In order to effectively sell and promote products, designers
must create an innovative way to display and sell that product to the consumer.
Interesting graphics and innovative packaging design makes a product more exciting
to customers, it entices people into experiencing before they purchase simply from
the outer visual representation.
Of course, there are many different brands who sell the same product, many of which have little differences. The food and drinks industry is a great example of this, they rely heavily on graphic designers to design innovative point of sale displays and packaging concepts in order to attract customers towards their brands.
As mentioned before in the ‘Regenerating Design’ blog post,
tea is considered one of the seven necessities of Chinese life. It is a
traditional Chinese beverage served with almost every Chinese meal, in which
case it is a product that is made up of many competitive brands, all of which
rely on designers to help set them apart from one another. Drinking tea is a
hand’s on process; although there are several traditional methods, the more
modern and efficient form of drinking tea is simply by using tea bags and designers
have used this to their advantage and created many innovative and humorous
forms of storing and using tea bags.
Designing humorous packaging is a great way to sell a
product, exploiting the product in a funny or unusual way intrigues customers
into purchasing from that brand over any other. Hanger Tea are a great example
of this, these tea bags, packaged as if they are hanging in your wardrobe is a
very unusual yet humorous way to attract customers to buy this brand over any
other mainstream tea brands. The good thing about incorporating humor into packaging
design is that many people choose to buy so that they can not only use the
product inside but continue to display the product at home as it where on the
shop shelf. The concept of adding characters or popular figures on to tea bags
makes preparing and drinking tea more fun than usual, especially to those who
drink tea every day.
For those who enjoy good quality tea, high end packaging
designs such as the Tea Forte are used in for more expensive brands up-market
restaurants and cafés. This concept is very aesthetically pleasing; the classy
and stylish packaging design is not only functional but could be perceived as a
work of art.
A normal and common ritual to the Chinese
culture can become much more fun and interesting through the design of different
display and packaging. Even though each brand may be similar in taste, a
distinct brand identity and creative presentation to the consumer will bring
about more brand recognition.
