Packaging is an essential element of marketing strategies because it's the touchpoint with the product. Its design and characteristics must be continually innovated in order to satisfy consumers' needs and tastes.
Packaging has an influence on sale process and consumer loyalty, as we underlined in our article about history of packaging. Nowadays, packaging is not only a simple protection anymore, but it has to attract consumer's attention and differentiate the product from competitors' ones; that’s why knowing packaging trends for 2019 is necessary. The continuous evolution of the market is a challenge in the packaging design scene which has to check ever more detailed preferences of users. Designers express their creativity and discover innovative solutions up with the times to reach the best originality.
How will the packaging of our favourite products change? Let's discover packaging trends for 2019!
Qualities of a perfect packaging
Functional and aesthetic are the key words for a successful packaging. Bottles, jars, boxes and labels require the design of containers and graphics for a specific product to make it easy to use, recognizable and beautiful. Packaging must satisfy the needs of portability and storage, making the arrangement of products on the shelves simpler. Moreover, it must create a "dialogue" with the consumer and convey its technical characteristics, uses and benefits but also values and identity of the brand. A good packaging must perform these functions to be effective:
- Containment and protection. Packaging was born firstly because of the need to preserve products which therefore must be intact when the package is opened. Packaging is a protective barrier against damaging external factors, such as transportation or water.
- Preservation. This is an essential function in food and cosmetic sectors. Packaging must avoid the contact of the product with damaging substances which may make it unusable. Moreover, the material of the bottles has to be appropriate for the consistency of the product and avoid its dispersion.
- Practicality and accessibility. Packaging tends to create easy to use containers to satisfy the consumers' constant desire of comfort in their buying habits, such as easy to carry and little bulky packs but also intuitive and practical caps and tabs.
- Appeal. Mass consumption led producers to focus more and more on packaging design. Packaging allows them to distinguish from competitors: an attractive and original design packaging can stand out on the shelf and draw consumers' attention.
- Communication. The container and the label with information about the characteristics and the way to use promote the product and its image. Packaging is one of the main elements of brand identity, it conveys some information to consumers and it directs them. The use of the same or a similar packaging for different products of the same brand makes products easily recognizable and strengthens consumers' loyalty.
Packaging trends for 2019
Packaging is the "face" of the product and it's very important especially for the goods whose characteristics are not verifiable before the use. It's crucial for products to have a perfect and suitable packaging for every occasion to stand out in a world full of images. Originality is the main rule to be followed in recent years: a creative packaging can make the difference because it's a distinctive characteristic and it can strike and intrigue consumers. Packaging has to keep up with the times and follow continuously changing trends, which are more and more accurate and demanding, to catch consumers' attention and persuade them to purchase.
Here are the packaging trends for 2019:
- Strong colors. You should be impudent in the use of colors, there's no space for shyness or hesitation. You should get out of your comfort zone and follow the current tendency which started severals years ago: dark shades, vivid palettes and bold colors combinations. Pantone explicitly recommends vivid, bright and strong colors. So "Let’s go bold!"
- Big fonts, almost aggressive: the typographic design can be based on a single word, but this has to be strong and evocative and cover the packaging with balance and minimalism. The key word is personalization!
- Minimalism. Minimalism will be a master key in 2019. The idea of "Less is more" is ever stronger because it better conveys the message to the consumer. The aim is the nature of things, clearness and precision to convey the essence of the product. Therefore, few, clear and precise choices will be made and the design will be clean and simple with central writings and colors. The goal is a simple, unicolor or two-tone packaging which is functional and essential.
- Asymmetry. This technique can create harmony, although the idea of asymmetry is distant from our way of thinking. It's important to manage full and empty spaces well, in order to always make the essence stand out.
- Shades. Shades have become a main and essential element in the foreground of the whole packaging now. Bright shades give a new, fresh and unique look to the packaging.
- Pastel colors. In contrast to the strong colors trend, pastel colors, that is nude and neutral shades, will be used as well to instill natural and authentic sensations. Many other colors such as warm brown, weak pink, creamy beige and white will be used together with more vivid pastel colors.
- Oriental art. This expression has different implications: harmony and technology have to coexist and be balanced to go back to the essential and to the typical refinement of the East, especially of Japan. Primordial and elegant shapes will be combined to get unique results.
- Living Coral. Pantone's color of the year is Living Coral, that is a coral shade which exalts life and optimism!
