Packaging design can be viewed in four different ways:

• a means of protecting the contents of a package
• a contributor to the cost of the end product
• a sales canvas on which to promote the product's attributes and benefits
• a part of the product experience itself.
• This topic concentrates on the latter two of these points, as it is here where design is concerned with adding real value. This is not to say that design hasn't a role to play in improving product protection or in helping to improve cost efficiency - it has.

For instance, design pundits often quote the egg carton as being a design classic. While the repackaging of many grocery items in foil wraps has not only improved shelf life and freshness levels of products, it has also improved product perceptions.

Packaging design in the modern age has gone way beyond simple functional benefits. It is now one of the most sophisticated and powerful examples of the designer's craft.

External links

• Design Council on Packaging Design Design Council one stop shop information resource on Packaging Design by Jonathan Sands.