Package Design | packagedesignmag.com

(June 2009) posted on Sat Oct 10, 2009

By Ron Romanik

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Icons on packages usually are included in package design to point out one specific benefit of the product within. The icon's purpose is often one of efficiency, saving the consumer the time of reading a benefit explanation.

Icons on computer screens are necessary shortcuts to get us to a program or file we need. This is also a matter of increasing efficiency with visual cues that require less time and space to recognize than verbal identifiers. As on a normal computer, an iPhone app icon launches a program. The big difference in the unique retail environment that is the iPhone App Store is that, for many apps, the icon in the App Store is the consumer's very first contact with that app. Our Cover Story delves into what that means for the icon designer when the icon is the primary "package."

We all know how design trends can spread rapidly, and it's no secret that Apple's design excellence is influencing design across many categories. Indeed, some computer software programs are moving to some of Apple's icon conventions, such as the rounded corner square. But how far will this influence go? Will packages become more iconic in character?

Think of the whole "G" campaign that Pepsico recently launched for Gatorade. Or look at the Kashi "U" package here. These package designs try to reduce the brand message down to a few fundamental consumer associations. It is not too hard to imagine new package designs that use the lessons of icon design to distill brand messages down to a fundamental few visual cues.

This issue also includes the second of our four-part series on private label trends. Retailers in the UK have taken private label to levels that the U.S. is just now reaching. Along the way, UK retailers and the designers that manage their brands have learned valuable lessons that the U.S. industry would do very well to heed. Look for parts three and four in July and August.

Ron Romanik
Editor-in-Chief