Every year the print and packaging industry are challenged to reinvent themselves by developing better technologies or more innovative ideas. 2016 was an exciting year for every player in the industry with drupa taking place to show off some new designs and creations. We gathered for you some of the trends and packaging ideas of this year.
1. It’s All About the User Experience
The decision to buy a product begins with the packaging. Brands have to get the awareness of their customers with creative designs and give them a special moment when discovering a new product. iF Design Award winner Metsä Boardshows in an interesting way how product and packaging can harmonize. This eye-catching design for the Victorinox Rescue Tool simulates the functions the product with its design so that the consumer gets a unique experience.
Picture source: metsaboard.com
2. Hidden Messages on Products
Designers constantly experiment with new forms and materials to make packagings special: This design, for instance, has two faces: When the bottle is full, it shows one message when and another when the consumer emptied it. Temperature-sensitive packaging is not something fairly new, but 2016 brought some interesting designs with it such as this bottle design from blk water.
Picture source: getblk.com
3. Shapes Wherever You Look
Our world is full of circles, squares, triangles and so on. Packaging designers have embraced this in many of 2016’s packaging ideas. Be it for beauty products, food or beverage packaging – shapes can be found everywhere, for instance in this design for Corinne Cosmetics by Designer Anna Trympali.
Picture source: behance.net
4. Smart is the New Packaging
With the rise of the Internet of Things many products can be connected to the internet, help consumers find a taxi, the right clothes or tell them how fit they are. The smart trend does not stop with packaging. Today, packaging is designed to tell consumers how fresh a product is, if it is still usable or communicate other information. One example is this intelligent food packaging from the Swedish Startup iFoodbag. It is made from a composite material, which can protect frozen and chilled food up to 24 hours.
Picture source: ifoodbag.se
5. Taking Care of the Ecological Footprint
People more and more become aware of environmental matters and therefore care about what they buy, where they eat and how their products are produced. Even in packaging, this trend shows in various ideas of how to make them more sustainable. This first fully-renewable bio-based Tetra Pak is a perfect example of this trend. It is developed by Tetra Rex and consists of a combination of plastics derived from sugar cane and paperboard.
Picture source: tetrapak.com
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