4 Best Brand Packaging Design Trends 2021

Product packaging design is a constantly shifting field, governed by design trends that seemingly come and go. The trends likely to shape packaging design throughout 2021 are heavily influenced by changes in consumer behaviour during the coronavirus crisis, and expectations around sustainability brought about by greater environmental awareness.

While trends are never set in stone, the best brand packaging designs are those that adopt the spirit of current trends and concerns, while making the style their own. Working with a good packaging design company can help brands stay on point while also forging a unique identity within their market.

In this article, we briefly look at four packaging design trends that could become big news – or increase in importance – in 2021.

1) ‘Fine Art’ Packaging

2020 saw a move away from ‘commercial’, or ‘mass-produced’ designs in favour of a more nuanced, artistic feel. This is actually a large number of trends rather than a single one, and the way in which packaging design is affected varies from industry to industry. Expressions of this trend include handwritten fonts, detailed ink drawings, and geometric patterns with metallic inks. Substrates are also affected by this trend, with a move away from plasticised card and foil toward artisan paper, parchment, and card.

2) The Un-Boxing Experience

For many years, e-commerce left a gap in people’s experience – in particular, the experience of unwrapping a new gift or toy for the first time. Brands have responded with a range of beautiful and aesthetically pleasing packaging for products that give people a positive un-boxing experience. Good examples include the Apple iPhone and iPad range, as well as many watch and jewellery manufacturers. This trend predates 2020 but became more important last year as a lack of face-to-face contact meant that many people sent gifts to friends and relations directly through e-commerce sites, rather than wrapping them first. The expectation with un-boxing for this year and beyond is that each consumer gets a gift-like experience with every purchase, and the trend is becoming influential across the health and beauty product, food packaging, electronics, alcoholic drinks sector, and beyond.

3) Sustainability

The biggest packaging design story of the last couple of years, and one that is becoming more and more influential each day, is that of sustainability. Packaging design is moving strongly away from plastics and foils, towards reusable and recyclable substrates. This trend affects design as much as it does manufacturing, as the move towards sustainability has bought in an explosion of naturalistic images on packaging, organic shapes and drawings, and simplistic block-colour patterns. No matter how eco-conscious product packaging may be, to resonate with consumers it has to appear sustainable, and fit in with this stylistic pattern of what sustainable packaging should look like.

4) Retro Packaging

Retro or vintage packaging, with design styles drawn from the apothecaries of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, or the bold advertising styles of the 1930s to 1950s, are becoming more widespread in all sectors. This affects packaging design not only in the choice of images used, but also in the shape and appearance of packaging itself, with many designs of bottles, tins and boxes being modified to mimic retro or vintage styles.

Next Steps

At wk360, we offer a range of creative services from artwork automation through to visual content for packaging, of which packaging graphic design is one. To discuss your graphic design needs or to find out more about our services, please get in touch today.

Image Source: Pixabay