A product should sell through packaging (whether minimal or not)

Some of the posts in this blog states how minimalism has become a way for the lazy to create work in seconds, the reality is, there is no high-quality that does not go through conceptual process, that includes applying the elements and principles of design, making variety of your concepts, consulting with fellow designers; having to digest the criticism that comes with the consultation, at the end of the it’s all about the public, good execution also counts for a product to be appealing. By this I mean, securing an understanding that minimalism is not an easy way out of the process of conceptualized sense making ideas, ideas that support a brand and makes it more attractive, something that will draw the customer's eye on to the brand.

For the Archoitecher Ludwig Mies van der Rohe the term “less is more” did not mean cutting pasting information for the sake of selling as I would put in packaging design, his initial focal point was to produce a visual arrangement with the use of necessary components that will create an impression of extreme simplicity, every element he used was detailed and all in one they served various visual and functional purposes. This also sets an important insight for Graphic Designer who intend to use Minimalist element:

1.    Concept

2.    Elements and Principles of Design

3.    Consider you Target Market

4.    Weigh your product compared to its competitors etc

Those are just the basic important things that one should remember when designing a product for the mass.

As a Designer minimalism should always be brought to life through clean, simple fonts with high level of readability, a readable and pleasing arrangement of content it’s appealing and our eyes are familiar with this pattern, and we want items to line up in a predictable manner. Contrast is the best element to improve one’s design readability.


I can't say the same about this brand

Yes I reckon some minimalist elements, less information on the outside of the packaging, colour; only three colours were used which makes sense for including the necessary components. But that does not and has not made it an interesting minimalist packaging design, the two colours are not doing any design justice on each other, red on yellow makes no creative sense, more especially when it’s created without consideration of any elements and principles of design. This is a product that human beings should be considering buying to drink therefore it should in numerous features appear as something i shouldn’t be scare to drink. Packaging is the is a door of a product to the market therefore the product needs not to suggest the opposite of what they are trying to sell, as healthy as its suppose to be for one’s the same should be significant on the visual appearance.

 The red is standing out which can simply be recognized as warning sign. When I saw that brand I immediately thought it was an all purpose cleaning detergent, I saw the red as a their manner of suggesting how powerful and effective the product is on germs. Red on purple, two colours that are heavy and there is no form of contrast whatsoever, the purple makes the red look like its fading in.

Above and beyond all, the brand on its own looks very much like Lion matches packaging. So immediately it becomes scary to drink a product that is associated with a fire making product.

Designers take a chance to look at the brand and tell me what you think of these other packing designs of this brand.