Packaging & Merchandise Design: Project 2
10/11/2025 - 01/12/2025 (Week 8-12)
Ayshan Mohamed (0346212)
Bachelor in Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Packaging & Merchandise Design
Instructions
Lectures
- Sustainability has become a baseline requirement rather than a niche option.
- Packaging is now a key canvas for brand identity and differentiation: design, materials, tactile details, and storytelling all play major roles in conveying brand personality.
- There’s a convergence between analog craft and digital/technological production, from hand-drawn elements and tactile finishes to digital printing, smart packaging, and possible interactive features.
- Consumers increasingly demand meaningful, ethical, and transparent experiences: packaging now needs to reflect values such as inclusivity, environmental responsibility, and honest storytelling.
What’s Going On: Context & Driving Forces
Packaging design in 2024–2025 isn’t just about containment. It’s a major channel for brand identity, emotional connection, and visual storytelling.
Designers are reacting to a mix of nostalgia (for past aesthetics), demand for sustainability and authenticity, and a growing appetite for experimental, playful, or expressive design.
There’s a blending of analog craft (hand-drawn elements, tactile textures, imperfect/organic feel) with digital/technological experimentation (3D, surreal design, bold graphic abstraction).
Here are major trends expected to shape packaging/branding in 2025, according to designandpaper.com:
Plastic-Free & Eco-Friendly Materials: Paper-based, compostable, recyclable or biodegradable materials (replacing single-use plastics) are gaining traction.
Use of Upcycled / Recycled Paper and Fibers: Packaging from post-consumer recycled content or upcycled fibers is increasingly common.
Minimalist & Waste-Reducing Packaging: Minimalist design, simple graphics/layout, low ink coverage, natural textures, helps reduce waste and supports sustainability.
Carbon-Neutral & Low-Impact Production Methods: Eco-friendly printing, including carbon-neutral processes is becoming standard among environmentally conscious brands.
Nature-Inspired / Earth-Toned Aesthetics and Textured Materials: Use of earthy tones, kraft or uncoated paper, natural textures to evoke authenticity and emphasize eco-credentials.
Hand-Drawn Illustrations & Crafty, Imperfect Graphics: Hand-drawn, sketch-like illustrations add a human or artisanal feel, as a counterbalance to overly slick digital design.
Bold Typography & Expressive Fonts: Typography itself becomes a key design element. Oversized, unique fonts that convey brand personality without imagery.
Maximalism, Patterns & Visual Flourish (for Certain Segments): Especially for categories like confectionery, cosmetics, or lifestyle; bold colours, layered layouts, intricate patterns and illustrations are trending.
Smart / Interactive Packaging: Integration of QR codes, NFC, augmented reality or other interactive features to connect physical packaging with digital content, traceability or storytelling.
Personalized or Region-/Audience-Specific Packaging: Use of digital printing/digital production means packaging can be customized for specific markets, events or even individuals, adding a sense of exclusivity or local relevance.
Multi-Sensory & Premium Finishes: Textures (embossing, debossing), soft-touch coatings, specialty inks/finishes, creating a tactile, premium feel.
Ethical, Inclusive & Transparent Branding: Packaging design increasingly considers inclusivity (gender-neutral design, cultural sensitivity), honest sourcing stories, and transparent communication, aligning with consumer values.
Circular-Economy & Reusable / Refillable Packaging Concepts: Packaging designed for reuse, recycling, or easy disposal, often tied to broader environmental and ethical brand commitments.
And these are major trends expected to shape packaging/branding in 2025, according to sunbranding.com:
Expressive, Playful & Nostalgic Styles
Nostalgic Charm: pastel or contrasting-bright palettes, sticker-style graphics, hand-drawn doodles, playful typography. Evokes Y2K / 90s vibes.
Empowered Pastels: soft but vibrant pastel palettes, often paired with solid blacks or high contrast for a calming yet modern feel.
Squeeze and Inflate: oversized, “juicy” typefaces that give packaging a tactile, playful energy.
Quirky Character: hand-drawn illustrations and expressive typography giving each design a distinctive personality; often humorous or friendly in tone.
Retro-Futurism: designs that refer nostalgically to past decades but merge with contemporary or futuristic elements (e.g. Y2K, early ’90s, street style with digital twist).
Minimal / Graphic / Typography-Driven Approaches
Geometric Disruption: clean, geometric shapes combined with bold colours and minimalistic layouts for a striking, modern look.
Simple Type: letting typography itself carry the visual weight and brand identity; minimal (or no) imagery, heavy reliance on letterforms and layout.
Proud Heritage: brands mining their archives or heritage, reinterpreting legacy design cues with modern minimalism or graphic restraint.
Natural, Craft, and Eco-Conscious Aesthetics
Naturally Inspired: nature-referencing palettes (earthy tones, soft neutrals), botanical illustrations, tactile or textured papers — giving a calm, organic, “grounded” feeling.
Planet First: sustainability is no longer optional: eco-friendly materials, recycled content, refillable or unpackaged solutions, design meaningful as well as beautiful.
