Packaging Design: How to Make Products Easier to Notice, Understand and Trust
Posted on by Stephen Brumwell

Landing on the perfect packaging design is never easy, especially when it’s competing with the sea of other brands out there.

It needs to catch attention, explain the product, carry the brand, work in-store, work online, fit production requirements and still feel simple enough for someone to understand quickly.

For many product businesses, packaging is one of the most important brand touchpoints they have. It is often seen before the website is read properly, before the customer understands the full story and before the product has had a chance to prove itself.

In health, wellness, skincare, supplements, food, lifestyle and ecommerce products, packaging also carries an extra layer of trust. The customer is not only asking, “Do I like this?” They are often asking, “Does this feel safe, credible, good quality and right for me?”

We also have the other side, which is Australian labelling laws, another doozy to throw into the whole picture.

In this article, we’ll discuss some of these elements, so you can create the next star product that resonates well in the hand of consumers.

What To Know (AI Summary)

  • Packaging design is more than making a product look attractive. It helps customers understand what the product is, why it matters and whether it feels credible enough to choose.
  • Clear hierarchy is critical. Product name, category, flavour, variant, benefit and key details should not all compete for the same attention.
  • Visual elements such as colour, structure and layout can influence purchase intention, especially when they support the overall brand experience (Liu et al., 2025a).
  • Packaging also needs to balance emotional cues with practical information, because customers use both visual and informational signals when making purchase decisions (Liu et al., 2025b).
  • Wellness, supplement, skincare and health-adjacent products need extra care around claims, ingredient information, labelling requirements and trust (Therapeutic Goods Administration [TGA], 2024).
  • Packaging has to work beyond the mockup: in print, on shelves, in ecommerce thumbnails, product photography, social media and future product ranges.
  • Good packaging makes the product easier to notice, easier to understand and easier to choose.

Packaging Is More Than Just Looks

It’s so easy to underestimate the impact of packaging, because at surface level, it’s all visuals. Nice colour palettes, attractive typefaces and clean mockups, it looks polished, right?

Kind of. While it’s definitely part of the picture, your packaging is also a communication tool. Research into packaging design and purchase intention has consistently linked packaging with consumer decision-making, product expectations and information processing (Liu et al., 2025b). In practical terms, it helps your consumers understand

  • What the product is
  • Who it is for
  • What makes it different
  • How to choose the right option
  • How to use it
  • What the brand stands for
  • Whether it feels suitable for the price point
  • Whether it belongs in their home, routine, clinic, pantry, bathroom, gym bag or retail shelf

The design has to answer most of these things, and that’s done alongside all the fun visual aesthetic components.

This is why engaging with a designer is important, because they consider these aspects to help you deliver a stronger packaging design that reduces the friction between your brand and the consumer.

Packaging Design Needs Clarity

A lot of packaging problems are clarity problems.

What do I mean by this?

Have you ever picked up a product and thought, the product name is hard to read? What is this product for? Or the back panel is packed with information that lacks hierarchy.

It’s so easy to make a front panel look nice, but if everything else falls off, the customer does too.

You don’t want to be paying a lot of money for a finished packaging design that falls short. That confusion is expensive.

In busy retail environments, people scan quickly. Online, the challenge can be even sharper because the package may appear as a small thumbnail in a product grid, marketplace listing, email campaign or social ad. Research on visual packaging elements also suggests that design choices can influence purchase intention through the way customers experience and interpret the brand (Liu et al., 2025a).

When considering your next packaging design, let’s ensure you tick off the basics:

  • brand name – Obvious one, you would think.
  • product name – What is the product called?
  • product type or category – Is it a whey protein? skin cream?
  • key variant – Flavour, size, scent, strength, etc.
  • Key points of difference – Essentially, why would they buy it? Aim for at least 2-3.
  • any essential information the customer needs before they keep reading

Some of it sounds self-explanatory, maybe it is, but you would be surprised by the number of products I have seen on the shelf that lack this fundamental information.

Good Packaging Design Balances Emotion And Information

People do not buy purely from information. They also respond to feeling. it can be a big part of the purchasing process.

