5 tips on how to write a purposeful packaging design brief

When it comes to product packaging design, one critical step is creating and writing up the creative brief. During this vital stage, you’ll have the opportunity to plan all the ins and outs of your packaging design which will, in turn, become the foundation of the product.

However, the ins and outs of the design brief itself are debatable. Should it be a page long, or 200 pages long? What do you need to include and what information should be left open to a meeting?

To help you get started, here are five essential tips that you need to know when it comes to writing the perfect packaging design brief for your next project.

1. Know the brand

Before you even sit down and start to write anything, you need to make sure that you know the brand that you’re producing the brief for—inside and out. “Within this research stage, you need to find out what the brand is, what its morals are and, of course, its values and culture,” explains Marilyn Johnson, marketing manager at Best British Essays.

This will help you to formulate an accurate purpose and feeling for what the packaging should look like, helping you to create a comprehensive brief that succeeds.

2. Research the audience

Once you have the brand’s information in mind, turn your attention to the second half of the packaging’s audience; the customer. Once again, before you even start writing anything, conduct heavy research into the target market.

Be sure to ask certain demographic questions, such as the age of your buyers, the gender, the location and perhaps even the income scale. The more information you have, the better and more complete your design brief can be.

When gathering information for the audience and the brand, you can use professional business writing tools, such as Academized. These types of services can help you to organise your research data so it’s readable, understandable and ready to use.

3. Determine your production methods and materials

With all the information listed above in your mind, it’s time to start focusing on how you’re going to create the product. Of course, one of the most important factors you need to consider is the brand’s budget.

Find out exactly how much the brand is willing to spend per box or piece of packaging, more commonly known as a cost per unit. You’ll also need to know how many units to order as a total or for the first order since this will help you choose suitable suppliers.

The final aspect you need to consider is where you’re going to package the product. Will it be in-house or will you need to outsource the work? Whichever option you’re going to use, you need to make sure it fits the budget and is recorded and noted in the design brief.

In some cases, you may need to continue to return to the brief to make changes, depending on what the brand wants or what its requirements are, which are subject to change. When this happens, you can use editing services such as Academadvisor or Eliteassignmenthelp to make professional brief edits.

4. Focus on design

With all the “logistical” information in place, you can now start to draw your attention to the actual aesthetics of the packaging. Before you start designing, it can be extremely beneficial if you request that the brand manager shows you three or four designs or existing products that he/she likes the look of.

This helps you to piece together a sample or design that they are looking for and helps you head in the right direction early in the project. During this stage, you’re going to want details about the brand, such as logos, professional photos and any key data or legal language or icons that need to be on the packaging.

5. Finalize the brief

Once you have gone through your brief and included all the information that is needed, it’s time to finalize everything and make sure that it’s correct. For this, you’ll need to check through your work to make sure all the legal information, specs and bar codes are accounted for.

When it comes to finalizing your brief, you need to make sure you only include the facts of what the packaging is going to be based on. Any decisions or open-ended questions, such as the deadline of the project, the budget for the project and any of the information listed above needs to be discussed first with your collaborators.

After the brief has been finalized, any edits to the brief will need to be confirmed by the team as early as possible. The more detail you can fit into the initial draft of the brief, the less likely the chance that edits will need to be made and less errors will be made further down the line. This will save you from having to pay for edits or wasting parts of your budget on unusable product.

You’ll also want to check the spelling, grammar and punctuation of the copy. These aspects can be checked using tools like Write my paper and Resumention. Typically, mistakes stand out like a blue rose, especially to the brand manager, so be sure to double check everything to ensure it’s the highest quality possible.

As you know, a ton of work and resources can go into making a success packaging design brief, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Simply take your time, follow these tips and always put the customer first.