Embrace Craft: handmade aesthetic: collage effects, paper layering, imperfect lines, visible textures: celebrating imperfection and human touch over slick digital polish.
Experimental & Futuristic Visuals
Sensory Boost: digitally inspired palettes, “hyper-sensory” gradients, abstract forms, immersive visuals to create a dream-like or otherworldly feeling.
Hyper Surreal: mixing reality with AI- or digitally-generated elements: 3D renders, layered collages, surreal visuals that challenge conventional design.
Retro Future: merging nostalgic aesthetics (retro/familiar) with futuristic digital motifs: think neon, pixels, digital-era references, merging past & future visually.
What This Means for Designers:
- Incorporating eco-friendly materials and sustainable processes is increasingly a must-have, not just a nice-to-have.
- Choosing whether to lean toward minimalist + natural or bold & expressive design depends heavily on brand identity and target market.
- Handcrafted, imperfect aesthetics (illustrations, textures) can give products a distinctive, humanised feel, especially appealing for boutique, artisanal, or conscientious brands.
- Smart/interactive packaging offers opportunities for storytelling, traceability, customization and deeper engagement, bridging physical products with digital experiences.
- Transparency, social responsibility, inclusivity and ethical branding matter more than ever, packaging now also carries brand values, not just visuals.
- For markets like Malaysia (or Southeast Asia), nature-inspired materials, culturally-sensitive or locally-sourced references could resonate well with consumers.
- There is room for wide stylistic freedom: from soft pastel nostalgia to bold geometric minimalism, from eco-organic to hyper-digital, packaging design is about mood, identity, and storytelling.
- Sustainability and authenticity are now baseline expectations: choosing materials and design that feel honest, tactile, and responsible can increase brand credibility.
- Hand-made / craft-style design with imperfections and texture is especially relevant for indie, artisanal or boutique brands, or for works meant to feel personal and human.
- Playfulness, nostalgia, and personality using expressive typography, illustrations, or a character can help brands stand out, especially to younger or nostalgic-leaning audiences.
- Experimental / future-leaning visuals raise the possibility of packaging as a space for art, digital influences, surrealism, which may resonate if your brand or project is pushing boundaries.
Project 2
Brief 1: Bass Tech Ltd (Wireless Headphones)
- Company Name: Bass Tech Ltd
- Product: One pair of wireless headphones (non-folding).
- Product Size: Height 19cm, Width 13.5cm (Ear cup size: Height 7.5cm, Depth 6cm).
- Target Market: All ages, but teenagers in particular. The headphones are fun and colourful.
- Current Problem: Headphones are damaged during postage (ordered online and posted to customers).
- Packaging Goal: Design new packaging that provides better protection during posting and holds the non-folding headphones securely. The box must be easy to open, easily stored before posting, and display the company logo clearly.
- Branding Goal: Design a brand new logo to give the company a fresh look and appeal to the target audience, reflecting the fun and colourful product.
Research
Canva slides: Research process
We decided to each come up with a sketch for the packaging and one for the logo, so we can put it together and choose concepts based on Mr. Shamsul's feedback.
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| Fig 1: My sketches and colour palette |
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| Fig 2: Shannen's sketches and colour palette |
Mr. Shamsul asked us to develop my logo, and Shannen's packaging concept for the project, and we're using the colour palette I came up with as well.
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| Fig 3: Task allocation |
This is the task allocation for our group, ensuring that everyone is involved.
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| Fig 4: Primary logo concept |
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| Fig 5: Secondary logo concept |
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| Fig 6: Submark logo concept |
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| Fig 7: Primary logo concept on brand colours |
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| Fig 8: Secondary & Submark concept on brand colours |
Progress
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| Fig 9: Logo concept & Logo test results |
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| Fig 10: Packaging improvements |
This week, we presented Mr. Shamsul with the finalised designs for our logo and outer packaging. We also presented Mr. Shamsul with the 3D modelling of the packaging we had designed.
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| Fig 11: 3D model of the packaging |
Mr Shamsul indicated that our packaging window was designed too small, and the external packaging did not adequately reflect the logo's prominence within the overall design. Consequently, we will need to revise the packaging.
Following review of our feedback, Mr Shamsul indicated that the logo design is now satisfactory, but we need to adjust the colour scheme: retain the blue typography and change the background colour to the "black" colour in the palette, whilst incorporating a background shape.
Shannen and I discussed and revised the concepts in the WhatsApp group, and the final logo was decided by a vote.
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| Fig 12: Logo shape options |
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| Fig 13: Discussion |
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| Fig 14: Vote results |
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| Fig 15: Finalised logo |
Meanwhile, we also began to work on the outer packaging design. This stage mainly involves exploring the packaging layout, visual style and color matching to ensure a beautiful outer packaging design that can better protect the headphones and attract customers.
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| Fig16: Packaging Layout |
We purchased the materials needed, and did the printing and laser cutting the packaging at this point.
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| Fig 17: Materials |
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| Fig 18: Laser cutting process |
Final Outcome
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| Fig 19: Front view of the box |
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| Fig 20: Side view of the box |
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