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More than just wrapping for products, packaging is part of a brand’s identity. It embodies a company’s core values and puts it front and center, making it easy (and inevitably automatic) for consumers to recognize the product of their choice, pick it up, buy it, and if they like it, come back and buy more of it. 

 

Packaging is the first thing we see as consumers when we walk into a shop, and though we can be loyal to certain brands, sometimes our eyes stray to other products because their packaging has caught our eye. We may opt to sample products new to us based on packaging alone. 

(Also Read: The Process Involved in New Product Design and Development)

Industries know this about consumers, so over the years, product packaging trends come and go. Logos evolve, and the design of the bottles and boxes of consumer goods change to keep us interested and engaged. 

Today, sustainability has become the priority for many businesses. Reducing the carbon footprint has become a global mandate, a big challenge, especially for consumer goods manufacturers. Not only does packaging need to push products and promote consumer loyalty, but now packaging must also address sustainability requirements. 

Apart from this, consumers have become smarter about the very act of consumption. Encouraged to do our part, we are also now more aware and attuned to environmental issues more than ever, and this may inform many of our choices when it comes to grocery (e.g., food) and drugstore (e.g., cosmetic) items. 

Consumers have become more conscious about waste and excessive consumption. Many have come to value function over form. 

Many consumers are also attuned to the value of inclusivity and accessibility. A “one size fits all” solution when it comes to consumer goods is no longer good enough, and in some cases, no longer acceptable. 

For brands, it’s an opportunity to create more specific or niche markets within the scope of their larger market. Think of the variants of food products that carry “no sugar” options and other healthier variants. 

Additionally, some brands today take into account accessibility and incorporate design innovations to make their products more inclusive for others. 

The trend today is a leaning toward packaging that is conscious of sustainability, as well as a thoughtful approach to inclusivity and accessibility. Here are a few notable food and cosmetics packaging that is not only beautiful, but functional, sustainable, inclusive, and accessible. 

Notable in Food Packaging

Heinz Ketchup

Modern plastic Heinz Ketchup bottles are one of the most easily identifiable bottles on grocery shelves today: a PET bottle flipped on its head, with the cap facing the bottom instead of sitting on top. This has made it easier for consumers to squeeze out ketchup from their bottles. Its cap’s design is such that it makes squeezing out ketchup evenly, avoiding messy ketchup handling. 

In November 2023, Heinz Ketchup introduced the first ketchup cap that is 100% recyclable. It is still “the same” bottle cap when it comes to ease of squeezing and ensuring even proportions per squeeze, but made so much better because now the caps are easier to recycle as compared to their previous bottle caps.

With help from manufacturing company Berry Global, the new ketchup bottle is

now made from mono-material, and according to The Manufacturer, is “manufactured in PP”. This simply means that the caps meet the requirements for recyclability. 

Heinz Ketchup claims that this new recyclable cap will save a “potential of 300 million plastic lids from being sent to landfills every year globally”. 

The recyclable bottle cap won Kraft Heinz the Rigid Pack of the Year award at the 2023 UK Packaging Awards. 

Beauty with Benefits

Rare Beauty

Today, the trend in beauty and wellness brands is “clean beauty”. Leaning toward a more minimalist and fresher approach to cosmetics, the term has lent itself to a shift in products that promote skincare over makeup. Many beauty brands today even mix skincare benefits into cosmetic products such as lip glosses and tinted moisturizers. 

Most clean beauty brands extend their ethos to the packaging of their products as well. These can be identified by having a “clean look”, a minimalist approach to aesthetic design elements, and a nod towards transparency in terms of the ingredients and practices used in the creation of these products. 

In September 2020, singer and actress Selena Gomez launched her beauty brand Rare Beauty. Sitting somewhere above drugstore-grade cosmetics and below high-end luxury makeup, Rare Beauty has made its mark in the beauty and skincare scene by introducing thoughtful design elements in the packaging of many of its products. 

Rare Beauty was celebrated for its thoughtful design of its base products such as skin foundations, as well as their liquid blush and face highlighters. On the cap of these products sits a ball or in some bottles, a flat sphere that makes it easier to twist open, especially for those with dexterity challenges and people with arthritis. 

While the brand has clarified that this was not an intentional design consideration for those with disabilities, consumers noticed it anyway, and this ended up as a win for the brand, inspiring other beauty brands to rethink their packaging strategies going forward. 

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