Advanced Packaging Design

Course Developer:
Laura Schwamb is the co-founder of Steam Design Group and the founder of Sign Off ... get bio

Identify the key elements of a packaging composition including placement, product, and audience.

Design a pizza box and carry-out bag in a single ink color.

Identify the production, design, and budgetary differences between mass and prestige packaging designs.

Create flat and 3D versions of a prestige carton, and present a sample counter animation.

Develop an understanding of the ways in which marketing research, target audiences, and user profiles affect the packaging design process.

Design and redesign a CD cover and disc according based on audience and project brief information.

Develop an understanding of how playful packaging design is created through typography, balance, color, and other attributes.

Design a playful packaging design for a toy carton.

Understand and discuss how a product line is developed, updated, and expanded.

Create two designs for a premium champagne carton working from a client brief.

Develop an understanding of methods for presenting packaging designs to a client and launching a new design.

Create a carton and bottle design for the launch of a new fragrance.

Outline:

LESSON 1 Seeing in 3D Package design requires you to see and design in a whole new way—in three dimensions. In this lesson, you'll learn about foundation types of 3D packaging and important design principles for create effective packages, including product type, composition, visibility, consistency, shape, and audience. Store presentation concepts such as placement and counter animation are addressed. You will also be introduced to the production of 3D designs: printing, labeling, and the creation of mechanicals. For your first project, you'll design a pizza box and carry-out bag for a Brooklyn pizza joint.

LESSON 2 Mass vs. Prestige Target audiences are many and diverse, but a basic level, all product packaging is targeted for either mass or prestige audiences. Lesson Two explores the design, budgetary, and production choices of designing for mass or prestige audiences. Case studies from beauty and cosmetics industry illustrate how packaging designs communicate value or value-for-money, and exclusivity or accessibility. You'll take a field trip to identify some mass and prestige packaging as well as study counter animation. In the exercise, you'll redesign a no-frills mass package for a more exclusive audience.

LESSON 3 Tangible Visual Marketing Lesson Three discusses the role of target markets in creating packaging designs. You'll look at how demographics are collected and how to use and go beyond marketing data to target your package designs. Examples and case studies explore how very specific marketing briefs can translate into design choices. Finally, you will try your hand at designing for a specific audience creating a CD package for your favorite band.

LESSON 5 Branding Product Lines Most products don't just stand alone. Typically, a package design is part of an entire product line which has established brand and a visual style all of its own. This lesson examines how product lines are branded, expanded, and kept consistent. You will study which components are variable so that each product in the line is unique. In the exercise, you'll work within the goals and constraints of a product line to introduce a new champagne package.