How to make the most popular packaging design more

How to make packaging design more convenient

those time nervous, overburdened and excited consumers living in the 21st century still show great attraction to products and services that can make their lives more convenient. When many packaging designers are looking for simplicity, speed or just convenience for consumers to complete their daily tasks, convenience has become their curse

just because we know that consumers need convenience does not mean that convenience is always so easy to define

we are all talking about convenience. It seems that it is a special measurement system with clear definition. For example, here are Newton's three convenient basic theorems. But what is convenience? According to the packaging design, how should we consider this element

the core of convenience is this concept, that is, when we complete a task or activity for consumers better, easier, simpler or faster, we don't need to sacrifice a product they like or everything on the package. Or to use the words of a consumer I interviewed recently is to eliminate all the troubles and chores in life without losing the element of happiness

but from the standpoint of packaging design, what does this mean and how can designers focus on the really important aspects? What we need to do is to extract the essence of convenience, turn it into some measurement scales that can fully reflect the human factors in operation, and take these scales as a template for convenience

time invested

a.1 All the time invested is precious. How long will this take? Convenience seems to depend on how much time consumers need to invest to successfully perform a task. This is really a method that includes all factors. It is easy to imagine that it will compress the physical and emotional costs of knowing how to open a package, how to deal with it after opening it, how to use the product correctly, and how to clean it later. Measuring time is certainly a starting point, but it is not the only measure that can help us understand the value brought by convenience

intuitive impression

b.1 Number of intuitive steps. How many steps are there? Our ability to successfully learn, remember, process, and execute steps is inversely proportional to the number of steps. The more steps we take, the less we will feel that a product is convenient. If we are more likely to have a shortcut, the less failure or bad experience we will have when using packaging and products. Convenience is probably the minimum number of steps. Think about the frustration consumers feel when they need to open multiple packages and read the instructions of 6 to 10 steps. You may also know some examples of so-called convenience products. Because the product needs to be cleaned, consumers are overburdened and the sense of convenience is frustrated

convenience means that packaging can provide products more effectively and economically, such as the easy steam packaging of Sainsbury, which is popular in the UK

B.2. Intuitive spirit. How much do I need to consider this factor? Convenience carries a spirit without thinking. Now consumers need to consider too many other things, and can't bear to be disturbed by complex packaging. If we can reduce the mental effort required, consumers will think this product is more convenient. Those packages and products that do not need to learn new operation methods or can affect people's preset state are very convenient, because they are simpler or more advantageous when we use them. Preset state includes what is familiar, known, known in advance, instinctive or part of our human function code

B.3. Intuitive skill dependence. Do I need to explain whether the instruction or training includes? Some things in products and packaging are very encouraging, and people hardly need to think or operate through design. Have you seen the user guide of the iPod that you have developed rich energy-saving solutions from various angles? It seems that if we can closely combine the functions of packaging with what we already know, have done and understand, we can make products more convenient. Convenience includes simplifying the learning curve and influencing what you are already familiar with

ergonomics

c.1 Ergonomics and its rich content design all performance. Can it meet the product performance level required by all consumers? It is foolish to think of your consumer group as a person with extraordinary abilities. This group is composed of consumers with different skills, intelligence, physical and spiritual needs and different views on convenience. Think about the more than 80 million people born in the baby boom. It is said that they are experiencing increasing problems such as poor eyes (sensitive to font contrast and gloss), less dexterous hands/fingers, which makes it more convenient to use in multiple scenes, and inability to learn and adapt to new things. For baby boomers, convenience may mean adapting to some of their limitations, such as being unable to hold easily, no longer as strong as before, unable to read small words easily, or unable to operate small objects. Rich content is the spirit of designing all performances

one of the most important and simplest convenient design methods is to save consumers' time, otherwise it will make people feel unworthy of thinking about how to use a package correctly. The instructions on this ready rice package of Uncle Ben may be the most effective

C.2. Ergonomics and its rich content are simple and comfortable. Does it fit and move my body? Every industrial designer and packaging designer understands the concept of innovative solutions, that is, they meet the needs of human shape, are comfortable to use, and can adapt to the differences between people. Convenience needs to include comfort because it can make things simpler, more acceptable and easier to be applied. We are always surprised to find that the so-called convenience packaging can cause severe pain, leg bruises or hand cuts when opening the packaging. This can also be the smallest detail that causes a convenient design failure. An example is the failed sealing of shampoo bottles, which can cause harm when consumers try to put their fingers or nails under the sharp flange on the bottle cap

C.3. Ergonomics and its rich content save effort. Need a lot of effort? It is important for us to solve and understand the need for labor saving. Convenience includes the idea of ease (understood through its definition), so as designers, we need to understand the labor-saving needs of all relevant consumers. Take a moment to observe a child who tries to insert a drink straw into a juice package, and take him as a good example. It is not so easy to do this design well, because children lack good sports skills and physical strength in making packaging serve them. In addition, the probability of splashing and soiling the results of failure is high

convenience just means that consumers don't have to spend too much time on how to use packaging or products correctly. Simply put, the goal is to get an intuitive, comfortable and efficient feeling when people experience a package

appearance performance

d.1 Show efficacy and commitment. Does this really work? Finally, what I want to say today is that a convenient solution needs to be able to deliver products in a real and correct way, consistent with the expectations of consumers, and can do this every time. It seems that there is an inherent defect in people's thinking, that is, a more convenient product or packaging. In fact, consumers can be expected to make a compromise on the performance of the product or the expectations that the product delivers in line with people's convenient lifestyle (for example, not too much, not too big, not too messy)

the challenge usually encountered is to create reasons for consumers to believe in the performance of a new product to show its promised performance. Have you ever noticed the automatic shower cleaner of scrubbing bubbles and thought about such a question: how can it clean my wall without laborious cleaning? Or you've seen microwave baking products and thought: you can't bake bread in the microwave

D.2. Show fault tolerance. Does it have flexibility to allow for errors? Nothing is worse than a convenient product or package that is not universal or durable enough to work under most or all conditions. In fact, many times, packaging is used in a hurry or when using these products is not a right choice. Convenience is fast and simple, so why not make a package work correctly in a hurry? How many times have you destroyed the function of repeated sealing and scattered the contents all over the floor when you quickly opened a bag of grain or coffee and inadvertently tore the opening of the package

d.3 promote the conversion of old and new kinetic energy Show the dependence of tools or devices. Do I need something else to make it work? Finally, convenient packaging and products really should not work with the help of special tools and devices. Packaged special tools often become broken or lost parts, time-consuming or time-consuming things

the function of packaging design sometimes means that the packaging function is just as it is designed, and what it conveys is also the promised function, which is what this innovative distribution packaging in the figure does

the essence of convenience is a design method that integrates, and its focus is on these human factors that make the task simpler, easier, and more comfortable, and can create a good overall feeling for consumers. When consumers really hate to do a task, our experience is to eliminate trouble and allow freedom to do something more pleasant. For other tasks, the progress of convenience is as simple as making a package that can correctly serve consumers' different lifestyles. Therefore, when you creatively experiment to design the next generation of convenient packaging and products, consider decomposing the analysis results of the problem into the scale of human convenience. Then, relying on these metrics, you can evaluate how the work at hand will perform and find out where there are still opportunities for improvement