WHAT IS PACKAGING DESIGN? IT'S NOT JUST A SIMPLE DRAWING, IT'S A MAGNIFYING GLASS OF DESIRE

B&B RUNHE

If you ask me, what is packaging design?

I won't talk to you about color value, nor will I bring up any 'visual communication theory'.

All of these are correct, but they are more like describing the material of the surgical knife - and what I want to talk about is the purpose of the surgical knife: to cut open the psychological defense line of consumers and let desires flow out.

1、 From the perspective of consumers: packaging is a magnifying glass of desire

Have you ever had such an experience——

In front of the convenience store freezer, you originally only wanted to buy a regular bottle of water.

But your hand reached for a glass bottle of water that looked like "glacier meltwater". It has a frosted texture, minimalist labels, and a hint of cool blue.

You picked it up and looked at the price - it's three times more expensive than the bottle next to you.

But after hesitating for a moment, you still put it in your shopping basket.

Why?

Because its packaging makes you imagine:

Drinking this bottle of water, you are not quenching your thirst, you are experiencing the morning in Northern Europe.

Packaging design is a switch that triggers imagination.

It doesn't tell you 'this is water', but makes you feel 'this is a better version of me'.

The "priming effect" in cognitive psychology: Specific visual elements (material, color, form) activate the relevant memory and emotional networks in the brain. Seeing frosted glass and minimalist design, the brain automatically associates "high-end", "pure", and "expensive".

Multi sensory synesthesia: Good packaging allows you to "taste in advance". A wrinkled paper tea packaging will make you feel that the tea soup is richer; A matte black chocolate box, you will assume it is more bitter and cocoa flavored.

In summary, consumers are not buying products, but rather the packaging that helps them build a better version of themselves.

2、 From the perspective of the brand: packaging is an amplifier of value and credit

Tell another true story.

FengLaiKe brand has launched a pet sauce beef, priced at 9.9 yuan.

The packaging is a regular three sided sealed bag with a light film window, giving off a sense of affordability.

Result: No one paid attention.

Later, they approached B&B Runhe for a packaging upgrade:

Switching to a cylindrical bottle shape, the label is made of imitation rice paper material, visually symbolized, and equipped with a "teeth cleaning and deodorizing" functional small seal, giving people a professional, standardized, and high-quality association.

Still the same recipe.

The price has been adjusted from 9.9 yuan to 39 yuan.

Sales have increased fivefold.

This is not magic.

This is packaging for establishing "value expectations" and "credit certificates".

Why should consumers believe that your product is good before they have bought it?

The packaging looks' serious'.

A seemingly thoughtful packaging means that the brand is also willing to spend costs on the product.

This is a process of credit transfer.

Price anchoring in behavioral economics: Consumers will subconsciously estimate a price for a product when they first see the packaging. If the packaging appears to be worth 50 yuan, but the actual selling price is 30 yuan, he will feel that he has "made a profit"; If the packaging looks worth 5 yuan and the selling price is 30 yuan, he will feel 'cheated'.

Signal theory: Packaging is a "high-quality signal" that a brand sends to the market. Expensive packaging materials and complex processes (such as hot stamping, embossing, spot colors, etc.) are themselves a "cost investment that cannot be easily imitated", conveying to consumers: "I dare to invest, I am not afraid of your nitpicking

In plain language, it means that a 10 yuan product looks like it's worth 100 yuan and generates a desire to try or own it.

3、 Fun perspective: Packaging is a 'silent senior salesperson'

Imagine it——

If the supermarket shelves are a party venue.

Some products wear flared pants and shout 'choose me, choose me the cheapest' crazily.

Some products are silent, but their materials are exquisite and their posture is quiet, like a stranger wearing a cashmere coat.

You will find that in the end, people will walk towards that quiet stranger because its packaging exudes a restrained attraction.

This is the social attribute of packaging design: it replaces brand socialization.

When a person picks up your product, they are not "reading" the packaging, they are having a conversation with the packaging.

You look very textured, don't you also understand life very well

You are so humorous (such as interesting illustration packaging), you must be an interesting person, right

Good packaging allows consumers to silently identify with the brand before making a purchase.

4、 B&B Runhe has been exploring one thing: packaging is not the last mile, but the first glance that determines life and death

At B&B Runhe, we do not consider packaging as the 'clothing of the product'.

Clothes can be changed, but packaging is the first face of a product in the real world.

Our design logic has only one:

Not just to make the product "visible", but to make consumers "want to get closer".

Because being seen only requires large font size, high saturation colors, and exaggerated promotional language.

But to get closer, what is needed is precise guidance in aesthetics, trust, and desire.

We will ask customers three questions:

If you remove the brand logo, can this packaging still make people feel your unique value?

Does your packaging make consumers feel the urge to take photos and post them on social media when they open it?

If this product is sold from 10 yuan to 50 yuan, can the packaging support this trust?

When we answer 'yes' to all three questions, we know that this design has become.

5、 At the end: Packaging is the 'smallest unit of brand experience'

Don't underestimate the box or bag that is about to be opened or even discarded.

Before it was thrown away, it had already completed the most arduous task:

Make a stranger willing to pay for an imagination.

Packaging designers are not artists.

We use lines, materials, colors, and structures to correct consumers' value judgments, stimulate their desire for ownership, and complete a teleportation of trust.

This is the essence of packaging design.

B&B RUNHE

Using packaging as a medium to amplify desires and establish trust.

[www.runhe.art]