The year 2019 leaves room for illustrators, but they have to be able to interpret the brand and its identity in a personalized way. A good illustration will be essential to be recognizable in a diversified market. Strong and vibrant colors will have to be used to become unique and this is the aim in packaging industry but also in communication in general!
Don’t forget the importance of social network: the habit of sharing photos of newly purchased products makes the requirements of beauty and simplicity essential among packaging trends for 2019!
A look to the future challenges in the packaging industry
Packaging increasingly aims at the creation of a dialogue with consumers to satisfy their expectations, adapting to new lifestyles. Packaging trends for 2019 also include care and respect of the environment and many companies already use biodegradable materials. The use of a single material for the same pack is important as well because it makes waste recycling easier and faster. Right from the design stage, the attention is focused on the creation of a multipurpose packaging to avoid the waste of resources: packs can be recycled and reused for any purpose after the purchase of the product.
The look to the future doesn’t have to go very far to understand which goals are and will be the ones to be achieved. The year 2018 left us a knowledge of innovations and deep beliefs to be developed and tested. The new year will start from the end point of the previous one and will develop the same trends of the last months. One of them concerns the environmental condition: there's a lot of attention to this topic because pollution and global warming have reached extremely high levels and government bodies had to implement drastic measures to regulate, control and limit polluting materials. For this reason, even the packaging industry is acting with anti-pollution norms. The aim is the use of ecological, biodegradable and compostable materials to reduce the impact on the environment.
The use of non-conventional materials is certainly the best way to get extraordinary products, but they have to be intelligently employed. Zero waste and biological materials are key words to understand the new way of thinking, that is the use of natural materials like wood, leather, cellulose (in the luxury world) to produce without damaging the environment. Edible packaging or packs which become plants are the extreme and maybe utopian ideas of this mindset. The goal of 2019 will be a green way of living, thinking and projecting!
Nowadays, the e-commerce industry is very important. Online shopping is significative: more and more people buy products in online stores rather than in shops and items are delivered in an extra protective packaging. Since even this additional packaging must satisfy consumers' needs, Amazon promoted the creation of a frustration-free packaging, that is a minimized and easy to open packaging. Packaging is designed to be reused in the event of return to avoid the waste of materials. Even this packaging allows producers to be recognizable in the e-commerce scene through the use of the colors of the brand or the printing of the brand name on the box.
Curiosities about trends for 2019
The fourth edition of ADI Packaging Design Award just ended: the award for the most innovative solutions was given to MarcabyBolognafiere 2019. This project aims at giving value to the obvious and concrete materiality of the packaging, but it also focuses on the immaterial aspects of the productive, industrial and aesthetic process where innovation and research become the central ideas for the selection. The winners of the last edition were:
- Farine – CR TOP – Azienda Molino Rossetto
- Vegetali surgelati – Paren – Industrie Rolli Alimentari
- Biomade – Azienda Polycart
- Wave – Azienda Wave Washing
An honorable mention was conferred to Fettaalpine – Azienda Inalpi.
Stocksmetic: bottles and jars for cosmetic products
Packaging plays an important role in the beauty industry. Consumers rely on the visual impact of the packaging because they can't know the characteristics of the product before trying it. Stocksmetic is an online store for fragrance, cosmetic and pharmaceutical packaging. Our cosmetic packaging and containers for fragrances follow packaging trends for 2019 with a simple and elegant design. Our offer includes five collections:
Fragrance: glass bottles, sampling bottles made of plastic or glass, roll-on bottles and a wide range of accessories to create your perfect fragrance.
Skin care: airless bottles, plastic bottles and glass bottles, plastic jars, glass jars and aluminium jars will make your cosmetic line complete.
Pharma: this line includes airless bottles, glass bottles and pills jars suitable for any pharmaceutical product, from aqueous solutions to pills.
Home fragrance: our air freschener glass bottles and plastic bottles with caps, rings and wooden reeds are designed to perfume any location.
Make up: our make-up bottles, jars and flaconette for mascara, eyeliner, lip stick, lip gloss and compact powder combine a simple design and practicality for any kind of make-up.
You can't miss black bottles and jars! 30 ml bottles and 15 or 50 ml jars with matching accessories for a really unique total-black packaging. Stocksmetic also offers the possibility to create customized labels and boxes for each product of any collection to complete your personalized packaging. Check our website, contact us for further information and start the creation of your perfect packaging!
