The great packaging debate; the beauty edition
Does what inside really count more than aesthetics? Of course the answer should be yes but deep down I have to admit I really take into consideration the packaging of a product and a badly designed bottle can really put me of a product. Being involved in the creative industry really makes you look at the way things are designed a lot more, I even stand in the cereal isle of Tesco and gaze at some of the packaging of oats (quite sad but oh so true).
Anyway onto the point of this post! I have gathered together some of my favourite products completely based on their packaging. Now I truly believe that if you are going to spend a considerable amount of money on a product that everything about the product even down to the tiny details of what kind of bag it is presented in should coincide with what the brand represents. A good reference point here would be if you went into Mulberry and purchased that beautiful Alexa bag you have been coveting for months and you handed over your hard earned cash only for them to present it to you in a plastic bag? No box no tissue paper no nothing. Hm I dont think so!
Obviously we dont pay that much for our beauty products but still a considerable amount of money is spent especially on skincare. Brands put a lot of research into what the consumer likes and their design team will have done numerous designs of one product until they get to the final one. No7 are a huge brand that has recently altered everything about their identity and I have found that it has worked incredibly well. It no longer looks like an older women brand and is now something that appeals to a younger generation. Checkland Kindleysides did all this for No7 and you can see more details here.
So lets begin; first up is the skincare in this selection and that is Origins and Liz Earle, two of my favourite brands of the skincare world. I find the packaging of these brands to be very similar: simple & clean cut with no clutter on the front of the product and keeping all instructions on the back of the product Simplicity is key when it comes to branding I find and if the product looks to cluttered it can deter you. The colouring of the packaging of course plays a vital role and when looking into my skincare draw I find a lot of it to have different shades of green, why this is I do not know. Maybe green because it is a natural and neutral colour? Typeface of course is incredibly important as otherwise how on earth are you going to know what you are buying. Again simplicity wins over all and is more visually pleasing and lets face it on no one wants to buy a £50 serum when the brand uses Comic Sans on their products do they?
Now onto the make up and I find the world of beauty can be extremely creative with their packaging. Benefit are a great example of being known for their incredibly inventive and cute packaging another one is Topshop and I believe the designer for the Topshop make up is Sarah Thorne. YSL triumph with their luxurious packaging with the gold casing of their lipstick and a touch of colour around the middle to show the colour of the lipstick it is a truly beautiful product however is what inside good or are we just paying for that packaging? I am personally not a huge fan of the YSL lipsticks and I find the packaging a lot more appealing than the actual product. When a company match the packaging to the colour of the product inside I think this is a great plus point for them and many companies now do that. Revlon are a great example of a high street brand that do that incredibly well. It makes it very easy for the consumer to pin point what colour that they want.
The last two favourites of mine are Jo Malone & Essie. Now Essie have an incredibly simple design of their bottles without any clutter on their bottles its easy to see why however I think the design of the bottle is a little different in the diffusion line in Boots & Superdrug. Finally Jo Malone, I saved my favourite till last. An incredibly luxurious brand that is beautifully designed. I noticed recently that they slightly altered the label on their 30ml perfumes and taken away the content information and now the label looks a lot less cluttered. I have found that the more luxurious a brand the more simple the packaging seems to be but this isn't to say that this is the rule. Natural Collection (a/v Boots) have incredibly simple packaging and it works well and is an inexpensive brand.
So lets begin; first up is the skincare in this selection and that is Origins and Liz Earle, two of my favourite brands of the skincare world. I find the packaging of these brands to be very similar: simple & clean cut with no clutter on the front of the product and keeping all instructions on the back of the product Simplicity is key when it comes to branding I find and if the product looks to cluttered it can deter you. The colouring of the packaging of course plays a vital role and when looking into my skincare draw I find a lot of it to have different shades of green, why this is I do not know. Maybe green because it is a natural and neutral colour? Typeface of course is incredibly important as otherwise how on earth are you going to know what you are buying. Again simplicity wins over all and is more visually pleasing and lets face it on no one wants to buy a £50 serum when the brand uses Comic Sans on their products do they?
Now onto the make up and I find the world of beauty can be extremely creative with their packaging. Benefit are a great example of being known for their incredibly inventive and cute packaging another one is Topshop and I believe the designer for the Topshop make up is Sarah Thorne. YSL triumph with their luxurious packaging with the gold casing of their lipstick and a touch of colour around the middle to show the colour of the lipstick it is a truly beautiful product however is what inside good or are we just paying for that packaging? I am personally not a huge fan of the YSL lipsticks and I find the packaging a lot more appealing than the actual product. When a company match the packaging to the colour of the product inside I think this is a great plus point for them and many companies now do that. Revlon are a great example of a high street brand that do that incredibly well. It makes it very easy for the consumer to pin point what colour that they want.
The last two favourites of mine are Jo Malone & Essie. Now Essie have an incredibly simple design of their bottles without any clutter on their bottles its easy to see why however I think the design of the bottle is a little different in the diffusion line in Boots & Superdrug. Finally Jo Malone, I saved my favourite till last. An incredibly luxurious brand that is beautifully designed. I noticed recently that they slightly altered the label on their 30ml perfumes and taken away the content information and now the label looks a lot less cluttered. I have found that the more luxurious a brand the more simple the packaging seems to be but this isn't to say that this is the rule. Natural Collection (a/v Boots) have incredibly simple packaging and it works well and is an inexpensive brand.
I hope this blog post has been interesting to some of you and I would like to know your thoughts on packaging of beauty products. Are you like me and think that packaging really counts or are you not too fussed?
