Sound, vision and touch.
What if I were to tell you that when you taste the intense flavours of food or drink, there is much more going on than simply tasting a product? Research conducted by Oxford University revealed that how we experience food or drink can be determined by forgotten flavour senses: sound, vision and touch. Which means when it comes to food packaging, the sky's the limit!>>
Sweet Success for Packaging Designs.
Do you revel or recoil at gold foil?
Forget your five senses, when it comes to packaging there are only three that matter! Sound, touch and vision. These can act to fool consumers into believing that a product tastes better, e.g. coffee served in a white mug, rather than a clear mug, has a more intense flavour. So, what does this mean for retailers and packaging design companies? Well, packaging can become a blank canvas to show off unique designs, create sensory experiences and have a real impact on how we perceive taste.
Most people if not all, enjoy a square or two of chocolate. But how much does the packaging influence what you buy? Do you revel or recoil at gold foil? We all have certain ‘ticks’, personally I would buy handy sized bars, that don’t permit over indulgence, others may prefer large bars, twin bars (for sharing), fingers or even squares, but the outer packaging can and does influence purchasing habits.
You can now purchase chocolate in less conventional formats, for example, chocolate paint. These are chocolate tubes, containing syrup and the packaging is styled to look like a watercolour or oil painting set. It’s novel, unique and eye catching. I would buy this for an artist friend or as a novelty gift. On the flip side, you could literally ‘pig out’ on chocolate that invites you to do just that! The packaging is pink and pig like, the text refers to snouts and oinks, plus it’s light hearted, fun attitude would appeal to many.
If you’re looking for a class act of a chocolate bar, you may wish to purchase stylised, simple packaging that alludes to the ingredients. Gold lettering often suggests quality and a hint of sophistication. Alternatively, you may want to purchase a box of chocolates for the office and what better than ‘chocolates with attitude’. These chocolates with personality (the creator, the hero, the seducer) would inject humour into any setting.
Chocolate and it’s packaging comes in all shapes, sizes and designs. You can choose from matchboxes, coffee bean designs, books and much more. Chocolate can be sophisticated and fun, but most of all it means something different to us all. Thus, as a packaging company, the world really can become your oyster. With clever designs, an assault on your senses and quirky illustrations, you can create appealing packaging that keeps customers coming back.
The rules about our senses are not exclusive to chocolate, although chocolate does demonstrate how easy it can be to manipulate consumers into purchasing, based simply on packaging designs. So ask yourself, would a product on it’s own stand up against a similar product that has all the trimmings of sleek, stylised, thought-provoking designs?
Understanding who your target audience is and what kind of design might be appealing can only get you so far. Talking to a packaging expert, can take you to the next stage. At allpack® our design team will happily create or even absorb your concepts to create sleek, stylish, fun designs that will be as unique as your product.
For a free no-obligation consultation with our design experts, contact us here.
Source:’15 Oh-So-Sweet Examples of Chocolate Packaging Designs’: Karla Cook: 25 July 2016, updated 17 August 2017.