Packaging can make a product feel calm, premium, natural, technical, playful, simple, gentle, bold, clinical, handmade, luxurious, sustainable, energetic or family-friendly. These impressions come from colour, typography, material, space, imagery, shape, finish and language, and they sit alongside the informational cues customers use to judge a product (Liu et al., 2025b).

Things get difficult when we try to cram too much emotion and lack key information, or vice versa.

A good example is a functional supplement. We need enough visuals to capture attention, but deliver sufficient technical, key selling points and essential information to convert.

Products can look beautiful, but fail to explain themselves. You can also have a highly technical label, but it looks too minimal and bland. These both produce a similar result of consumers just not buying (or selling less).

It should create an immediate feeling that suits the brand, then support that feeling with information that is clear, useful and credible.

Wellness Products Need Extra Care Around Trust

Packaging design becomes more sensitive when the product is connected to health, wellbeing, skincare, supplements, practitioner support, food or personal care.

Customers in these categories are often more cautious. They may be checking ingredients, looking for allergens, comparing claims, considering suitability or trying to decide whether the brand feels professional enough to trust.

We need to be considering things like clear ingredient and product information, consistent hierarchy, a visual style that feels credible, and all the other important (legal) information.

In Australia, product owners also need to be aware of the rules that apply to their category. The Therapeutic Goods Administration provides guidance to help sponsors and manufacturers meet medicine labelling requirements under TGO 91 and TGO 92, including requirements that can affect how information is presented on pack (TGA, 2024).

This is also another reason to work with a designer who understands labelling law, to take this component of stress out of it!

Packaging Has To Work In The Real World

Packaging is not finished when the first round of mockups “looks good”.

It still has to work in print, in production, in photography, in shipping, in retail and across various e-commerce platforms. It should also be transferable across label formats (sachet, boxing, pouch bags, for example).

A beautiful front label may fail if the text becomes too small once printed. A colour may shift between screen and stock. A label may wrap awkwardly around a curved bottle. A matte finish may mark too easily. A box may look premium, but become too expensive for the product margin. A product image may look polished on a website, but lose readability in a small thumbnail.

Here are a few things to consider when applying that final polish to your design:

  • Print size and legibility (print it small and check it).
  • Colour contrast
  • Material and finish choices
  • Real-world shelf placement (does it stand out when placed against others?)
  • E-commerce thumbnail readability
  • Product photography requirements
  • How the design will scale across future products

E-commerce has changed the retail game

Many products are now discovered online before they are ever held in the hand. E-commerce websites are essentially now digital storefronts, and should be treated as such. Packaging research has also noted that online shopping changes how packaging design contributes to visual communication and purchase intention (Liu et al., 2025b).

The pack still matters physically, but it also has to work as a digital asset. It needs to appear clearly in product grids, hero images, social ads, email campaigns, marketplace thumbnails, checkout pages and post-purchase content.

For e-commerce, packaging design should be tested at small sizes. The brand name, product type, variant and main visual cue need to hold up when the image is reduced.

You are sometimes forced to think beyond the front-facing pack shot, too. Most websites will also want a good ingredient panel visual, back-of-pack information, side shots, lifestyle context, or even detail shots of material or finish.

This is where packaging design, product photography, website design and ecommerce strategy start to overlap. A strong package gives those assets a better foundation.

Packaging Design and Sustainability

Packaging choices can influence how people feel about a brand’s values. It’s very relevant in this day and age; it’s even a common design trend we’re seeing in 2026. Environmental impact and sustainability are also recognised themes in packaging design and purchase intention research (Liu et al., 2025b).

For some audiences, especially in wellness, natural products, skincare, food and lifestyle categories, packaging material can matter almost as much as the graphic design. Customers may notice whether the pack feels excessive, whether materials seem recyclable, whether the finish feels wasteful or whether the brand’s environmental language feels genuine.

Ideally, we need to be honest with our sustainability plan, and if we’re creating excessive waste and landfill, customers are going to notice.

If you decide to put sustainability as a core part of your brand story, the packaging should showcase it. If it’s not part of your story, you should also be mindful of the long-term sustainability of your product packaging choices.

When Should I Redesign My Packaging?

