I’m new to package design, So I don’t know the process on how would you create a package. If you can give me some advice that would be great.
Depends on the product, the market demographic and the cost.
I realize this is the student forum but…
Have you done any research into packaging design at all?
Give us some more details on what you are trying to accomplish.
I plan on doing another brand identity project on a hair care line for textured hair thats affordable. Like a shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner, leave-in-conditioner, and moisturizer bottles. What I want to accomplish is designing a clean, and simple. I have not hardly done any research because I’m currently working on a restaurant project. But, I wanted to know what would be the process if I were to do more complex packaging design.
Before anything else, find out any and all regulatory limitations (if applicable) and requirements.
Then, base on the contents, come up with mock-ups.
Then, start the creative process. Chances are, the print vendor will be your most important partner. The client, however, will be your worst nightmare.
What do you mean by regulatory limitations and requirements? I don’t have a client(yet) this is a project I’m doing to put in a portfolio.
That doesn’t give you reason to not pay heed to any product that is public health related, controlled, or security involved. What if, somewhere down the line, you land a job of packaging toilet cleaner or pharmaceutical drug? Is it not to your interest you should know about all this before hand rather than finding it out when it’s too late? Even a small child’s toy cannot escape scrutiny.
Think warning label, nutrition contents, caution procedure, etc.
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If it’s in your portfolio, you’ll eventually be showing that portfolio to art directors when interviewing for jobs. You’re unlikely to find packaging projects to work on doing freelance without having had lots of experience working for people who understand the many ins and outs of package design. When you show your portfolio to the art directors at places that do this kind of work, they’ll be paying lots of attention to how much you know about the nitty-gritty realities of this specialized field in the business.
At this point in your studies, you don’t need to know the details of every regulatory requirement (even the best need to look them up), but if the package design you put in your portfolio doesn’t have the right kind of bar code, doesn’t include the right kinds of ingredient labels in the required typefaces at the right point sizes and appears to be on a box or a bottle that would be prohibitively expensive or impractical to fabricate, those kinds of oversights will weigh against you.
What I’m suggesting is that you study up on package design if you’re serious about it. It’s fairly complicated and is sort of a cross between graphic design, industrial design, meeting regulatory requirements and just the practical fabrication and printing issues associated with designing something for cardboard, glass and plastic. Like I said, it gets complicated and way too extensive to go into detail here.
At this point, just do some research and familiarize yourself with the basics so you’re aware of them and the problems and limitations involved.
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Even if I don’t go into package design would it still be wise to include package design project in the portfolio?
There’s nothing to stop you from doing so. The thing is, I am assuming the portfolio is for to show prospective employers/clients. Some, probably the majority of them, will say, “That looks pretty”, and leave it at that. A few of them, on the other hand, will think, “Wait a minute, that doesn’t look complete”.
Of course, it’s your portfolio and you can decide what to do with it, but since you asked …