“Don’t wreck a sublime chocolate experience by feeling guilty. Chocolate isn’t like premarital sex. It will not make you pregnant. And it always feels good.” ― Lora Brody
“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.” Steve Jobs
The Wrong Sequence
Some companies place package design as something that comes later, after all the R&D and product development.
But why would one do such a thing when it’s often the first thing a customer encounters either on a shelf or online or when they get home to unwrap “their reward” they gave to themselves?
As the late Steve Jobs stated above, design is so much more than the veneer. Brands that crush it know that.
It gives meaning and dimension to what a brand believes and stands for.
The Hierarchy of a Label
I’ve done my share of package design, from Botanical Bakery to Glob Colors to Undew skin care to water.
So much of a brand is SEQUENCE.
- What do you want them to read first?
- Second?
- What’s important?
- What’s trivial?
- Does the design support all of that?
- Does it engage the customer?
Having just completed this new product line for Legacy Chocolates, I decided to create this diagram to help anyone looking to understand WHY you put certain in certain places to help ensure the customer see what you want you want them to see in an exact sequence.
Think This Is Only About Package Design? You’re Missing the Point.
This is how customers buy.
Can a company succeed only if it’s well-branded? Maybe.
Here’s the truth: Visual hierarchy drives customer decisions.
In real life.
In the store.
Online.
Sounds simple? It’s actually crucial for sales and growth. And retention.
Successful branding involves:
↳ establishing trust through core brand elements
↳ clear product positioning
↳ a descriptive product name
↳ straightforward instructions
A strong visual hierarchy isn’t just appealing. It’s strategic.
It’s what drove Legacy’s sales to increase 300% within 30 days (with NO advertising).
For Those Not in Minnesota
If you’re really into fine chocolate, you probably hate me by now unless you’re in Minnesota.
That’s fair. I’d probably feel the same way.
So, understanding you might hate me more, here is the product line with closeups so you can see better what was done and what was said:
In these details, notice what catches your eye first. It’s not the top item, but the product itself using color and scale:
And no story would be complete without “the proud parents, ” Mark and Lorraine, of this new complete line of chocolate indulgences:
