Great Design

Each issue, we will be asking three designers a question from one of our readers and will publish their responses. The designers are all respected creatives in the beauty industry, each with a different background, expertise and perspective. This month’s question:

What makes a package design great?

Marc Rosen

Marc Rosen is president and chief executive of Marc Rosen Associates, ACCESSmr and Horizon Beauty. An award-winning (seven FiFi’s) designer in the areas of fragrance, skin care and make-up, he is also a professor at Pratt Institute, teaching the graduate course in designing fragrance packaging. A trustee at Pratt, he received an honorary doctorate in 2002. Rosen has created bottles for Karl Lagerfeld, Perry Ellis, Ellen Tracy, Elizabeth Arden Red Door, Nina Ricci, Guess and Jill Stuart. He is the recipient of the 2004 FiFi award for the packaging of his fragrance, Shanghai. www.marcrosenassociates.com.

A: A great package design must speak to you — make you want to pick it up, to caress it, to buy it. The new Ralph Lauren Pure Turquoise perfume bottle personifies it. I would like to think that my Shanghai bottle does as well. The classic black Chanel powder compact and lipstick case has it. The original Boucheron women’s. The old Lagerfeld for men.

Great is subjective. I am clearly prejudiced. Great in its time may not endure as a classic. CK One was great as a concept and a package in its sociological time period, but doesn’t hold up. Charlie was great as an overall concept/design too, but now seems like a period piece from the woman’s movement. Great package designs are not created by focus groups or committees. They are created by talented designers who are committed to their concept and who have a passion for their brand.

Celebrity fragrances possess the potential to be contained by great bottles that express the celebrity’s persona. Let’s hope that down the line we will see greatness coming out of this category. Great packages become icons — L’air du Temps, Chloe, the KL fan. As an industry we have the talent and the where-with-all to create great packages, if we care enough to want them.

Glyn Eppy

Glyn Eppy is president of TheDesignSpot, a design and branding company located in the heart of New York City’s Flatiron District with a team of award-winning designers and creative thinkers who specialize in building beautiful brands. They’re experts at creating and executing unusual packaging and identity pieces, with an emphasis on skin care, personal care, cosmetics and fragrance. TheDesignSpot handles everything from the big picture to the tiniest detail. www.thedesignspot.net.

A: There are many elements that lead to a great package…intrigue, impact, a clear, concise message, and of course — the design. It must be a perfect combination of form and function, color and communication, and most importantly it has to convey the brand’s promise.

With so many new brands vying for valuable shelf space, the package must standout in a crowded marketplace, grab the consumer’s attention and also aid in selling the product by enhancing its contents. Most importantly it should be unique and have a timeless beauty. And since the package is the consumer’s first impression of the brand, it must also leave a lasting impression. 

A classic example of great packaging is Chanel.  The simple, glossy black packages with gold stamping, looks as fresh today, as they did 20 years ago, and they’ll still look great tomorrow. The classic style never seems dated, and has a broad age range of appeal. Another more recent example of great packaging, is Olay Regenerist. The shape and clear substrate deliver its state-of-the-art product and message, in a new form that really stands out on the shelf.

We created a great package design for the Somme Institute, by using a simple but innovative design on white paperboard cartons. On the front of each of the five cartons was simply a logo and a bright colored dot. After a consumer picked the carton up, the panels of the carton revealed a combination of color, copy, blind embossing and a clear brand message. By conveying the brand experience in an innovative way, we designed great packaging that is both timely and timeless.  

Amy Zunzunegui

Amy Zunzunegui is the director of product development for Urban Decay and Hard Candy Cosmetics. Urban Decay Cosmetics describes itself as “beauty with an edge…feminine, a little bit dangerous and a lot of fun.” Hard Candy Cosmetics is tailored for the young and fresh trend-setter with a “style that’s meant to be seen.” www.urbandecay.com and www.hardcandy.com.

A: Great package design is made up of a few different elements. It first has to get noticed on the shelf and drive the customer to the brand. By keeping things fresh and new, using bright colors or adding interesting treatments to the packaging, the customer will continue to come to your brand to find out what is up-and-coming or of-the-moment. You can create a cult following this way. Secondly, packaging has to tell the story of the product inside so that the customer understands what she is buying. This could include something as simple as color swatches and marketing copy. Thirdly, the packaging has to function. If it doesn’t work, there is no point.

We launched the Urban Decay Surreal Skin Liquid Makeup in a genie-bottle component that worked with the bohemian style that was prevalent at the time. But we had to make it function properly. The idea was to make a round squeezable bottle with a cap that screwed open and shut while staying attached to the bottle. This allowed the customer to use one hand while opening the bottle and to be able to squeeze the desired amount out without making a mess. The package drew the customer to the counter given the bright purple color and the odd shape. The deco and copy explained what the product was. The package functionality was excellent.

When we launched the Kiss & Tell for Hard Candy, we wanted to add a new twist to the standard lip gloss story. Our goal was to create something fun and playful, something that the customer would not want to put down. We took a stock wand lip gloss component, but retooled the cap to hold a floating die. Each side of the die has a different word or symbol so that the customer can ask the gloss a question and shake it to get an answer. It is something that has not been done in the industry before and has been very successful for our brand.