-- Packaging Digest-Posted by John Kalkowski

Minimalist by design: modern look for innovative product concepts

Today's consumers want their foods to be as pure and unprocessed as they can possibly be.  A package design that is clear, pure and self-explanatory makes it possible for buyers to take in the product concept at a single glance. Modern, minimalist package designs attract the consumer's attention on the sales shelf, and at the same time are able to convey the vital first impression of the conceptual approach of the food or beverage inside the package. And they persuade the consumer to buy the product.

The carton design for the Rich premium juice range from Russian brand manufacturer CJSC Multon (part of the Coca-Cola group since 2005) has been awarded the U.S. Food Design Awar' for its combination of modern creative quality and exceptional ease of use. In Russia, the stand-out carton packs have raised the bar for the design of premium juice packaging. Images of luscious-looking fruits stand out clearly against the white background of the combifitPremium carton packs, which are fitted with a screw cap. 

The observer's eye is not distracted by a deluge of information, instead being deliberately drawn to the obvious high quality of the product. The Rich branding appears on all four sides of the carton pack; the four letters of the brand name Rich are printed all the way around the carton pack - one letter on each side. Since 2002, the Rich carton packs have been part of the permanent exhibition in the Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in Chicago.

"Carton designs like these are really ground-breaking. Simplicity of design, removing all the unnecessary clutter, means the observer's eye is taken straight to the core messages", says Ingo Büttgen, head of global communications at SIG Combibloc, one of the world's leading systems supplier of carton packs and filling machines for beverages and food. Under his leadership, a team of designers works on creating and styling distinctive carton designs for customers all over the world. Global packaging trends are part of day-to-day business here. "Right now, we're seeing a raft of outstanding carton designs that have used a clean and minimalistic layout to develop a sort of trade mark. The uncluttered look of the carton packs establishes a visual link reflecting the top-quality products they contain, highlighting purity and naturalness,, says Büttgen of the current design trends.

Less information creates room for emphasis
In Great Britain, Sunraysia has a premium range of pure not-from-concentrate juices with 100 per cent fruit content on the market in combifitMidi 750 ml with screw cap combiSwift. The display surfaces of the carton packs have been left white as far as possible. The fruit types and core messages jump out and catch the eye. The green, trapezoidal claim panels further emphasize the unusual shape of the carton pack and have a strong accentuating effect. Ingo Büttgen: "The claim panels are perfect for presenting product and brand messages".

Juices with personality

Ed Rigg, founder of the Eager Drink' company, is another who believes that product and packaging should have a unified feel. Eager's premium not-from-concentrate juices are now used in more than 1,000 restaurants and catering outlets, and the number is growing constantly. In the future, the juices will also be available in British supermarkets.

Rigg says: "When people drink cocktails, nowadays they're no longer just asking the barman to use specific alcohol brands in their drinks. The quality of the juices used in the bar is really coming into the spotlight as well. I wanted to give the brand even more appeal and personality, moving away from a retro look and feel and into a modern 21st century product that would appeal to all level of consumers". Since summer 2011, the premium juice varieties Pineapple, Tomato, Grapefruit, Gentle Orange, Orange with Bits and Apple & Mango, and a Cranberry juice drink, have been available in combibloc Midi 1,000 ml carton packs with screw cap combiSwift.

The carton design, in bold, attention-grabbing colors, is entirely based around the letter ‘e' for ‘eager' - depending on the type of product, the e's appear as fruity little oranges, or as pineapples, or as cheeky little cranberries. The carton design, and eager's overall communication strategy, is humorous, fresh and funky, as a glance at the company's homepage shows. Unified product concepts like this, rolling visual appeal and communication strategy into one, help make sure premium, naturally pure products do not get lost in the crowd.

Another refreshing, modern product-and-packaging concept is ‘Cappy - Lemon & Nada' from the Coca-Cola Company. The first lemonade in a carton pack, ‘Lemon & Nada' brings a bubbly, fun and eye-catching carton design onto the Polish market. The drink's positioning emphasizes purity and simplicity - for the product itself, and for the carton design, which has been pared right down to an image of the fruit, a line-drawing of a man, and the brand and product names. The idea of ‘Lemon & Nada' has been taken from Spanish, and sums up the concept of the new soft drink: just lemon, and nothing else. With their simple, natural formulation, the non-carbonated juice drinks, in the variants Lemon and Lemon with Cardamom, are meant to be evocative of the refreshing, natural taste of home-made lemonade.

A glittering appearance

Positioned as "the fastest cocktails in the world", the handy fruit mixes let you whip up delicious cocktails in under 10 seconds. There is no need to squeeze or purée fruit or measure out ingredients - just add ice cubes and alcohol, and you are done! The cocktail mixers with the eye-catching carton design will soon also be available in British supermarkets. The modern attitude that the Funkin drinks bring to mixing cocktails is also reflected in the design of the carton packs. Stylized cocktail glasses with colored fruit splashes on the front panels of the carton packs catch the eye immediately. And the silver-colored background is unusual, original and distinctive, concentrating the eye on the main event: the images speak louder than the text portion.

"Carton designs that have any prospect of grabbing attention, and thus any prospect of sales success, are always a fusion of form and design," Büttgen says. "Surface feel and visual appearance are equally important. And they should establish a link between the concept of the packaged product, and the external presentation of it".