Businesses are urged to design product packaging based on target market and brand identity as new design trends emerged in response to the consumers’ new lifestyle brought by the pandemic.
Cristine Nazareth, industrial design specialist at Design Center of the Philippines, said packaging design also depends on the materials that will be used and the budget for this.
“Then your branding, how do you want to sell your product because branding is how you want to show your product to the market. Are you a sustainable product, are you a trendy product? So it will really affect the design. I guess it’s really good to properly design this, your inputs and then you can come up with something that will really fall on the classification of your product,” she said during a virtual National Trade Fair.
Nazareth said for one, they can package design for health products promoting food as medicine for the health-conscious consumers.
“This design will signify credibility and assurance to the consumers,” she said. “Mood boost, colorful and joyful packaging communicates the feel with nature of the products inside.”
Citing trend forecaster World’s Global Style Network (WGSN), Nazareth said “mindful living” is among the lifestyle trends that have emerged because of the changes caused by the pandemic.
“As a response to the risk in our health, people are practicing a health conscious lifestyle,” she added.
Nazareth said other lifestyle trends are quarantine living, work-from-home set-up, e-commerce, and online learning.
On color trends, she cited the undyed neutrals to organic brights, mineral and digital themes, and psychedelic and exuberant inspirations.
“The mineral and digital themes (are a) combination of futuristic or digital appeal to raw design so it is a mix of colors, light, and surface finishes. The colors provide a mood-boosting element. Psychedelic and exuberant inspirations, this palette creates a power of energizing and inciting positivity,” she said.
In the home sector, Nazareth underscored the trend in lounges with uncomplicated, simple and functional designs; and in home office furniture and kitchen and dining as many people are working at home amid the pandemic.
“Furniture and lighting pieces can be adaptable, portable and flexible. Desk pieces that can stand the test of time or can be used in multiple ways for kitchen and dining since consumers have spent many hours in the kitchen over the last year and will continue to do so in the years ahead as they hone new culinary skills and adapt to hobbies. Kitchen and dining products must provide both function and form,” she added.