Not every product needs a full packaging redesign. Sometimes the issue is a small hierarchy fix, better photography, clearer variant labelling or more consistent product branding.

For most brands I see in the supplement space, a redesign is done every 5 years, although this can be highly dependent on your needs (and budget, of course).

Some things to consider when making the decision on a redesign:

  • Customers do not understand the product
  • The range looks inconsistent
  • The packaging feels dated compared to competitors
  • The product looks cheaper than its price point
  • Sales are declining for no other reason
  • The label has become cluttered after too many additions
  • The brand has evolved, but the packaging has not
  • New products are difficult to add to the current system
  • The packaging does not match the website, socials or sales material

A good redesign should keep what is working, clarify what is confusing and strengthen the brand for where it is going next.

A Simple Packaging Design Checklist

Before sending a product to print, it is worth asking a few plain-English questions:

  • Can someone understand the product in a few seconds?
  • Is the most important information visually obvious?
  • Does the packaging feel right for the audience and price?
  • Does the design match the wider brand?
  • Are claims and product details accurate and appropriate?
  • Is the type readable at the final printed size?
  • Does the product work as a small e-commerce image?
  • Can the design system handle future products?
  • Do the materials and finishes support the brand position?
  • Would the product feel credible beside competitors?

If the answer to several of those questions is no, the packaging may be creating friction before the customer gets to the product itself.

The Takeaway

Good packaging design does not need to shout to be effective. It needs to make the product easier to notice, easier to understand and easier to trust.

That means thinking beyond the front label. Strong packaging should balance visual appeal, clear information, product hierarchy, brand consistency, e-commerce readability and real-world production requirements. Those details matter because packaging is part of how customers form expectations, process information, and decide whether a product feels right for them (Liu et al., 2025b).

For wellness, supplement, skincare, food and health-adjacent brands, the stakes are even higher. Customers are often looking for reassurance as well as appeal, and Australian labelling requirements may shape what needs to appear on pack and how clearly it needs to be presented (TGA, 2024).

A good product deserves packaging that makes the decision feel easier.

If you are launching a product, refreshing a label or trying to make a growing range feel more consistent, Stephen can help with branding, packaging design, product visuals, websites, e-commerce, and design support, with a particular understanding of health and wellness brands.

FAQ

What is packaging design?

Packaging design is the visual and structural design of a product’s container, label, box, pouch, wrap or sleeve. It combines branding, information hierarchy, materials, print production and customer experience so the product is easier to notice, understand and trust.

Why is packaging design important?

Packaging design shapes first impressions. It helps people recognise the brand, understand the product, compare options and decide whether the product feels credible for its price and purpose.

What makes good packaging design?

Good packaging is clear, attractive, readable, practical and consistent with the wider brand. It works in the real world, not just as a mockup. It should also suit the audience, product category, sales channel and production budget.

Does packaging design matter for e-commerce?

Yes. E-commerce has made packaging more important as a digital asset. Product packaging needs to work in thumbnails, product grids, hero images, ads, email campaigns and social media, as well as in the customer’s hands.

What should wellness packaging include?

Wellness packaging should usually prioritise clarity, readability, ingredient or product information, careful claims, credible visual cues and a design system that works across the wider product range. Some health-related products may also need specific labelling or advertising review.

When should a business redesign its packaging?

A redesign may be useful when the product is hard to understand, the range looks inconsistent, the packaging feels dated, the e-commerce images are unclear, the brand has evolved, or the current design no longer reflects the quality of the product.

References

Liu, C., Samsudin, M. R., & Zou, Y. (2025a). The impact of visual elements of packaging design on purchase intention: Brand experience as a mediator in the tea bag product category. Behavioral Sciences, 15(2), Article 181. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15020181

Liu, C., Samsudin, M. R., & Zou, Y. (2025b). The multidimensional impact of packaging design on purchase intention: A systematic hybrid review. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12, Article 785. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05122-1

Therapeutic Goods Administration. (2024). Labelling medicines to comply with TGO 91 and TGO 92. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. https://www.tga.gov.au/resources/guidance/labelling-medicines-comply-tgo-91-and-tgo-92

Brumwell, S. (n.d.). Wellness creative design services. https://stephenbrumwell.com/design-services/