Mass vs. Prestige Design


A packaging designer's life is never dull, because the target audiences for products are many and diverse. Someone once said there are as many target audiences as marketers (and that's saying something). Every project you take on will involve thinking about a different group of people.

One thing you'll have to figure out about every packaging design project: Are you designing for a mass market or a prestige market? Depending on your answer, there is a big difference in what your packaging design should communicate about the price of the product and, interestingly, about the people who buy it. In this section, I want to talk about these differences to help you make better design decisions for your clients.

Some definitions before we begin:

  • Mass-market design Of or relating to the majority of people. Familiar and accessible. Think drugstores, supermarkets, Kmart, Target, and so on.

  • Prestige market design Commanding status in people's minds. Exclusive and expensive. Think boutiques, specialty shops, and upscale department stores.

What you would design for Porsche would look very different from what you would design for Hyundai. What you would design for a supermarket-brand springwater would look very different than your project for Evian. Zest soap versus Aveda cleansing bars, Lipton bags versus Tazo fine teas, and so on. If you understand the difference between mass-market items and premium brands (and oh, how keenly the pain can be felt!), then you get the picture.

The Mass Audience

When designing for a mass audience, the key to remember is that the product must sell to the masses. Sounds obvious, right? But it can be tough. The design must feel familiar and inclusiveit must appeal to a broad range of people without excluding any major customer group.

Please note that this doesn't mean bad or cheap-looking designit simply means a more approachable design. In most cases, a mass-market carton design requires a very restricted budget, which usually results in using inexpensive materials and production processes. But these constraints are balanced by the challenge of achieving a high level of graphic design.

Figure 10.14. A mass-market brand package such as Canada Dry is immediately recognizable and always accessible.


The mass audience demands clarity and approachability in design: friendly colors, clear fonts, readable illustrations, and understandable graphicsnothing to rock the boat. Your audience is interested in price and value too, so if your carton production cost raises the overall cost of the product, chances are your audience will avoid your item. The design itself must convey the value of the productvalue for money, that is.

One of the challenges in the mass-market package design is how to arrange primary and secondary information so that each carries the proper weight for the audience. The mass audience must get the gist at a glance and quickly understand the cost of the product. That's a significant issuejust think about how you shop for staple items. Conveying the product's price may require a call-out or another emphasis that says "new," "special," or "natural," in addition to all of the other text on the package.

tip

Mass-market products should never look cheapinstead, they should convey affordable value.


Case Study: Garnier Hair Color

Here's an effective illustration of mass packaging design: a hair color package produced by Garnier. By definition, it's a mass-market product, and the designers are generally required to communicate a lot of information all over the carton.

The Garnier hair products company does a very nice job on its carton designs, which appear in drugstores and other mass retailers. The designers manage to arrange everything in a pleasing composition, while giving the customers all of the practical, product-related information they need. And as anyone who has dyed their hair will tell you, hair color boxes require a lot of information.

Figure 10.15. Prestige or mass-market? This Garnier package combines some expensive production values with clear, accessible design and pizzazz.


For this product, the designers created an effective text layout that makes the most important content stand out. The main focus on the carton is the hair color itselfthe box must have a great shot of a woman with fabulous-looking hair color and an expression of joyous self-expression. The next focus is "100% color," a statistic that shouts out the product's competitive edge in the hair color market. Next comes the brand name and hair color number and name. Then, the "new" flag is added along with the technical bit in the circle. Finally, you'll see some more technical information at the bottom left: "permanent color, one application."

Compare the Garnier box above with similar products at different price points. You will see that the designers of the Garnier package used all sides of the carton to convey an incredible amount of information. Other brands will handle that information differently depending on the price of the product and the skill of the designers. Put yourself in the designer's shoes; it's challenging to compose all of the information and still end up with a carton design that looks and feels inviting.

The production on the Garnier carton was very expensive. Yes, I know, I just contradicted myself. A little while back I told you that mass-market packaging must convey inexpensive production values. That's true, but as a packaging designer, you sometimes have the goal of conveying affordable luxury.

The hair market is special. Yes, it's a mass product and its packaging design is for the masses, but the goal of the product to create natural-looking hair color. Every man or woman who is shopping for hair color has some reservations about the purchase, and so expensive production processes are required. The printing of the actual hair color and color swatches on the carton must match the dye inside the carton. This requires intensive print proofing and an incredibly accurate printing processesit cannot be subjective. On press, the designer may have signed-off color proofs, production dyes, actual hair samples, a hair color expert, and a hair color technician all on hand to check the final color.

No-Frills Marketing

Let's look at another drugstore product on a much tighter budget. Pretty carton design, right? This product packaging design isn't going to win any awards, but I guarantee it's a huge seller. It's simple and approachable, it has in-your-face information, and it's printed on a very inexpensive board stock (a type of card) with cheap colors.

No-frills packaging is the extreme logical extension of conveying value for money in a mass-market product. Every expense is spared, including the design!

Figure 10.16. Every expense was spared for this fictitious no-frills productincluding design.


Look at that photo. Do you think they spent any money on a photo shoot? No; this is a very inexpensive job, so the designers probably didn't even use a professional hand model. Odds are they used a neighbor or friend who had nice-looking fingers.

The logo is extremely large and garishthe client probably wanted it that way. But this generic, no-frills carton design has all the information in the right order; it's bold enough for the customer to grab; and the design matches the low price. To me, this carton has some potential. If you just changed the fonts, the colors, and the composition, this could still work, even using that terrible photograph.

The Prestige Audience

OK, now that we're done looking at the drugstore generic brand, let's hop in an uptown cab. Madison Avenue, here we come. When designing for a prestige audience, always remember that less is more. Less is always more in good design, but it's particularly important in the packaging for prestige brands. Prestige brands must look exclusivea quality that is conveyed by subtle details.

Research, restraint, and refinement are required when designing for prestige audiences. Graphics must be exquisitely chosen and impeccably placed. Unusual or fashionable colors are de rigueur, as are clear, interesting (often hand-drawn) fonts. Rock the boat here with the details and your choices. In most cases, a prestige carton design will have a higher budget than a mass-market one. This permits relatively expensive materials and finishing. You can't put a $45 cleanser in a 2-cent carton.

tip

Prestige packaging design involves finding out about expensive and esoteric production techniques, a topic that most printers are happy to discuss with you!


One challenge with prestige brands is how to arrange minimal information in an interesting waymore editing of the layout is involved than with mass-market products. It is often hard for designers who are not used to designing for prestige brands to hold back.

Figure 10.17. A hot chocolate carton designed for New York emporium MarieBelle. All of MarieBelle's packaging exhibits a luxurious and appetizing use of color and finishes.


For a cosmetics industry example, seek out the Ralph Lauren Polo Blue fragrance package online at www.polo.com. It uses only the essential elements: logo, texture, finish, and color. When you look closer or, better yet, take a look at a real carton, you'll notice a hand-drawn pony; simple, straightforward, wonderfully kerned type; and beautiful blue printing.

If you get this product in your hands, you'll find that the matte blue ink is entirely saturated into the fiberboard of the carton. A subtle overall pattern emboss gives the carton a texture. Next, you'll see the gloss silver foil stamping and embossed pony and frame line. All design elements work together to create a seemingly simple, clean design. The genius is in the details as well as in the editing. No unnecessary design geegaws.




Sessions. edu Graphic Design Portfolio-Builder(c) Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator Projects
Graphic Design Portfolio-Builder: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator Projects
ISBN: 0321336585
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 103
Authors: Sessions.edu

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